Anachronisms
Rafterman carries spare 35mm film canisters on his helmet. The canisters he is carrying are made of plastic. In the 1960s film canisters were made of aluminum.
In the background of the graduation parade, modern parked cars are visible.
When Joker is on fire watch (where he finds Pyle in the head) he’s using a 1980s Mag-Lite brand flashlight.
A modern communications tower is visible in a shot of a helicopter taking off after they enter the city and it is being strafed by the tanks. Occurs during the scene of them being filmed by the film crew while they are sitting down waiting for orders.
In the “Eskimo pussy is mighty cold” running scene, the squad runs past a red on white Yield sign. At the time this movie is set the Yield signs were the black lettering and outline on a yellow background.
In the first Vietnam scene, Joker & Rafterman are sitting outside a 1980s-style Photocopy shop.
The flak jackets worn by the characters were M1969 Fragmentation Vest, while USMC in Vietnam wore M1955 Jacket, with a rope ridge on right shoulder, 12 layers of ballistic nylon in the shoulders and upper back area with doron plates providing protection for the lower torso as well as a distinct, blocky appearance through the fabric.
After stealing the camera from Joker, the thief does a martial arts display clearly meant to be an imitation of Bruce Lee. However Lee would not be famous in Asia for Martial Arts movies till after the release of his film ‘The Big Boss (1971)’ which was 3 years after the events depicted. In fact ‘The Big Boss’ would not play anywhere close to Vietnam till 1973 when it was released in neighboring Indonesia.
Audio/visual unsynchronized
In most scenes, the movement of Animal’s machine gun and the ejected casings indicate that he’s holding down the trigger, but the sound indicates that he’s firing short bursts.
When Doc Jay is in the far back of the squad yelling to Cowboy that he is going to bring Eightball in, his mouth doesn’t match up to what he says.
When Animal calls to Cowboy to bring the squad in and find the sniper, Rafterman turns to Cowboy and speaks a complete sentence, but the sound has been cut and replaced with a comment by Cowboy.
When Joker and Cowboy are in the head mopping the floor, Cowboy moves the mop bucket that is supposed to have water in it. When Cowboy sits the bucket down back on the floor, you can tell by the sound of it that the bucket is empty.
Character error
At the conclusion of the Colonel’s questioning of Joker in front of the mass grave, the Colonel salutes Joker. Apart from being improper for an officer to salute an enlisted man, salutes are not rendered in a combat operations area, due to snipers actively seeking officers as targets.
Also, when the Colonel says to “answer the question or you’ll be standing tall before the man”, Joker is, in fact. “standing tall before the man” at that moment.
When Cowboy has finished asking for tank backup on the radio, he makes the common Hollywood mistake of saying “over and out” rather than the correct “out”. “Over” means handing over to the other party to receive their transmission. “Out” means you have finished the conversation.
When DI Hartman drops Joker for 25 push-ups for not remembering his Sixth General Order, Mathew Modine places his M-14 rifle on the deck and begins his punishment. Gunnery Sergeant Hartman would have gone ballistic over this; you NEVER lay your rifle on the deck, especially in Boot Camp. The proper technique is to either lay your rifle over the back of both hands while pushing, or to hold it by the sling at the forward swivel.
When the Marines are on the rifle range for the first time, there is a drill instructor checking a weapon. However, he fails to keep the weapon pointed DOWN range, which is a major safety violation.
Lt. Lockhart erroneously criticizes one of his staff about a “North Vietnamese Regular” in the staff’s report, and the Lt. asks, “Is there an irregular?” when in fact there is. “North Vietnamese Regular” distinguishes from “North Vietnamese Special Forces” and is grammatically correct as it is.
During the range shoot, Hartmann watches over Pyle’s shoulder and compliments him on his shooting skill. In reality, he would not be able to see the bullet holes from the firing point, especially without binoculars. Sometimes, each shot may be indicated by the butt party, but the prior shot of the targets did not show that happening.
