When the hot dog wagon starts to fall down the subway, the umbrella stays on the stairs. In the next shot, it is crushed by the wagon. In the next shot, it's back on the stairs.
John offers Tommy a cigarette from a Marlboro pack in the bar. Tommy clearly puts a Camel cigarette in his mouth.
Michael's cigarette swaps sides when hugging at the end.
When Shakes meets adult Carol at her apartment and they go inside, Carol unlaces and takes off her ankle boots. When she and Shakes are on her back patio shortly after she has the boots back on and fully laced.
When the young boys are looking into the Ice Capades' dressing room, the windows are covered by a wire mesh. Looking back at the peeping eye from the inside, there is no mesh.
The narrator reports the summer of 1968 as "the Summer of Love." This was actually a hippie-reference nickname given to the summer of 1967.
Defense Attorney Danny Snyder should have moved for a "motion for judgment of acquittal" after the state/prosecution rested their case. No lawyer would fail to make that motion because if granted, the defense does not have to put on a case because the State failed to meet its burden of proof during their case in chief. Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure Rule 29 (a) states "after the government closes its evidence or after the close of all the evidence, the court on the defendant's motion must enter a judgment of acquittal of any offense for which the evidence is insufficient to sustain a conviction." New York follows this Federal Rule as discussed in U.S. v. Irving, 682 F.Supp.2d 243 E.D.N.Y.(2010).
At the end of the movie, the outside of the courthouse says "United States Courthouse," making it a Federal Court. The trial took place in a State court.
When John Riley tells the bar tender to give the two men drinks at the end of the bar, the camera angle is from about halfway down the bar. A radiator is visible in the dining area in the back, but no tables or people are visible. When John comes back from the men's room and tells Tommy to look in the back room, Sean Nokes is visible from where they sit. He was not visible earlier because he was not in view from the bar until John walked into the room and saw him sitting there at a table by the window. The table was out of sight until Tommy looked in that direction.
When the boys are being driven to the detention center, the road has double yellow road stripes and yellow 'dashed' center stripes. Dashed center markings were still white until the early 1970s. While many roads still used white solid center markings, double yellow lines had been introduced in the 1950s, so they may have been on that road in the mid 1960s.
Shakes said John was found dead in a hallway with a bottle of gin next to him which killed him, but he is lying in a pool of blood. What killed him.
Brad Renfro plays "Michael" as a teenager. He had brown eyes. As an adult, he is played by Brad Pitt who has blue eyes.
In the mid 1960s, New York streetlight bulbs would have been mercury, not yellow sodium. Many streets would still have original cast iron lamps.
The bottles of Budweiser at Wilkinson's and at the 1981 bars are of the modern (1996) version and not the accurate (late 60's or early 80's) versions.
The Michelob box at the bar is the 1996 version and not the proper 1981 logo.
When the adult Shakes and Mike meet in Queens, a train of "Redbird" subway pass above them on the "7" line. In 1981, the cars were either all white or turquoise and white.
In the streets of New York in 1981, many extras are wearing current (mid 90's) Knicks jerseys and jackets that obviously were not around in 1981.
When the boys sit around a table and decide to keep quiet after Wilkinson, the camera's shadow is visible on Tommy's face and John's back. It moves as the shot tracks around the table.
During the trial, the outside scenes are shot at the Manhattan Municipal Building, which house city offices, not the courts. The courthouses (federal and state) and the district attorneys office are located at Foley Square, a few block north of the municipal building.
Shakes says he will meet Mike at 45th Street in Queens. He gets off the IRT subway at 45th Road in Long Island City. The real 45th Street is several miles further east, in the Astoria/Sunnyside section of Queens.
For the alibi to be believable, the priest would have had to have already said before the trial that the murderers were at the game with him. The murderers would also have had to mention they were at the game.
No judge would allow a prosecutor to call a "character witness" for a murder victim, a man whose character was in no way in question until Michael introduced it as an issue.
Jerry the bartender would have been called as a witness at the trial.
The DA would have easily been identified as one of the imprisoned boys and a friend of the accused.
When Father Bobby visits young Shakes at Wilkinson.
The priest says that it took Michelangelo 9 years to paint the Sistine Chapel ceiling. It took 4 years to paint the ceiling, and 4 more to paint 'The Last Judgement' on the wall behind the altar. The recent restoration and cleaning of the Michelangelo frescoes in the chapel took 9 years.
When King Benny is speaking with Little Caesar, he incorrectly says "My clear is debt" instead of "My debt is clear".