Goofs for
Die Hard: With a Vengeance (1995) More at IMDbPro »

• Factual errors: A truck full of gold would weigh about 300 tons, and would have extreme difficulty traveling up the indicated ramps.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: When the Mercedes rolls, it is possible to see on the upper right hand side of the screen the wire which pulls the car over.
  
  
• Factual errors: A terrorist says "Zwanzig" ("twenty"), which the subtitles translate to "ten".
  
  

• Factual errors: A terrorist in the stadium says, "Wir brauchen den anderen noch," ("We also need the other one") which the subtitles translate as, "Well, follow him."
  
  
• Continuity: The level of water in jugs during the argument about racism.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: Obvious stunt taxi driver, not McClane.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When McClane and Zeus are driving through the park, you can briefly see the tire tracks of the taxi from a previous take.
  
  
• Continuity: When McClane and Zeus drive through the park, they pass the same spot several times.
  
  
• Continuity: The terrorists' Dodge truck that chases McClane and Zeus in the Mercedes changes at least 10 times during the scene. Headlamp covers disappear then reappear, the truck's wheel style changes, and finally, the truck gets larger off-road type tires and wheels. Also, the winch cable on the truck is unrealistically long.
  
  
• Errors in geography: The ship travels from Hudson River to the middle of the Long Island Sound in an impossibly short time.
  
  
• Continuity: When McClane and Zeus are in the taxi, as they enter the park, we see McClane turn the wheel to his left, but the next shot shows the car going in the opposite direction to his right.
  
  
• Continuity: The driver's window on the Mercedes requisitioned by McClane begins with the businessman having his arm out of the window (open) and is closed when McClane and Zeus are in the car. It then changes again when the view is outside the car.
  
  
• Continuity: At Yankee Stadium, the pipe in the picture behind Zeus changes size and position, depending on the view of the camera. Also in some shots there is a man standing next to the pipe; in other shots he is not there.
  
  
• Continuity: Inconsistent lighting/color when McClane jumps from the dump truck to the ladder.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: A second guide cable is visible on the falling Dodge truck.
  
  
• Factual errors: On standard truck winches, like the WARN winch used on the Dodge truck, the manufacturer recommends that at least five complete wraps of wire remain on the drum as the minimum to make a safe winch pull. So if the winch cable "ran out" as it did in the scene, as the truck started to get pulled, the only thing holding the winch cable onto the winch drum is a small bolt. If the weight of the vehicle is applied to that small bolt (versus the other end at a static object), the winch cable would snapped off.
  
  
• Continuity: When McClane shoots the guys in the dump truck in the aqueduct, bullet holes on the side of the door are shown. Yet when we see the guys get shot, they are clearly shot from behind, not from the side.
  
  
• Continuity: Zeus' sleeve in the office is short and isn't cut but outside it is. It changes throughout the film.
  
  
• Continuity: A red car is/isn't visible behind Zeus when the cab is stopped in traffic.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: In both Central Park and when the dump trucks arrive at Wall Street, muddy tire tracks can be seen in the exact path of the moving vehicles.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: The fire trucks have no hose in the beds in the Wall Street scenes.
  
  
• Factual errors: When the FBI and McClane are talking on a cellular phone with Simon, Simon hangs up, and we hear a dial tone. Cellular networks do not use a dial tone.
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: Larry Bryggman's character, Walter Cobb, is listed as "Arthur Cobb" in the credits. This is because his full name is Arthur Walter Cobb. More than once thru the film he is called both Walter and Arthur.
  
  
• Continuity: The band-aid on McClane's forehead changes size and shape.
  
  
• Continuity: An egg is thrown at the window of the car outside the side entrance to the school. A second later the egg is gone when they are exiting the car.
  
  
• Continuity: When Zeus drops McClane off to intercept the bomb on the subway, McClane stands in the stairway and a blonde woman passes behind him twice in the same direction. There is also a brunette in a red blouse who passes McClane twice - in front of the blonde woman the first time, then behind her the second time. At least one other extra, an older man with gray hair in a gray suit, appears twice as well.
  