When Joker talks to Lt. Cleves at the mass grave, he introduces himself as “Sergeant Joker”. However, in an earlier scene (the editing meeting for Stars and Stripes) Joker wears the rank insignia of a Corporal on the collar of his shirt.
During the Tet Offensive scene, several Marines are seen to be carrying their M-16 rifles by the carry-handle. This is poor technique as it does not allow good control and combat-readiness, and Marines would have had this drilled out of them.
When the recruits are negotiating the monkey bars, Sgt Hartmann tells them that they should get through in over 10 seconds. However, the point is to get through quickly. He should have said they should get through in UNDER 10 seconds.
Continuity
In the opening of the movie, when Hartman is walking around the squad bay speaking to the recruits, Lawrence is assigned the last rack at the end of the squad bay, but moments later he is in the middle, a couple racks away from Joker.
When Crazy Earl holds his rifle up after the initial attack on Hue City, the magazine disappears between shots.
When Joker and his photographer travel in a Sikorsky UH-34 helicopter to report on the action at the front, there are several exterior shots of the trees rushing by underneath them. During these shots, the shadow is of a Bell Jet Ranger, a different, newer helicopter.
Due to the tough nature of Basic Training, Private Pyle should have lost significant weight, but he obviously didn’t.
Animal’s aimless shots blow away parts of the “My Toan” sign, but it is later seen intact.
At the beginning when the Marine recruits are being lectured and/or questioned by Hartmann by their bunks, Cowboy’s, Joker’s, Pyle’s and another’s (possibly Snowball’s) bunks change position relative to one another. In fact, it seems that this is a constant continuity problem when the Marines are depicted in the barracks.
Immediately after the “This is my rifle, this is my gun” scene, the recruits are drilling and it is obvious their shirt collars are unbuttoned. In the Marine Corps, recruits do not unbutton their collars until they qualify at the rifle range.
When Joker is being questioned by the POG colonel about the peace sign button on his uniform, the peace sign button disappears between shots.
When Pvt. Pyle is on the range, the bandage keeps changing between being on his right wrist (close-up, when shooting) and left wrist (camera pulled back, re-loading).
In the barracks scene, as Sergeant Hartman punches Private Joker with his left fist, the camera angle changes and Sergeant Hartman’s left hand is seen open while his right fist is punching Private Joker.
When Private Pyle is on the firing range shooting at the targets, the sergeant in the background walks up, then bends at the waist checking on accuracy. The next scene is an over-the-shoulder shot of Private Pyle. The next scene shows the sergeant further away walking up to his location in the first scene.
(at around 1h 15 mins) Crazy Earl has been shooting right-handed. When the second group of NVA run between the buildings, he is shown from the rear shooting left-handed. Afterwards, he is shown from the front holding his rifle right-handed again, just before “The Bird is the Word” starts playing.
After the initial barrack room introduction, Gunnery Sgt Hartman takes the men out on a run. When viewed from the rear, the men’s shadows fall behind them. When viewed from the front, the Sun is now behind them and their shadows fall before them.
Upon the initial attack at Hue City, many of the soldier’s “bullets” are inconsistent with the actual line of fire. Sometimes the buildings show bullet impacts before the weapons are fired, while at other times, the weapons are fired with a clear line to the buildings, yet no impact craters or impact damage and smoke is seen – evidence that the soldiers are firing blanks.
When Sgt Hartman confronts Joker about the “John Wayne” comment, he swings into him with his left fist but the scene quickly cuts to show him connecting to his body with his right fist.
The direction of the smoke from the burning buildings changes between shots in the ruins of Hue.
When the helicopter lands with Joker and Rafterman, the door gunner is gone.
When Sgt Hartman asks Private Joker if he believes in the Virgin Mary, he is holding a billy club. A few seconds later, he strikes Private Joker with an open hand, the same hand that held the billy club a moment earlier. But he never dropped the club.
When Sgt. Hartman confronts Joker over his John Wayne imitation, Cowboy’s shirt front is crumpled from Sgt. Hartman’s grabbing it. Cowboy is standing at attention. Just after Hartman strikes Joker, the shirt front is smooth again, even though Cowboy has not moved.
