When Elwood is lying by the side of the pool having been beaten up, he is surrounded by splotches of his own blood which vanish shortly afterwards.
The plates on Elwood's Mercedes change from Euro Karlsruhe plates to old Mannheim plates.
While making the heroin, the characters eat lots of meat to stop themselves getting high off the fumes. This wouldn't work in real life.
Sergeant Lee wears a Combat Infantryman Badge with two stars (third award) on his uniform. In order to qualify for this he would have to have fought in WWII and the Korean War as well as the Vietnam War. US Army enlisted personnel usually must retire after 30 years of service. This film is set in 1989, which is 36 years after the Korean war and 44 years after WWII.
American forces are not allowed to display German license plates on their vehicles unless their spouses are citizens of the host country and live off base.
The raid on the drug manufacturing lab was beyond absurd. First Sergeants command enlisted members of a Company they do not in any way participate in or direct law enforcement activities on a military installation unless they are assigned to an MP or CID unit, that would be CID, Military Police,the FBI and DEA.
In the bar in 1989 there's a Williams "Diner" pinball machine. This machine was first manufactured in January 1990. However, this is not considered a Goof as the IMDB guidance emphasizes the allowance of "artistic license" and to not "nitpick" the movies. A less-than-a-year time difference in the making of a machine is considered "of the period" and, thus, not an Anachronism Goof.
When Elwood looks at Sergeant Lee's personnel file on the computer, it says his date of birth is 10/08/1954. The film is set in October 1989 which would make him 35 years old. Scott Glenn was 60 when this film was made.
When Elwood is firing the machine gun at his Merc, the bullets in the gun first appear to be real (before firing). However, as firing begins, it is apparent that there are blanks loaded on the chain (crimped ends instead of a bullet).
The M16 rifles shown through most of the film including all the new ones off the trucks, are Chinese-made Norinco CQ clones of the M16. These have markedly different furniture (stocks and accessories) so look very different from Army issued M16s even at a distance. This is presumably because filming occurred in Germany and without US DOD assistance due to subject matter, so were the easiest similar rifles to get ahold of in quantity.
During the opening football scene, the ball is thrown by a left-handed person, but when shown in a closeup, the spiral on the ball indicates it was thrown by a right-handed person.
At the start, in the establishing shot of Theodore Roosevelt US Army base in Stuttgart, there appears to be a very large amount of activity. Between eighty and one hundred soldiers are marching, and on the move are at least three jeeps, five or six armored tracked vehicles, two full-sized tanks and six or seven personnel carriers. Overhead there's a flight of no fewer than ten helicopters. The camera then passes through a window to a mess hall full of soldiers enjoying some rest time. These two things do not appear to be compatible. So much personnel and equipment being mobilized in peacetime in a normal Western European civilian city could only happen as part of a special display, in which case it would be unlikely to find any soldiers free to take a break.
Elwood's Mercedes and the other civil cars in the camp have German license plates. Before 2000 the license plates of the US Army were different. Their size and shape were identical to original US license plates. Numbers and letters were relevant only for administration. Between the pair of letters and the three-digit number, the letters "USA" were placed.
During the opening scene, Elwood's Mercedes carries a Karlsruhe temporary plate (KA-04xxxx) of the 1995 European model.
Characters are shown listening to "Bear Witness" by Dr. Octagon (Kool Keith), which wasn't released until 1996. The movie is set in 1989.
When Sgt. Lee and his daughter are in the car after the Civil War party, she asks him if he wants to kill Elwood, to which he asks her what she's talking about. She asks, "Do you?" However, her lips do not move when saying that line.
When they pick up the HMMWV (High Mobility Multipurpose Wheeled Vehicle), they are talking to Sgt. Lee as they climb in. When they shut the door, it is heard to slam shut with the lock clicking. The doors fitted to this type of HMMWV are soft doors, which don't make a noise when they close, nor do they have a lock. They close by turning a plastic handle.
Elwood disables the girl's car by disconnecting the battery
link, but when she tries to start it you can hear the car turn over. If the battery was disconnected there would have been no response from the engine at all. Elwood doesnt have a wrench to disconnect the battery. He pulls the distributor cap wire. Then the car can turn over without starting.
When Elwood claps eyes on Robyn at the swimming pool while talking to Liz Berman, Liz asks sarcastically, "See something you like, Elwood?", but Elizabeth McGovern's mouth does not match this.
When the tank runs over the Volkswagen Beetle, the cable holding it down so it doesn't get pushed along can be seen. (It's painted to blend in with the road.)
During the news account near the end, Ray Elwood is referred to multiple times as a Private. He is explicitly referred to as pay grade E4 by the Colonel, (which equates to Specialist or Corporal) and repeatedly called a Specialist or Spec 4 throughout the film by other soldiers and officers.
The town where the US depot is located is named Siegelsbach, not Seigelsbach.
An Army First Sergeant is an E8, the same rank as a Master Sergeant. However, as the "top" senior enlisted member of a company sized element, they oversee all subordinate Non commissioned Officers. While they are referred to as "Top" referring to them as "Sergeant" instead of "First Sergeant" especially by lower enlisted soldiers is disrespectful of their rank and would most certainly result in an ass chewing by not only the First Sergeant, but other NCOs in their chain of command.