Goofs for
Firefox (1982) More at IMDb Pro »

• Errors in geography: When the Soviet "hotline" phone sounds in an extreme close-up, we see the GTE logo on the bottom of the phone...
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: Wires supporting the MiG-31 model are clearly visible in a close-up just when the plane touches down on the glacier.
  
  
• Continuity: The Firefox rolls over the same guard twice when blasting out of the hanger.
  
  

• Continuity: The number on the side of the submarine conning tower is visible when the sub is below the ice pack but has vanished when the sub is above the ice.
  
  
• Factual errors: The shots of the altimeter in the Firefox show a different altimeter setting on every shot. This would not happen on any flight. Also, the altimeter setting of 2819, shown shortly before the landing on the glacier, is virtually impossible. Even the center of a Category 5 hurricane could not have such a low pressure.
  
  
• Errors in geography: The speaker phone box in Col. Kontarsky's office has AT&T on it, highly unlikely in USSR.
  
  
• Continuity: After the explosion in the hangar, you can see Mr. Gant in the shower during the alarm. A few moments later he's seen in his pilot's uniform heading toward the "Firefox". It's very unlikely that Mr. Gant can go from the shower to having a pilot's uniform in the hanger area in such a short period of time.
  
  
• Errors in geography: When he exits the Subway you can see on the other Side still written "Suedtirolerplatz" and you see a map of the Vienna subway net.
  
  
• Continuity: When the subway stops for the first time, there's an older man with gray hair leaving the train. Then as the subway moves again, you can see the man is still sitting in the wagon.
  
  
• Errors made by characters (possibly deliberate errors by the filmmakers): When leaving the Moscow Hotel, Gant purchases a Havana cigar and smokes it on his way to the meeting. Later at the Russian scientists' house, Gant says that he has not smoked for years and is told to learn again as this will provide credibility to his disguise as a Russian officer.
  
  
• Factual errors: After the Firefox is stolen, General Vladimirov explains to the First Secretary that in order to maximize fuel range, Gant will have to control his speed and fly low to conserve fuel. The part about controlling his speed is true enough: speed, particularly with afterburners, is the enemy of fuel consumption, but flying low is exactly the opposite of what he should do. Airplanes - jets, in particular - burn far less fuel at higher altitudes where the air is thin than down low where it is thicker.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When taking off from the ice floe, the Firefox has its air brakes fully extended, a highly inefficient way to take off.
  
  
• Continuity: When the submarine goes up to break through the ice, you can see an antenna or periscope sticking out above the submarine. When seconds later it's broken through the ice and at the surface no antenna or periscope is visible.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: After the interrogated detainee is 'killed' during the interrogation, one of the veins on the actors neck highly visibly continues to show a pulse.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: On the way from the airport several non-Soviet cars are visible parked one by one along the road. Highly unlikable in the Soviet 80's.
  
  
• Factual errors: Through all the movie Soviet officials keep demanding papers - VASHI BUMAGI (your papers), whilst correct way to demand them in Russian is VASHI DOCUMENTY - your docs (ID).
  
  
• Factual errors: In the Soviet Union no foreign car were used by state owned companies like delivery service. But despite having Soviet's offroader UAZ logo on the hood and similarity with UAZ 452 in general, they do drive a foreign delivery car from Moscow to Bilyarsk.
  
  
• Factual errors: Russian words on Firefox's screen related to the ammo are messy and the last one has nothing to do with it.
  
  
• Factual errors: There're no lavatories for the public in Moscow metro. Original 80's Moscow metro trains are also much older then the ones in the movie.
  
  
• Errors in geography: There's no Kirov str. within walking range by Kolomenskaya metro station.
  
  
• Continuity: When Gantt steals Firefox from the hangar, it's dark outside. However, as he takes off from the runway, rather oddly it's daytime!
  
  
• Factual errors: The Aeroflot plane that Gant buzzes shortly after stealing Firefox from the Soviet airbase is clearly a Boeing 727 as opposed to the similarly configured Tupolev Tu-154 that would've been flying in the Aeroflot fleet at the time. Also, the plane's livery features a wide red stripe down the fuselage, whereas all Aeroflot liveries throughout the Cold War have been blue.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: After one of the metro trains pulls out of the station in 'Moscow', the German word 'KURZZUG' (=short train) is clearly visible on the wall behind it - indicating that a German-speaking country (in fact Austria) was used to double for the USSR.
  
  
• Plot holes: The entire performance of the "thought guided" missile system that was highly touted was never realized as the breakthrough it was, albeit it totally unrealistic. His contact inside the U.S.S.R. even said, "now, you don't even have to push a button...", yet in the first battle scene inside the Firefox, Gant is manually arming the weapons systems, with the gun firing (red) button, no less. Additionally, we are told at the beginning that the "sensors inside the helmet" automatically seek out and detect threats according to the pilot's thoughts, yet in the final scenes, it is a long, drawn-out dogfight. If what was true about the thought-guided threat attack system, the second prototype that was attacking Gant would have never survived after the first missile attack. Instead, Gant is taking evasive action for minute after minute, needlessly flying through mountains, doing barrel rolls and all kinds of acrobatic maneuvers. Yet, he did not think to launch the "rearward" missile until after he recovered from his flat spin by lowering the landing gear?
  
  
• Factual errors: There is no way that an American submarine of the time could be fitted to carry highly volatile aviation fuel. By it's very nature, the static electricity generated by a submarine during normal operations would have ignited it, let alone the buoyancy problems it would have created, let alone the massive weight involved. American fast attack submarines were meant to carry missiles, and not serve as a fuel ferry. Even for the time, and even now, the idea of carrying over 20,000 lbs. of jet fuel aboard a submarine is totally preposterous.
  
  
• Miscellaneous: Whenever the Firefox launches a missile, it shows a single launch from the Firefox's weapon's display, yet from the target view, two balls of light representing the missiles are showing--no air-to-air missile, known or unknown, can split mid-flight, let alone track the same target twice.
  
  
• Plot holes: After the Firefox has landed on the ice floe, he asks the sub commander to steam off a 3,000 foot runway in the three minutes he has until the Soviet investigative forces arrive. There is no way that the sub crew could steam a section of ice that long in three minutes, let alone go back to the sub, find the hoses, hook them up, let alone have 3,000 feet of steaming hose, let alone having enough pressure to do the job.
  
  

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