When Hartman shuts off the lights for the first time in the barracks, he uses the four switches beside him. But when he enters to awaken the privates using the garbage can, he uses the single light switch outside the barracks room.
When Eightball ducks behind the debris to inform Cowboy of their misdirection in Hue City, a handle on his back pack is seen leaning against his gun in one shot. In the next shot, the handle is nowhere to be seen.
When the Drill Instructor walks down the row of recruits during his opening speech, Pvt. Pyle can be seen standing at the end of the row to Joker’s right. Later, after Joker mouths off, the Drill Instructor moves down the line to Joker’s left, eventually coming to Pvt. Pyle.
When Hartman inspects Private Pyle’s rifle, he opens the chamber twice.
When the recruits are training and going over the obstacle with the two bars, Joker goes first and Pyle goes next. But if you look behind Joker when he starts, Pyle is not the next recruit in line.
When Joker is talking to the colonel about his peace badge, in the middle of the conversation the badge disappears and then reappears in the next scene when he is walking along with Rafterman.
Animal’s ammunition belts change length and position between shots during the initial sniper confrontation.
When Hartman is reading out the Marine placements after the graduation march, several of the Marines change positions between shots.
When Joker and Animal Mother have their first verbal confrontation about Joker’s job as a ‘Combat Correspondent’, Animal Mother has just asked Joker if he has seen much Combat. The shot switches to behind Animal Mother to see Joker’s response. Animal Mother has what appears to be a machete in a sheath slung over his ammo belts across his back. The handle is clearly way up above his neck and should be visible from the front. When the shot switches back to Joker’s perspective looking at Animal Mother, the machete is gone, and he is now wearing a military field knife attached combat style to the front of his fatigues.
When Hartman discovers Private Pyle’s unlocked footlocker and throws Pyle’s belongings on the floor, the position of the thrown items changes between almost every shot.
When Hartman slaps Pvt Pyle twice for messing up a rifle movement command, Hartman is wearing olive drab green fatigues or commonly referred to as the “pickle suit.” After he instructs Pyle to pick up his cover from the deck. It transitions to Hartman marching the platoon with Pyle behind the formation sucking his thumb and has his pants pulled down. Now Hartman is no longer wearing fatigues, he is wearing Service Dress “Alphas.” This is green suit pants with a matching green blazer jacket and tan button shirt.
When Gunnery Sgt. Hartman is talking to Pyle and he is laughing there is a 180 break. Its goes from over Hartman’s left shoulder in one shot and in the next shot the camera is over Pyle’s left shoulder.
When Pyle shoots himself in the head with the rifle, he is holding the rifle flat and it is pointed to the bottom of his skull. This is because his arm is too short to lower the rifle to get an angle which goes through his brain. On the close up scene, the splatter is higher and he would have had to bend forward to shoot himself at a greater angle.
The mud on Pyle’s back changes when he’s trying to navigate the obstacle in which he has to go up the parallel bars.
When the helicopter takes off from Hue, the cabin appears empty, even though 4 wounded men have just been put on it.
Animal Mother’s M60 changes position between the shots where he tries to get the squad to help Eightball and Doc Jay.
Crew or equipment visible
When the camera pans up from the sniper’s position at Hue City, a crew member is seen running towards the building
Just before the scene inside the helicopter with the door gunner there is footage looking down on the trees from the helicopter. You can clearly see that the shadow of the helicopter is that of a Bell Ranger instead of the H-34 Choctaw they were supposed to be flying on.
When the men are running forward and singing “eskimo pussy is mighty cold” a crew members shadow is briefly visible in the bottom right hand corner of the screen.
During the beginning of the sniper scene Cowboy tells members of his squad that they’re moving up to Animal Mother to kill the sniper. As they approach, the camera follows them from behind, then switches to a side view tracking shot. In some versions of the film, about 5-8 seconds into this sequence, a member of the crew wearing jeans can be seen ducking low.
In one of the scenes when Animal Mother has moved to the building where the sniper is located and the rest of the squad is following some of the surrounding buildings are on fire and a reflection of flame is seen on the screen from one of the cameras.