  
• Continuity: When McClane is searching the subway car for the bomb, a woman shrieks as McClane looks under her skirt. The same woman is seen running from the train as the bomb detonates in the station.
  
  
• Continuity: When McClane and Zeus steal the Yugo to drive to Yankee Stadium, there are no headrests on the front seats. In every shot of them driving it until they upgrade to a Mercedes, they have been replaced.
  
  
• Factual errors: As in the original Die Hard (1988), the German spoken in the movie is pretty poor. Most of it is spoken by actors trying to speak German. Only the actor giving orders in the Stadium seems to speak German. He speaks with a Bavarian Accent. He is the only one in the entire movie who's German is somewhat correct. Besides the accent, the grammar is often incorrect. It seems that they just took the English words and replaced them with German ones, without any regard for the real German grammar, which is often quite different. Further more, they often have people speaking English with a fake German accent. No Native German Speaker would sound like that, when speaking English.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: Right before the falling cable cuts the sentry on the boat in half, a cable can be seen attached to his back.
  
  
• Continuity: When McLane and Zeus are at the payphone for the St. Ives riddle, the same extra wearing a red shirt can be seen passing in front of the camera from two different directions.
  
  
• Continuity: When Zeus is in Yankee Stadium, we see someone behind him pulling on a water hose. When we next cut back to Zeus as he begins to run up the stairs, the water hose and the man are gone.
  
  
• Continuity: Simon tells McClane and Zeus that the phone at Wall Street station is next to a news kiosk. But when Zeus gets to the phone, it's under the stairway and not next to anything.
  
  
• Factual errors: When Zeus looks at the tickets for Yankee Stadium, he says they are being sent to the home team dugout, which is on the first base side. The dugout he actually stands behind is the visitor's dugout on the third base side. The right field foul pole, the one down the first base line, can clearly be seen behind Zeus.
  
  
• Continuity: McClane says that the Yankees tickets were behind the home team dugout at Yankee Stadium, but when Zeus arrives at the stadium, the seats he goes to are behind the visitors' dugout. The Yankees' dugout says "New York Yankees" on top rather than "Welcome to Yankee Stadium", which is seen in the film. Also, the right field foul pole, down the first base line, can clearly be seen behind Zeus.
  
  
• Factual errors: When McClane and Zeus are in the Mercedes, McClane asks Zeus to disconnect the ABS brakes so he can spin the car, and tells him to pull out fuses from the fusebox. The fusebox on a late '80s S-class Mercedes is not where Zeus finds it (it's under the hood) and if you pull fuses at random, the car could be rendered undriveable (fuel pump fuse, for example).
  
  
• Continuity: When the truck is pulled off the bridge the cable cuts the sentry in half. The angle of the cable should have cut him in half longways, but when McClane and Zeus drag the body away he is cut in half across the middle.
  
  
• Factual errors: New York City subways do not provide direct unlocked access to moving subway trains.
  
  
• Plot holes: The bombs used several times in the movie require two stable chemicals to be mixed together in order to have a unstable chemical bomb. Either of the tanks holding these chemicals could have been ruptured and drained therefore disarming the bomb.
  
  
• Continuity: When driving the Mercedes there is a gunshot visible on the strut from the roof to the dash. In the next several scenes it is gone.
  
  
• Continuity: McClane uses a mixture of the binary liquids to blow the handcuffs off Zeus on the container ship. The amount he uses would have been enough to blow at least one of Zeus' hands off (in comparison to the amounts used as a demonstration earlier on in the film).
  
  
• Errors in geography: Simon and Katya are making their escape from the cargo ship supposedly in Long Island Sound. The boat they lower off the side has a hull identification number starting with CF. These letters stand for "California Fleet" and are only used on boats in California.
  
  
• Continuity: When the wire cuts the sentry on the ship in half, he fires his machine gun. Yet when Zeus picks up the machine gun the safety is on.
  
  
• Continuity: When McClane is diving into the Mercedes window you can see he has no socks on. Later when he is on the rope from the bridge to the barge you can clearly see he has white socks on.
  
