The scene on the street where Lt. Colonel Slade falls over a garbage can was actually unplanned.

Al Pacino would often remain in character off set, using his cane to walk with and never looking at anyone when they talked to him.

Al Pacino was helped by a school for the blind in his preparation for this role. He said that he made himself appear blind by not allowing his eyes to focus on anything.

Al Pacino and Gabrielle Anwar rehearsed their tango for 2 weeks. The scene took 3 days to shoot.

Al Pacino originally turned down the lead, and Jack Nicholson, Harrison Ford, Dustin Hoffman and Joe Pesci were considered. On his agent's advice Pacino reluctantly accepted the part. He later gave his agent credit on Inside the Actors Studio (1994) for making him reconsider taking his Oscar-winning role.

Continuity

During the tango, Donna's earrings can be seen in one shot, but in the next shot, they're gone. Then, at the end, the earrings return.

When Simms and Slade meet in Slade's apartment, the amount of whiskey in Slade's glass and bottle repeatedly change.

When Frank falls on Park Ave, his hair is messed and dry. When they get back to the hotel immediately after, his hair is slicked back and obviously wet.

When Frank is time-testing his Colt .45 assembly, the magazine is loaded with cartridges. When a loaded magazine (1 cartridge is enough) is inside the pistol, and you action the slide back, this goes forward, automatically loading the cartridge in the chamber. This doesn't happen here. As soon as Frank finishes, the slide is held back (no ammo left), and quickly Frank frees the slide lever down, as to show the gun is loaded. However, when Frank pulls the magazine out, we can see it's empty.

The small amount of paint seen inside the balloon above Mr. Trask's car before he pops it, is not consistent with the amount that actually falls on the car.



Factual errors

Several times during the movie, Slade handles what is supposed to be his U.S. Army issue M1911A1 .45 caliber pistol. But the pistol has a bright blue finish, white highlighted sights, and wood grips with a medallion. These features identify it as a civilian copy of the M1911A1.

While Slade is explaining to Charlie the proper way to perform the military salute, he says the right hand should be positioned "at the hairline." Doing this would result in a ridiculous-looking salute. The proper position for the hand is adjacent to or just above the right eye. Additionally, in a proper salute the arm is raised and lowered in a fluid motion. The right arm is never "snapped" to or from the right eye as the salute is rendered. Finally, the outside of right hand is always canted towards the individual receiving the salute, in accordance with Army custom. Slade does not cant his hand properly when he salutes Charlie.

When Slade starts talking to the teacher that ran up to thank him for the speech, he notes that she's wearing a perfume "Fleurs de Rocaille". He then translates it as "Flowers from a brook" and she says, "That's right." The name of the perfume is Fleur de Rocaille (which first became available in 1933) and its name translates as "rock flower".

Four unit citation emblems are mounted in one row over the right pocket of Slade's Army dress uniform. In actual practice, the emblems would be arranged with only three in the row, with the fourth being placed just above and centered on the first three.

After the suicide discussion, Slade removes the magazine but not the round in the chamber leaving the pistol in an unsafe condition per typical firearm safety procedures.



Incorrectly regarded as goofs

Halfway during the tango scene, in the background, the waiter on the left in front of the long table appears to sneeze.

Frank describes Christine as having "beautiful brown eyes", although a close up shot shows they actually are blue. While this is a true statement, Frank is BLIND. He obviously was describing his own mental image of the women; it is not meant to be taken literally and, certainly, is not a Goof. (Also, Frances Conroy, who plays Christine Downes, is actually 5' 7?" tall.)



Revealing mistakes

Trask manages to pop the balloon with his keys even though he did not actually make contact.



Audio/visual unsynchronized

After Slade's speech Trask can be seen hitting the gavel on the podium but the sound does not match for each hit.



Crew or equipment visible

The camera is reflected in Slade's sunglasses while he is talking with the political science teacher at Baird.

When the new Jaguar drives up the school driveway, a person can be seen following the car in a crouched position, with legs visible under car.

When Slade is driving the Ferrari, the crew is reflected in the paintwork.



Errors in geography

When the colonel and Charlie get out of the cab at the airport to catch their flight bound for New York, they are clearly at Newark airport less than 10 miles from the Holland Tunnel into New York City.

The car is being driven next to the Brooklyn Bridge with the World Trade Centers in the background. With the east river on the left, they are looking north while the WTC's are south of the Brooklyn Bridge.

Col. Slade says "I used to dream about them when I was at Fort Huachuca. Bread's no good west of the Colorado." Fort Huachuca is in southeast Arizona, east of the Colorado River. Col. Slade may have been referring to the Continental Divide in general or, less likely, the Colorado River in Texas.



Plot holes

There appears a missing day in the timeline of the movie. Considering Frank and Charlie have Thanksgiving dinner on the actual day, the following day (Friday) is spent meeting Donna and spending the evening with the escort. The next day (Saturday) is spent driving the Ferrari and the climactic scene between Frank and Charlie. It's that evening that they're informed they missed their flight and drive up to New Hampshire, arriving moments before the meeting of the disciplinary committee on Monday morning, thus eliminating all of Sunday.

Frank and Charles order drinks before Frank does the tango. The waiter never arrives with the drinks. Even though Frank and Charles had changed tables, they hadn't moved so far that the waiter would not have been able to find them.



Boom mic visible

When Donna and Frank descend to tango on the dance floor, a microphone boom can be seen overhead.

In the Astoria hotel room, after Slade assembles his 1911 a second time, a boom microphone hangs down directly over his head as he proclaims that he needs Charlie to point him in the right direction for "a final tour of the battlefield."



Character error

Frank mispronounces "espresso" as "expresso" - extremely unlikely for an Italiophile.

Lt Col Slade sternly warns Charlie not to refer to his .45 pistol as a "gun", but rather to call it a "weapon" or "piece" in accordance with military custom. Moments later just after Charlie refers to it as a weapon, Slade then refers to the pistol as a gun (which was most likely an intentional contradiction of what he had just told Charlie).

Lt. Col. Slade didn't declare his pistol when he was checking his luggage with the skycap.

Lieutenant Colonel Slade claims to have been awarded the Silver Star (and a promotion to First Lieutenant) for working as a deputy to the officer responsible for debriefing at the 1968 Paris Peace talks. This seems highly unlikely since the Silver Star is awarded for valor, specifically for "Gallantry in action against an enemy of the United States." Since it would have been both foolish and wildly illegal for then-Second Lieutenant Slade to have directly fired upon a representative of North Vietnam in Paris during the peace talks, his claim is almost certainly untrue.When discussing travel plans, one of boys says he thought they were going to Stowe (rather than Sugarbush). George Willis, Jr. corrects him, saying, "Sugarbush is Stowe." The two are not the same, nor connected. Sugarbush Resort is in Warren, VT, while Stowe Mountain Resort is 40 miles away in Stowe, VT.