When Pvt Leonard/Pyle shoots the Senior DI in the chest, the blood squib is brightly visible when it fires due to the darkened head.
When Joker and Rafterman meet Lt.Touchdown, camera shadow is visible in the lower left, on the road where the tanks go by.
Errors in geography
In numerous scenes marines are seen wearing stateside black leather boots. The jungle boot, with its green nylon and cleated sole was more suited for tropical weather and humidity. The stateside boot would have been impractical for the field and uncomfortable. Only recently arrived marines from stateside would have worn them until issued the correct jungle boot.
Road markings indicate the filming location (England), not Parris Island, South Carolina.
The type of palm used in this film are date palms which do not grow in Vietnam. Date palms require a much hotter and more arid climate.
In the first shot of the graduation from the Parris Island one can see tall trees and buildings in the background, but during the close shot there are only small trees with no buildings. It’s because the first shot was an actual shot from the graduation and the second one was shot in London.
Factual errors
On several occasions, the word “repeat” is used while speaking on the radio. In the Marine Corps, the use of the word “repeat” on the radio is reserved solely for talking to artillery units to request a repeat of the last fire mission. The term used would be: “say again your last” or “I say again.”
At the rifle range there is a sign reading 300 meters. When in-fact, the Marines would shoot from 200, 300 and 500 yards, not meters.
It is doubtful that Marines would identify themselves by their nicknames when asked by a superior to state their name. This error happens more than once.
When the full colonel approaches Joker and his friends at the open pit grave, all parties salute each other. In reality, saluting is not done in combat areas, since it identifies officers as primary targets. Also in this scene, the colonel’s shirt is missing its required name tape and Marine Corps tape.
Joker, Animal, and the helicopter door gunner all occasionally fire very long bursts from their M60 machine guns. Real Marines are taught to fire automatic weapons in short bursts to prevent overheating and jamming, and to conserve ammunition.
In one of the Boot Camp scenes, the platoon is shown running in formation. Several of the major characters are at the head of the formation, including Private Pyle. However, the farthest right position (which would become the column head after a right face) is reserved for squad leaders. There is no way that Private Pyle would have been in the position of squad leader, and he would therefore have been further back in the ranks.
Many of the Marines who are advancing on Hue City have their index fingers on the triggers of their M16 rifles and M60 machine guns. This is a violation of the first rule of firearms safety, which every Marine learns in boot camp: “Keep your finger off the trigger until your sights are on the target.”
When Cowboy assumes command, he tells his squad to cease fire four times. No self-respecting marine would disobey this order, let alone the whole squad; not even in combat. The commander has reasons for issuing a cease fire that the rest of the squad does not need to know.
At the Rifle Range, a marksmanship instructor inspects the recruit’s weapon with barrel not pointed down range towards the target. Marines know this is never permitted on the Rifle Range.
Most, if not all, of the grenades the Marines are carrying are illumination grenades, not fragmentation.
The Doorgunner (Tim Colceri) is wearing a tank crewman’s crash-helmet, not a helicopter crewman’s crash-helmet. It’s much smaller, is not the correct color (it should be white), and it lacks a retractable glare visor.
In real life it would be improbable to smuggle a single bullet out of the firing range, let alone a magazine. When you go to the range, you are given twenty bullets, someone will stand by you and make sure you load and fire twenty bullets, and they’ll inspect and search you down from the lint in your pocket to the boot.
During the Vietnam segment most of the Marines are seen armed with the Colt Model 604, notable for its lack of a forward assist, this is incorrect as they were only ever used by the USAF. The Marines should be using the M16A1 which was universally issued to the Army and Marine Corps in 1967, replacing the prototype XM16E1 and the M14.
When Private Pyle is shooting live rounds during a target practice drill he is seen reloading the weapon with a new magazine. The old magazine, however, is shown to have at least one round left in it which is an error (counting bullets) the strict Sergeant Hartman would most likely not have Pyle get away with.