  
• Continuity: When McClane finds the bomb on the train, he starts moving in the same direction the train is travelling, meaning he would be moving towards the front. However, when he throws the bomb from the train, he is at the back.
  
  
• Continuity: When McClane drops onto the subway train, his police shield is missing but as he crashes through the window it has reappeared,
  
  
• Continuity: Zeus falls onto the ship with work gloves, yet when it goes to a close up he has none on.
  
  
• Continuity: The second body in the dump truck, in the aquaduct, is missing.
  
  
• Continuity: McClane puts his gun in his pants, then in the next scene it is in his gun holder under his shoulder.
  
  
• Continuity: At the Quebec truck stop, the helicopter McClane and Zeus are in is forced to land after getting shot by Simon. When McClane can't get Zeus out of the helicopter, he decides to draw Simon's fire. The next scene shows the copter's blades completely still, even though helicopter blades take a little while to slow down and stop.
  
  
• Miscellaneous: When John and Zeus get the first riddle at the pay phone, they have 30 seconds to solve it and call the terrorist before a bomb goes off. They don't solve the riddle in 30 seconds, but in 40 (according to the answering terrorist). The actual time for the riddle was 64 seconds.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When John calls the Coast Guard near the end of the movie there is a short cut to a timer. The timer counts down from 1:03 to :59. The timer skips 1:00 and goes from 1:01 to :59
  
  
• Plot holes: In several scene's John stated that Hans Gruber was Simon Gruber little brother, but there was never a mention through out the movie by Simon who was older Hans or Simon.
  
  
• Factual errors: While walking around in the vault of the Federal Reserve, Simon mentions that it holds ten times as much gold as Kentucky (referring to Fort Knox). The Federal Reserve actually holds an approximate total of 5,000 tons, while Fort Knox holds about 4,600.
  
  
• Plot holes: John McClane could have easily gotten killed during his first task (carrying the sandwich board with the racist remark through Harlem), but Simon needed McClane to stay alive until the explosion in the subway to gain access to the gold. If McClane would have died in Harlem, Simon could have told the police about the subway bomb anyway, but he couldn't have used his cover-up story (revenge for his dead brother) any longer without raising suspicion among the police. It contradicts his otherwise fool-proof plan.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Katya begins to drill on the "wall" between the subway and the bank vault, you can clearly see the wall reverberate because it is, most likely, made out of plywood
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When John and Zeus are in Tompkins Square Park they see that they are being sent to Yankee Stadium, and thus John says, "Where is the nearest A train?" The three subway lines that go to Yankee Stadium are the B, D, and 4. At Tompkins Square Park the closest subway line to them happens to be the 4 train, regardless of their destination, thus it would not even make sense for them to walk across town to the A train and transfer lines at a later point.
  
  
• Continuity: The guard who was cut in half is seen again, standing next to Simon, when McClane asks for the medicine.
  
  
• Crew or equipment visible: When McClain is trying to draw the helicopter's fire towards the end of the movie, squibs can clearly be seen next to him.
  
  
• Errors in geography: The dump tricks are supposedly heading north on the FDR drive; however, Simon's truck approaches a sign that says "Cadman Plaza West". This is a sign on the Brooklyn Queens Expressway in Brooklyn, across the river from the FDR drive.
  
  
• Factual errors: At one point the dump trucks are supposed to be traveling on FDR Drive. The FDR is for cars only and does not allow trucks. The dump trucks would not only have been pulled over, but they would have been too tall to clear many underpasses and tunnel entrances as well.
  
  
• Continuity: While John and Zeus race toward the subway in a commandeered taxi, John is forced to drive between two vehicles that are too close together to fit the taxi. Upon slamming through, both side mirrors are ripped off and scuff lines are made on the side of the car. In every shot afterward, the mirrors are still intact. However, the scuff lines remain.
  
  
• Factual errors: It would be impossible for the water flowing through the tunnel to propel the dump truck through it. Screenwriter Jonathan Hensleigh admits this on the DVD commentary.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Zeus states that there are 2,401 characters in the St. Ives riddle. This is actually only the quantity of kittens. There are also 343 cats, seven wives, the husband, and the narrator, totaling 2,753 characters.
  
