Bobby's hair is long throughout the film, except when he talks with about going out again and about his black eye. Then, his hair is short.
When Irene runs to The Crow's Nest's during the storm, she closes her umbrella before she enters. After she gets inside, she closes it again.
When the Weather Service meteorologist is explaining what will cause the perfect storm, the head of the Count von Count doll from Sesame Street (1969) on the computer changes position by itself.
Just before the Andrea Gail is overturned and sunk, she is shown from above approaching a giant wave, with her stablizing "out-riggers" deployed. The next shot she is shown head-on and they are not in view. Finally, she is shown from above again, climbing the wave, and the stablizers are again deployed.
When the captain is about to tell the crew about the broken ice machine the camera pans out to the crew who all stop what they're doing. Murph is holding two fins that apparently have just been cut from a fish. When the captain says the ice machine's "had it" the fins are no longer in Murph's hands, nor are they by his feet (in the event that he dropped them).
When the Andrea Gail enters the eye of the storm, the waters become calm. In reality the air would be calm and the skies clearer, but the seas would be just as bad as ever, on account of churning from the surrounding hurricane's eye-wall winds.
The sailboat rescue was performed by the US Coast Guard; not the Air National Guard as shown in the film. Also ANG helicopters don't usually carry the type of rescue basket shown in the rescue since their primary mission is the rescue of military personnel.
(Confirmed by citation of the book and USCG reports and news sources.)
When the Hurricane Hunter flies through Hurricane Grace, the man reading the wind speed gauge says "winds over 140 knots, category 5." Grace was never higher than a CAT 2, with maximum winds of 100 mph.
Under no circumstances would the evacuees from the Mistral be allowed to lean over the railing of the Coast Guard cutter in a hurricane to observe the helicopter crew being rescued from the water.
After the Andrea Gail returns to Gloucester with its first catch of swordfish, the dock and plant workers pack the fish in cubed ice. In reality, fresh fish is packed in shaved ice.
Although Tyne, Shatford, and Sully were the only fisherman from Gloucester who died at sea, the wall lists the names of all men who lost their lives while working as professional fisherman who sailed out of Gloucester, regardless of where they actually lived.
Early in the movie, the body of a Gloucester fisherman who died at sea is removed from a rival fishing boat. At the end of the film, he is not listed on the wall of lost fishermen for 1991. The wall lists only those lost at sea, not those whose bodies were recovered.
Seagulls are visible while the Andrea Gail is fishing at the Flemish Caps. Seagulls are found far at sea in the Atlantic; they can live on and between ships in the area.
On the USCG Cutter, the officer is referred to as "Captain," but his hat shows the insignia of a Commander in the USN & USCG. Any commanding officer of a seagoing vessel is called "Captain" while on board.
In the middle of the storm, the TV in the Gail's lower room keeps showing a perfect image because it's playing a video. The TV's anchor bracket could be behind the TV, much like a removable car stereo.
As the Andrea Gail sails up the wave that will flip the ship over, it is at almost a 90 degree angle, yet the captain and Bobby seem to have no problem keeping their balance.
FLIPPED SHOT: The David Clark "DC" logo is backwards on the jet pilots' headsets, revealing the use of a mirror image.
During the later storm sequences in the pilot house of the Andrea Gail, after the windows are broken out, the water droplets falling from overhead fall vertically with the pull of gravity. That means the camera was tilted, and the actors were leaning to heighten the appearance of rough seas.
When the weatherman is reviewing Hurricane Grace and the weather front covering New England, he clicks on the New England area to zoom in. When the new window opens, 447992x.tif is in the top left corner. A .tif is an image file, meaning the weatherman is looking at images, and not a real radar screen.
At the beginning of the movie, when Bobby Shatford is picking up his paycheck from Bob Brown, he complains that his share is not high enough. As Brown explains the numbers, he makes two mathematical errors. First he calculates 21,000 pounds of fish at 3.50/pound as $73,000; it's actually $73,500. That may have been just a verbal rounding since he says the net after expenses is $38,500 which is correct. However, Brown goes on to explain how the half shared by the crew ($19,250 after he gets his 1/2 share as owner) is split - 2 shares for the captain, 1 share for each of 4 men and 3/4 share for Shatford. That means there are 6 3/4 shares, which means each full share is worth $2,852. Shatford's 3/4 share is worth $2,139, not the $2,221 quoted in the move, so he is actually getting paid too much.
During the movie, they show a U.S. Coast Guard cutter (which is what they call their ships). The cutter shown is a 210' "Reliance" class MEC (Medium Endurance Cutter), and in the movie they call it the "Tamaroa", which is the name of an auxiliary tug retired in 1946. They also show the hull number as '348', while the "Reliance" class all have hull numbers that begin with a '6', and there has *never* been a USCG cutter with the hull number of '348'. Likely this was done for historical reasons, because they didn't know which cutters responded to the storm, or for copyright reasons.
At one point in the movie, they show a Coast Guard ship in action. The ship is a 210' "Reliance" class MEC (Medium Endurance Cutter), and in the movie they call it the "Tamaroa", which was actually a Coast Guard auxiliary tug retired in 1946. Also, they show the bow number clearly in a couple of shots, and it reads "248", while the 210's had bow numbers that started with 6, not 2. However, there may have been legal or security reasons for the change of name and bow number.
Set in 1991, but a newspaper has a Kia advertisement. Kia sold its first U.S. cars in 1994.
In the weather forecaster's office, a mid-1990s model Macintosh computer is visible on a desk in the background.
A cereal box on the boat has a food pyramid on its spine. The food pyramid was first published in 1992.
While the men are in the lower chamber watching movies, a copy of "Blade Runner (1982) The Director's Cut" on the table. The movie is set in 1991, the director's cut was released in 1992.
At the beginning of the movie, when the Andrea Gail and the Hannah Bowden enter Gloucester Harbor together, a Leisure Casino Cruises casino boat is tied up at a pier in the background. Leisure Casino Cruises started running out of Gloucester in 1998.
At 38 minutes 35 seconds Alfred Pierre is sharpening his knife, and the sound of the knife on the stone extends to after they are no longer in contact.
After the ship has been bashed by the rogue wave, the crew is forced to replace the windows on the starboard side of the bridge with either plywood, or some other form of sheeting. A crew member is picked up by the wind underneath the covering and tossed overboard. Wires are very visible when the man is airborne.
When Billy Tyne talks to Bobby Shatford in the captain's loft of the ship, a crew member is reflected in one of the instruments as the camera pans around.
When the shark is thrashing around on the deck, the small platform on which it is mounted is visible in the low shot looking head on.
The story is set in Massachusetts in late October, when leaves would already have turned color. In shots with the hillsides in view, the trees are all green.
After the boat leaves the harbor again, there is an on-screen message that it never made contact again. So the rest of the movie is just speculation - not a documentary.
When John C. Reilly's character "Murph" is dropping off his son at the son's home after their bar playdate the boy begins to cry as Murph is telling him his Mother may find him a new dad. As the boy begins to cry he lifts him up and puts him on his lap to console him. When he places his hand on the boys head you can clearly see a Wedding Band Tan line from a recently removed wedding ring inconsistent with the characters current relationship status.