Concerning Pvt. Pyle’s contraband jelly donut, it would seem impossible for Pyle to even touch a jelly donut, much less steal one and get it back to the barracks, as he was considered a “fat body” (or, in modern Marine jargon, a “fat tray”) and was forbidden to eat certain things and given smaller portions of what he could eat, and the D.I.s always watch what is put on their trays.
Cowboy, as a Texan, would have been trained at MCRD San Diego, not MCRD Parris Island.
The Marines in that era utilized UH34 Choctaws, gas piston engined helicopters. What were shown in the film were Westland Wessex turbine powered models made under contract from Sikorsky USA in the UK. Since Kubrik filmed entirely in England these were the best he could he do, but he knew the Marines always got the leftovers, so no Huey’s UH-1s for a few years.
As Senior Drill Instructor, Hartman should normally give the speeches to the entire recruit platoon while the two Junior Drill Instructors (the “war dogs”) handle yelling at individual recruits. The Senior DI only gets in a recruit’s face if that recruit has seriously messed up. The Junior Drill Instructors can frequently be seen in the background, but they have no lines. Had they been more prominent in the opening, they would have been yelling at the recruits for random things while expecting them to listen to Hartman’s speech and would have caught someone mouthing off instantly by the sheer number of people observing the recruits.
Throughout recruit training, Joker wears wire framed glasses instead of government issue glasses like Cowboy’s (although it is true that recruits with special prescriptions may have to wait for spectacles to be supplied).
Gunnery Sergeant’s USMC Presidential Unit citation ribbon is upside down. This being an asymmetric ribbon, the blue is always on the top. The sergeant’s ribbon is upside down.
The platoon is shown in service uniforms marching in their graduation ceremony, then the toilet scene between Joker, Pyle and Hartmann follows. In reality, graduation marks the final day recruits are on the Depot, so the toilet scene should have occurred prior to graduation.
During the Vietnam half of the movie, Joker’s hair is much too long for Marine Corps standards. In a real situation, such excessive hair length would never have been tolerated by a Marine’s superiors.
When showing the recruits in their racks, the recruit on the lower rack is wearing dog tags. Dog tags are issued the day you arrive. Dog tag silencers, however, aren’t issued until after training.
The VC sniper uses a Czech vz.58 assault rifle. While these rifles were indeed used by both Viet Cong and the NVA, a bolt-action rifle (such as a Mosin-Nagant) would have been a more likely choice for a sharpshooter.
When the DI is shot, it is from close range. There is no exit wound out his back.
When Pyle shoots himself in the head, there is no round that hits the tile, only blood and gunk.
Even when this movie was set, around 1967, the U.S. Marine Corps. still had standards of body fat measurement (BMI) that they had to adhere to in order to protect recruits from overexertion and even death from excessive body fat. Thus, Private Pyle, well above 30% body fat, would not have even been admitted into boot camp.
When Pvt Leonard/Pyle shoots himself, the round would have penetrated his head and severely damaged the tiles on the wall behind him, but only material from the blood pack is visible on the wall.
The sniper makes many precise shots but isn’t using a sniper scope.
Recruits were initially issued M14s. Until attending the rifle range they were issued M1 Garands.
When Private Pyle is first trying to climb the vertical obstacle, you can clearly see that he is wearing sneakers, not Marine Corp issued boots.
When the unseen recruit is setting up for the blanket party at the beginning of that scene, the blanket it is set up on says “U.S.”. That side of the blanket is only visible if the person underneath it is deceased.
When the DI is shot in the bathroom/head, the blood spurts out his chest. The round would have not done this on the entry point.
Miscellaneous
Pvt Leonard/Pyle would never of had a weapon on Graduation Day, and here are three reasons why: Reason #1 – after the final ‘Platoon – Dismissed’ command by the Senior DI, the recruits (now actual Marines) would be headed off the Island within a couple of hours. They would not be spending another night in the barracks. Reason #2 – when you came off the firing-line at the rifle range (down near 3rd Battalion), a DI would search you for bullets. Finally, reason #3 – After Final Inspection and Final Drill, the weapons are no longer needed and they are turned in to the armory.