  
• Incorrectly regarded as goofs: When John McClane is going over the rock and lands at Central Park the rear tire can be seen coming off, but in the next scene the taxi still has all four tires. However, watching it frame by frame you see the taxi cab come down and it doesn't have chrome hubcaps, the loose wheel does, and just before the shot changes, you see the taxi's wheel still intact, never having fallen off. The rogue wheel is from the taxicab they land on.
  
  
• Continuity: In the water tunnel, McClain is unable to life a large metal panel preventing him from driving the dump truck over a ditch in the tunnel. McClain hears the coming water and exits the far side of the ditch. When he sees the rushing water he runs back to the dump truck across the same metal panel that had fallen into the ditch, but it is now somehow back across the channel.
  
  
• Factual errors: Simon tells McCain that there is 13 billion dollars of gold in the dump truck. This would mean, at gold prices for 1995 ($400 USD an ounce) that the dump truck is hauling 1015 and a half tons. According to dieselpowermag.com 10 Largest Dump Trucks page (these are the massive open pit mining dump trucks) they carry anywhere from 400 to 280 tons. The Federal Reserve Bank holds about 5000 tons, equally divided by 14 dump trucks would mean each truck is hauling just over 347 tons (still more then the dump trucks in the movie could haul) and worth only $4.5 Billion USD.
  
  
• Factual errors: A snapping wire is not strong enough to cut a man in half.
  
  
• Factual errors: The train that John McClane intercepts with the Bomb is A red #3 Train. #3 trains are all Silver.
  
  
• Factual errors: They make a reference to flying a helicopter from Quebec to Nova Scotia. The 600 miles is too far for a small helicopter to fly in one leg, and would not make sense to try it.
  
  
• Factual errors: When Zeus enters Yankee Stadium, the Stadium was empty and the grounds crew was out taking care of the field. In reality, Zeus would not be allowed inside the stadium. You are only allowed inside baseball stadiums several hours prior to a game.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When McLean and Zeus solve the water riddle they realise that they need to pour water out of the full 5-gallon bottle into the 3-gallon bottle which currently contains 2 gallons, leaving 4 gallons behind. However the 5-gallon bottle needs to be full first, and it clearly isn't.
  
  
• Plot holes: Not one character who knows or comes to know of the Federal Reserve heist either remembers, cares, or thinks it important enough to mention that $13 billion of the stolen gold is laying in the Aquaduct following the dam explosion. All anyone seems concerned with is dredging the non-existent bullion from the bottom of Long Island Sound.
  
  
• Factual errors: Simon refers to McClane as Lieutenant and Detective. Lieutenant and Detective are different ranks and neither the rank of Lieutenant-Detective or Detective-Lieutenant exist in the NYPD.
  
  
• Errors in geography: Zeus drops off his "passenger" at Trinity Place and Cedar Street. Wall St Station is 0.3 miles away. There are 3 stations closer to this intersection.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): Simon calls McClane "Irish". A European would not refer to someone from the US as being anything other than American.
  
  

• Factual errors: SPOILER: When the Federal Reserve Bank guard decides to make an ultimately futile stand with the pump-action shotgun, he rattled off between 12 and 14 rounds without a reload. Commercially available pump shotguns hold 5 shells, military versions hold no more than nine.
  
  
• Factual errors: SPOILER: John & Zeus used 10 Gallons of water to answer Simon's riddle, not 9. Still, as stated before the rate of flow out of the elephant tusk is still to slow to fill the 10 gallon jug twice. Answer to Simon's riddle: 1) Fill 5 gallon jug from fountain (1st time) 2) Fill 3 gallon jug with water from 5 gallon jug leaving 2 gallons of water remaining in big jug. 3) Drain 3 gallon jug & pour remaining water (2 gal) from large jug into small jug. 4) Fill 5 gallon jug from fountain (2nd time) which = 10 gallons of water from fountain. 5) Finish filling 3 gallon jug with one gallon of water from 5 gallon jug, giving John & Zeus EXACTLY 4 gallons answering Simon's riddle.
  
  

Related Links