The Patriot Goofs, Mistakes and Bloopers

The Patriot Movie Details

The Patriot taglines:What would you do if they destroyed your home, threatened your family. Where would you draw the line?

The Patriot DVD Cover Download “The Patriot” 2000	Actors: Steven Seagal Dr. Wesley McClaren Gailard Sartain Floyd Chisolm L. Q. Jones Frank Silas Weir Mitchell Pogue Camilla Belle Holly McClaren Dan Beene Richard Bach Damon Collazo Lt. Johnson Whitney Yellow Robe Dr. Ann White Cloud Brad Leland Big Bob Molly McClure Molly Philip Winchester Young Miltiaman Douglas Sebern Judge Tomkins Ross Loney Clem Bernard O’Connor Dr. Tom Hergot Leonard Mountain Chief Grandpa
	Directors: Roland Emmerich
	IMDB Rating: 6.9/10 out of 74,170 votes

“The Patriot” 2000 by Roland Emmerich – Movie Goofs

“The Patriot” Plot Summary

Peaceful farmer Benjamin Martin is driven to lead the Colonial Militia during the American Revolution when a sadistic British officer murders his son.

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“The Patriot” Goofs List

• Factual errors: There are a number of inaccuracies in the representation of battles and other incidents surrounding the War of Independence, as well as in details of personnel, equipment and uniforms. This is not a documentary.
• Factual errors: On the wanted poster for “The Ghost,” the name of General Cornwallis is misspelled as “Cornwallace.” Arguably fair, since spelling was less standard in those days, though you’d expect the name of a high government official to be spelled consistently in government documents. (This could have been an in-joke reference to Braveheart (1995)).
• Continuity: When Benjamin is talking to General Cornwallis, the straps on Benjamin’s shoulder move.
• Factual errors: SPOILER: In the final battle the British advance the full battalion. The officer giving the orders would be a Major or a Colonel. So why is the CO standing in the front line of the attack? Officers above Captains were meant to be mounted and definitely not in the front line of battle.
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: SPOILER: After Martin parlays with Cornwallis and tricks him into what would eventually be revealed as a bogus prisoner exchange – Martin’s men for what turns out to be 20+ hay-stuffed Redcoat uniforms – we see the freed militia prisoners all departing the British fort on horseback, even though a large portion of those captured were not on horses to begin with. We see however, that as Benjamin Martin is leaving, Gabriel Martin and another man bringing horses up for the freed prisoners.
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: For a split second, on an American tent at the end of the movie, a flag is seen that does not use the circular star arrangement, but the star arrangement was not yet standardized.
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: When the militiamen return to the town after the massacre, a building is brightly lit; while it looks like an electric light to some, others have said this was reflected sunlight.
• Anachronisms: In the Charleston scene exiting the town hall, an extra is wearing visible, foam ear plugs.
• Anachronisms: When Tavington is searching for the child hiding under the table his boots are clearly visible and certainly of the “Left-Right” variety. Boots were made on straight lasts until the 1800s.
• Continuity: When Benjamin, carrying the flag, rides up to the column of militiamen, he is first shown carrying the flag in his left saddle holster; the next shot shows him with the flag in the right holster.
• Continuity: In the battle scene where militiamen turned back from retreat by Benjamin clash with the first line of the English infantry, Benjamin, carrying the flag, is shown twice clashing with the enemy.
• Anachronisms: Modern snare drums.
• Anachronisms: The ships attacking Cornwallis’ army at the end are carrying the modern blue, white and red French flag but this was only adapted after the French revolution: French ships during American Revolution should be carrying the royal fleur-de-lis insignia.
• Factual errors: In the scene where the militia ambushed the British by hiding in a field, they attacked them from parallel lines on either side. This is a blunder. Under no style of war would anyone fire on someone in that formation without being at an elevated position because they could end up shooting each other.
• Miscellaneous: In the scene where the British raid Charlotte’s plantation, Tavington looks under the tablecloth to see if anyone is hiding under the table. At this time, Nathan is hiding on the outside of the table on the right side. The tablecloth hangs several inches from the floor, so Tavington should have easily seen Nathan hiding on the other side the tablecloth through the gap between the tablecloth and the floor.