Nancy Sinatra’s song is listed in the credits is listed as “These Boots are Made for Walking.” The last word should be “Walkin’.”
End credits list a song performed by Sam the Sham and The Pharaohs, misspelling the last word as “Pharoahs.” This has not been corrected on any home video version of the movie.
At 1:17:23 where the film crew is filming the troops, who are behind a concrete wall, Crazy Earl (Kieron Jecchinis) is clearly holding a Daisy “Red Rider” BB rifle and his M-16 is on the ground under his left knee.
When the platoon is doing push-ups for Private Pyle’s jelly donut violation and the film begins a transition fade to the next scene, one actor in the left foreground can be seen slacking off on his push-ups early before the transition fully completes.
At different times both Joker and Animal Mother are firing a 50-caliber machine gun. However, both times tracers were not used, which were essential in helping the gunner follow the actual path of the bullets, especially at night when Joker was firing. Every fifth round of 50-caliber ammunition has a tracer which glows so the gunner knows where his shots are going. Presumably this did not happen because blanks do not have tracers.
Incorrectly regarded as goofs
Before Private Cowboy’s squad moves up to search for the sniper, Joker reloads his rifle. Between the scene where he reloads his rifle to the scene where he prepares to shoot the sniper, he doesn’t take any shots with his rifle, but when he attempts a shot on the sniper, there is no ammunition in his magazine. While some people claim that Joker’s M16 was out of ammunition when he attempted to shoot the sniper, in fact it was jammed, which was a common problem for the M16 in Vietnam.
In the head (toilet area), Pvt. Pyle says his ammunition is “seven-six-two millimeter, full metal jacket.” Although 762mm is about 30 inches, and what would have been strictly correct is “seven-POINT-six-two millimeter”, or about 30 caliber, which is the NATO standard ammunition, it is generally understood by military members that the reference “seven-six-two” implies that he’s talking about a 7.62mm rifle round, as is the case with 5.56mm ammo (generally referred to as “five-five-six”)
Plot holes
According to Marine Corps recruit training policies, drill instructors or company commanders are required to fail the bottom ten percent of recruits in their platoon. Private Pyle was the worst recruit in the platoon. Additionally, Marines are not allowed to graduate unless they can do at least two pull-ups. Private Pyle could not do even one.
Revealing mistakes
In the me-so-horny scene, just before Rafterman gets his camera stolen, in the background you can see a busy road. But you can also see that it is the same 3-4 vehicles, going around in circles.
The dead NVA soldier that they’re posing in a chair can be seen breathing throughout the scene. Also you see his left leg twitching/spasm. However, this appears to have been digitally fixed in the HD version by freezing that part of the frame. Just before, even in the HD version, his head moves slightly and later changes position entirely.
Despite being in a tropical environment, nobody is sweating in “Vietnam”.
During the December 25 training sequence along the camp roads and through the woods, you can see the trees and other vegetation are in full bloom. Since their training is 13 weeks long, even in South Carolina during the December and even November, the trees and vegetation would be bare and the grass would be brownish and it would be cold enough that the soldiers would be wearing their field jackets. The movie appears to have been filmed most likely in the spring or summer.
It is obvious that Pvt Joker at the beginning of the Tet Offensive when he enters the bunker, he is loading his .50 caliber machine gun with blanks. This is all the more obvious when he fires at the suicide truck and the VC entering the gate after, there are no tracer rounds or bullet impact hits behind his targets.
In one scene the ammo in Animal Mother’s bandoleer can be clearly seen to be blanks.
All of the palm trees look exactly the same with manicured trunks and a few wilted palm fronds coming out the top.
After the Tet Cease Fire hoax, Joker and his squad run to the bunker with a .50 caliber machine gun to protect the front gate. When they open fire at the jeep and the enemy soldiers, there are no impact points on either the jeep, the bodies, or the background. In reality, a .50 caliber would have cut bodies in half at such close range and also the front gate sign behind it, and obliterated the jeep, which is left largely intact.
