- Incorrectly regarded as goofs: When McNeal first visits Tillie, he has no camera nor a photographer with him. The next morning, city editor Kelly is holding a paper with a photo of Tillie scrubbing the stairs. However, it is possible that McNeal sent a photographer back after meeting Tillie, since when he first met her he wasn't sure she was the right person.
- Errors in geography: Continually throughout the film, McNeal incorrectly refers to Springfield and Joliet as "up there", when really these cities are southwest of Chicago. Then, when visiting Springfield, he incorrectly refers to Chicago as "down there" while Chicago is really to his north. This is the opposite of how Illinoisans would refer to these areas. Springfield and Joliet are south of Chicago and are always referred to as "down there" or, more often, "downstate," from a Chicagoan's point of view. When visiting Springfield, you'd go back "up" to Chicago. Illinoisans' terminology of "up there" and "down there" always respectively follow the north and south directions of the map. In addition, when Kelly says he stopped at the prison outside Joliet while on his way to Decatur, McNeal suggests this is just an excuse as Decatur is in the opposite direction; in fact, Decatur is in central Illinois, and Joliet would indeed be on the way there from Chicago.
- Continuity: When Frank takes the lie detector test he tells the operative he is 5 ft 9 inches tall. Later when McNeal finds the arrest card, it describes Frank as 5 ft 8 inches tall.
- Continuity: Various characters refer to the murdered police officer as John W. Bundy, but the police record of the case shows his name as W.W. Bundy.
- Errors in geography: Wanda's Grocery at 1226 S. Ashland is shown to the right of address 1224. This is opposite from how even-numbered addresses are arranged on the south side of Chicago.
- Incorrectly regarded as goofs: At some point in this film someone refers to Soldier Field as 'Soldiers Field' - a mistake that a Chicagoan would not make. However, there is a feature of Chicago neighborhood slang of adding an unnecessary possessive "s" to the name of local institutions: somebody going for groceries at the Jewel Food Store chain would say they were headed "by the Jewel's."
>>> WARNING: Here Be Spoilers <<<
Goofs below here contain information that may give away important plot points. You may not want to read any further if you've not already seen this title.
- Factual errors: SPOILER: It's highly unlikely that there would have been enough resolution in the original print to see a headline, let alone read the date on the newspaper. If there were, they would have been able to easily see the date with a simple magnifying glass. Only photographic enlargement performed on the original negative could possibly reveal additional small details. Instead they created a new negative from the print in order to make the enlargements. Since the new negative is made from the print, there is no way to recreate details that can't be seen on that print in the first place. If your original is missing enough legibility to see the fine details, no amount of copying or enlarging can possibly improve upon that.
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