When Katherine Graham visits Robert McNamara at his house and as McNamara is angrily warning Graham about what Nixon could do to her and her newspaper, with the camera at his back facing her, finger is pointing at her but when the scene switches to her perspective, he clearly has his hands at his sides.
As Katherine Graham and Ben Bradlee leave the press room floor after watching the workers assemble the edition of The Washington Post that reported their victory at the Supreme Court, we hear their conversation from a distance as they walk along the work floor, passing between two barriers that prevent people from falling between floors.
Their conversation continues as there's a more distant shot of them, but they are further back between the barriers than in the previous shot.
In the previous shot, they had been near the end of the two barriers but in the subsequent shot, they are back towards the middle.
Their conversation continues as there's a more distant shot of them, but they are further back between the barriers than in the previous shot.
In the previous shot, they had been near the end of the two barriers but in the subsequent shot, they are back towards the middle.
When Ben Bradlee is slamming down newspapers on the coffee table in front of Kay Graham, a scene shows a Detroit Free Press. He continues to slam two more down, but in the final close-up of the coffee table, there is only one additional newspaper after the Free Press.
Kay and her maid are standing at the left side of the long table being prepared for her birthday party. The door bell rings and the shot changes to Kay walking to answer the door and her maid is now standing at the right side of the table.
When the Post's team is sorting out the McNamara papers at Ben's house, one of them has a cigarette in his mouth and when cut, it suddenly moves to his hand. (1:05:06)
The film shows Washington Post trucks delivering newspapers when the Post's edition of the Pentagon Papers hits the street. The Washington Post did not own delivery trucks. The paper was distributed by independent drivers using their own unmarked trucks, usually white step vans.
At the beginning of the movie, when Ellsberg takes that first briefcase full of papers out for photocopying, the sign on the wall by the guards says "Rand Corporation". Ignoring how unlikely it is that such a sign would have been there at all, if it were it would certainly read "RAND Corporation". That's because "RAND" is an acronym/contraction for "R and D". For that reason it's ALWAYS expressed in uppercase.
When Post reporters watch Walter Cronkite report on the federal injunction filed against the Times, the television is tuned to Channel 4. The CBS affiliate in Washington D.C. (owned by the Post!) was on Channel 9.
When Post staffer goes to a pay phone to call Ellsberg, he apparently direct dials a long distance number, something you couldn't do from a pay phone in 1971.
When McNamara's plane lands in Washington towards the beginning of the movie, and he meets reporters to answer questions, there is a sign on the wall behind one of the reporters that says 'United States Air Force - Fort Andrews'. The Air Force doesn't have forts, they have bases - the correct designation would be 'Andrews Air Force Base'
Film opens with caption that it's 1966 yet "Green River" by Credence Clearwater Revival is playing on the soundtrack. The song was issued in August 1969.
The song isn't being played on a radio, it isn't being broadcast on a speaker, and a character is not playing a record with this song therefore this is just background "Vietnam-era" music and therefore not a goof.
If there was a radio broadcasting this song or if there had been a speaker playing this song or if there had been a character playing this song on a record, then it would be considered a goof.
The song isn't being played on a radio, it isn't being broadcast on a speaker, and a character is not playing a record with this song therefore this is just background "Vietnam-era" music and therefore not a goof.
If there was a radio broadcasting this song or if there had been a speaker playing this song or if there had been a character playing this song on a record, then it would be considered a goof.
When Ben Bagdikian goes outside from the Washington Post building to a pay phone, there is a skyscraper in the background that is 20-25 stories tall. But Washington DC has had a building height limit of roughly 130' (13 stories) since about 1900.
When Ellsberg first opens the cover of the Pentagon Papers binder, the three Accopress type binding pins are then shown being immediately pulled out. This type of binding pin would have to be first straightened at the opposite end before it could be removed.
Meryl Streep, as Kay Graham, is wearing specially made high heels throughout the film to give Streep the height she needed for the role. The high heels have very large platform soles and were certainly not in style in 1971. Graham was 5'9" and Streep is 5'6". The same technique was used in "Julie & Julia" when Streep needed to play the 6'2" Julia Child.
In several scenes, NY Times' Abe Rosenthal has visible lines showing along his forehead and hairline where the wig was glued down causing the skin to ripple and crease around it. The hairlines of the wigs on several other characters are also quite noticeable and distracting at times.
When Ben goes to Daniel's motel room and the door is opened, the air conditioning window unit is seen in shadow, but we can see the curtains, shades and light coming through as it has no motor or other solid workings. Later, when see it in the window from the interior a complete air conditioning window unit is shown.
The informational card under the dial of the payphone used by Ben Bagdikian to call Ellsberg includes instructions on using a calling card to make a phone call. Calling card technology did not exist until the mid-1970s, and did not gain widespread use until years later.
Robert McNamara is seen wearing a Ralph Lauren Polo golf shirt. The scene takes place in 1971. Ralph Lauren introduced the shirt in 1972. McNamara probably would have been wearing a Lacoste "Alligator" (or more precisely, "Crocodile" - Rene Lacoste's nickname) shirt.
Ellsberg's bushy hair and longish sideburns weren't out of place in 1971, but in 1966 very few men outside of rock musicians had hair that covered their ears and if one looks at pictures of Ellsberg while he was in Vietnam, he had close cropped hair.
The movie begins in 1966, then shows a movie poster for Butch Cassidy & the Sundance Kid which wasn't released until 1969. In reality, the Pentagon Papers were not copied by Ellsberg until 1969 so the poster is appropriate.
When Bob Haldeman calls Katharine Graham, he tells her that "...we have a bit of an issue here." The colloquial misuse of "issue" to mean "problem" did not begin to become normalized in American English until the late 1980s/early 1990s.
The US Capitol is shown in the distance in an exterior scene of The Washington Post building. At the time of the Pentagon Papers the Washington Post building was located at 1515 L Street, 15 blocks north and west of the Capitol, making such a view impossible.