Joker and Cowboy wear glasses. During the battles, they are never seen to clean the glasses, but they are always spotless. There is no dust, dirt, grit or anything else that would be there from running and crawling through the battles.
Spoilers
The goof items below may give away important plot points.
Continuity
When in Hue, Crazy Earl is shown with his finger on the trigger of his rifle, but no magazine is in the rifle. A few cuts later he is shown to suddenly have a magazine in the rifle, which he ejects because it is empty. Then he inserts a new one, suddenly holding the rifle left handed.
When Animal Mother peeks out from the wall and the sniper takes her first shot at him, the squib in the wall (to simulate the bullet impact) goes off before the muzzle blast is seen.
When Rafterman shoots the sniper to save Joker, some blood goes on her face, but in the close up when she’s dying, the blood is gone.
Private Pyle commits suicide on one toilet but ends up dead on another.
After Doc Jay and Eightball are killed by the Vietnamese sniper and Animal Mother yells to Cowboy that it is okay to move up the squad, Cowboy calls for Stunt, Dolon, Rock, and No-Doze to follow him while Joker and Rafterman choose to follow him on their own, a total of seven Marines, including Cowboy. In the shot that follows, however, only six Marines are shown moving ahead. In the side shot, just before they meet up with Animal Mother, there are only five. When they crouch down by the first wall, there are six, including Animal Mother. When they move away from the wall, there are eight. When they search the building, Animal Mother order two marines off in one direction and the two reporters to follow him, making a total of five (plus Cowboy), and the same number gather around the fallen sniper; however, it is conceivable that the two missing marines are searching a different part of the building.
Prior to the killing of Cowboy, you see the hole that the sniper shot through is covered. The cover is removed after “Cowboy’s peek”.
Hartmann dies with his arms pointing above his head, body oriented parallel to the line of toilets, but his corpse has arms pointing towards his legs and his body is lying at an angle.
When Touchdown is shot he lands with his rifle lying on the ground by his right hand. In the next shot, when members of his squad move in to tend to him there is no rifle to be seen.
Pvt. Pyle sits down on the fourth toilet to shoot himself in the head. It’s the one right from where the toilet paper is. In the close-up that follows he’s on the third toilet, left from the paper holder.
Blood disappears from Cowboy’s face after he is shot.
Hartman’s corpse is inconsistent with his death; he dies with his arms pointing above his head, body oriented parallel to the line of toilets, but his corpse has arms pointing towards his legs and his body is lying at an angle.
Factual errors
When Pvt. Pyle shoots himself in the head, the safety on his M-14 is on, there is no muzzle flash and no smoke, and no recoil. Furthermore, the tile behind his head is not shattered.
At the distance Hartman is shot by Pvt Pyle, a 7.62 would have easily passed through him, leaving a tell-tale impact in the head’s wall. None can be seen at the moment he’s shot.
Leonard’s suicide is (understandably) sanitized. Firing an M-14 rifle with the muzzle in, or close to, a person’s mouth would essentially disintegrate that person’s head (from the gas expansion more than from the bullet). Col. La Garde details a similar (using a 1903 Springfield rifle in .30-06, the ballistic equivalent of the 7.62 mm cartridge used in the M-14) suicide in his 1916 book “Gunshot Injuries.”
Blood spurts have the color and consistency of red paint when the American soldiers are seen to be shot in slow motion, but when the men are later seen lying on the ground, the blood is darker and more realistic looking.
When Joker is doing his fire watch the last day on the Island, he is not using the red lens filter on his flashlight that is required by all military standing watch at night, so as not to spoil the night vision or give the position away to the enemy.
Incorrectly regarded as goofs
Right after Cowboy dies, his head is pulled towards Joker and clearly blinks. Freshly dead bodies can do this.
Revealing mistakes
When the sniper has been alerted to Joker’s presence and is firing her Czechoslovakian VZ.58 rifle at him, no shell casings are being ejected as would normally be the case.
The hands holding the enemy sniper rifle at Hue City are that of a man, yet we later see the sniper is a woman.
Just before Hartman is shot by Pyle, you can see the outline of the blood packet prop under his white t shirt.