Liking horses as I do, I was extremely irritated in the submarine movie "Crimson Tide" when Denzel Washington and Gene Hackman have an ongoing argument about whether Lippizaner horses are from Spain or Portugal. It's finally revealed Lippizaner horses are from Spain.
No! Lippizaner horses are from Austria, by way of Slovenia (once a part of Austria). They perform at the "Spanish Riding School", but that's in Vienna, despite its name.
From Lipica, Slovenia originally (part of Austrian Empire at the time) and now bred in Austria. They are descended from Andalusian (Spanish) stock but originated as a separate breed in Lipica.
http://www.electrocatalysis.ki.si/lipica.html
William Wallace's epic battle at Stirling in the movie Braveheart takes place in an open field. In truth; they had waited at Stirling bridge until a manageable number of enemy combatants had crossed the narrow bridge and then attacked; leaving the English no way of sending their entire Army to assist in short order. I still don't understand why such a brilliant military tactic was completely ignored by one of my favorite films.
Never argue with a horse lover. They know their stuff!
Caprice: I got my information directly from the
Spanische Hofreitschule: I'm pretty confident that they know what they're talking about.
Sorry folks for the digression from the topic....
Yes, joefromchicago, The Spanische Hofreitschule knows what they're talking about. Lippizaners are Spanish-type by genetics, they're descended from Spanish stock (and others), but were bred into a new breed in Slovenia (Austria at the time). Note the Spanische Hofreitschule, despite its name, is in Vienna, Austria. Check the history section of their site and they'll mention Lipica, Slovenia as the first stud farm site in 1580, started with Spanish stock. There are no Lippizaner horses from Spain.
By the same token, the Thoroughbred, although descended from Arabian and Turkish stock, is not Arabian nor Turkish- it's an English breed.
Let's drop this and get back to the main thread.
Equus wrote:Note the Spanische Hofreitschule, despite its name, is in Vienna, Austria.
Having spent a good deal of time in Vienna, I am well aware that the Spanische Hofreitschule is in Vienna.
And now, back to your regularly scheduled discussion thread.
Bill: I've raised the point about the inaccuracy of "Braveheart's" battle sequences in
another thread. In general, films don't do a very good job of depicting battles accurately, but "Braveheart" really stands out for its blunders (the Irish and Scots troops having a jolly reunion at the battle of Falkirk? Oh please!).
Other war movie mistakes:
"Patton" (1970):
All the tanks were post-war, and the German tanks were American.
"Glory" (1989):
When the 54th is just below the palisade of Fort Wagner, you can see Confederates lighting and throwing dynamite at the 54th below. Dynamite wasn't patented until 1867 by Alfred Nobel.
"The Longest Day" (1962):
Most of the Americans armed with Thompson submachine guns are wearing M1 rifle clip ammo belts instead of Thompson magazine belts.
A search through the
Internet Movie Database would reveal many similar goofs.
In Terminater 2 the (fluid metal) terminater arrives in our time naked, he gets clothes by killing a cop and stealing his uniform, later he crashes a rig into a concrete bridge, minutes later he emerges from the fireball"naked" but the uniform reappears.
He might be poly mimetic alloy but the uniform wasn't.
Has anyone mentioned the infamous scene in "The Green Berets" where they watch the sun set over the ocean (the ocean is eastward from Vietnam)
Also, if I remember correctly, "Blackhawk Down" shows Somali Muslims praying in the direction of the rising sun (east); but Mecca is almost due north of Mogadishu, so they should be bowing north.
Shakespeare is not above mistakes. In "Julius Caesar" a clock strikes the hour, but they didn't have such clocks in Caesar's day.
Mel Gibson's The Passion of the Christ is reported to have multiple errors, long haired Jesus, latin speaking people,.., and more.