• Factual errors: Many of the dresses worn by Charlotte would have been considered quite revealing and scandalous at the time and wouldn’t have been worn by a woman of high society who valued her reputation.
• Factual errors: Near the end, when the French fleet is bombarding Cornwallis’ army, French ships’s hulls are painted black with yellow stripes along the gunports. This scheme was characteristic of the Royal British Navy and it only became popular during the Napoleonic wars: French ships of the time were either black and white or natural wood color
• Audio/visual unsynchronized: Many times throughout the movie when the fifes and drums are playing, the fife player’s fingers and the drummer’s sticks do not match the music.
• Factual errors: Benjamin Martin shoots a British soldier who is on a moving horse using a flintlock pistol at a range of approximately 100 yards. A ball from a black powder pistol would not even reach that sort of distance and hitting a moving target at that distance would be difficult even with a modern pistol. The effective range of a blackpowder pistol is about 20 feet as the barrel is too short to allow all the powder to burn before the ball leaves the barrel (too low a muzzle velocity to achieve any sort of range)
• Revealing mistakes: Aunt Charlotte Selton and Captain Wilkins have reverse suntans (raccoon eyes), obviously from wearing sunglasses out in the sun. The weight of the glasses left actual imprints on the side of her nose, which are easily seen in several close-ups.
• Anachronisms: In the first shot of the film, two of the children are seen playing with alphabet cards. These famous “Hotch Potch, posture master” cards weren’t printed until 1782. However the scene takes place in 1776.
• Anachronisms: When the militia are about to be hanged, just before Benjamin Martin rides in, you see the British prepare for the hanging by testing tying sandbags to the noose and opening the trap doors. In actuality, hanging with trap doors didn’t happen until after the war. (In the DVD commentary, the director acknowledges this and says they did this because “it looked cool”.)
• Continuity: In his monologue Gabriel says that his friend fell at the Battle of Elizabethtown, however, when you see him writing the letter it says that his friend was killed at the Battle of Monmouth.
• Revealing mistakes: Supposedly stabbed in the chest by Tavington, Gabriel can briefly be seen with the sword between his side and his left arm.
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: When the British officer asks who the messenger is, Gabriel says it was him and walks down the stairs towards the officer. The shot cuts to the officer then back to Gabriel, who is now wearing a blue coat, which he didn’t have on in the previous shot. However, he’s seen picking it up.
• Continuity: When Susan Martin runs to Benjamin on the South Carolina shore to protest his leaving, her right braid switches position from on her back to on her chest, depending on camera angle.
• Continuity: When Benjamin Martin has his first fight with redcoats, he hides behind a tree as it is hit, tearing the bark. When he comes from behind to return fire the bark is perfect.
• Continuity: When Gabriel is reading the letter he is writing home aloud, the only line in the entire letter that matches what he has said is the line he is currently writing. Nothing in the long letter before the bottom line comes even close to what Gabriel read.
• Continuity: When Gabriel is in line to enlist, he is facing different directions when Benjamin is talking to him.
• Factual errors: At least twice (at the fight at the river and at the battle near the end) Tavington loads his pistol and discards his ramrod after he’s done with it. This would make it impossible to reload the pistol again, and it is unlikely that a highly trained British colonel would do such a thing. At the river, dropping the rod is understandable, given the pressure, but tossing it some distance away isn’t.
• Continuity: When Tavington kills the preacher and then Gabe, he is twice seen tossing his ramrod rather far away in successive shots.
• Revealing mistakes: In the final battle, a cannonball rolls on the ground and cuts off the legs of several soldiers in its path. One soldier’s leg falls apart before the ball even makes contact with it.
• Factual errors: When the militia is coming over the hill to see the British military lined up and waiting for the final battle scene you see a distant cannon fire and almost immediately impact very close to the American lines. With the range of the shot it would have taken 2-3 seconds for the ball to cover the distance.
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: The final battle is the battle of Cowpens, while some thought that it was just a made up battle, although the facts are stretched a bit. For example, only 12 Americans died in the real battle. The real Battle of Cowpens was a mostly cavalry affair and was over in less than an hour.
• Errors in ge