Black Hawk Down

Other mistake: During the scene when Pilla is killed there is a sniper on the roof of a building firing an AK-47 at the vehicles. If you look at his hands you'll notice they are caucasian. The other Somalis are black. (00:46:25)

Other mistake: In one scene a pair of soldiers cut off from the main body of troops are trying to link up with some of their comrades. When the camera zooms in for a close-up of the soldier carrying an M-60 machine gun, the weapon appears to be loaded with a belt of blank rounds. (00:54:35)

Other mistake: The credits (and various websites) lists Canadian-born actor Kim Coates as portraying the character Wex, but he actually plays Master Sergeant Tim "Griz" Martin. (02:12:40)

Griz

Other mistake: When several of the Rangers are carrying Blackburn's litter up to the target building and they cross an intersection, you can spot an empty, stationary Black Hawk helicopter at roof level further down that alley/street as one of the Rangers fires at the Somalis. This was after all the Black Hawks had gone into their holding pattern. (00:48:15)

Other mistake: During Mike Durant's capture the helicopter circling overhead that broadcasts "Mike Durant we won't leave you behind!" is the voice of Tom Sizemore who plays Col. McKnight - it even says so in close captioning." Col. McKnight was in the streets of Mogadishu engaged in battle at that time. (01:44:45)

Factual error: In the first 15 minutes of the movie, a Delta Force operative is seen wearing a pair of Oakley X-Metal Juliets. The events portrayed in the movie took place in 1993. Oakley didn't make the Juliets until 1999. (00:05:02)

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Randy D. Shughart: My love, you are strong and you will do well in life. I love you and my children deeply. Today and tomorrow, each day grow and grow. Keep smiling and never give up, even when things get you down. So, in closing, my love... Tonight, tuck my children in bed warmly. Tell them I love them. Then hug them for me. And give them both a kiss good night for Daddy.

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Trivia: According to veterans of the actual event, when the Rangers got the go-ahead for the mission and were getting their gear ready, "Welcome to the Jungle" by Guns N Roses was playing on the base's loudspeakers. There were some half-serious comments among the men about the appropriateness of this song. However, the film's producers failed to secure the rights to use "Welcome to the Jungle," so they substituted Faith No More's "Falling to Pieces"--which is perhaps thematically in line with what happened on the raid. (00:27:28)

rbryant73

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Question: Why did the film makers portray Sgt. Eversmann as the main character/hero of the story? I've read the book and his involvement was minimal.

Answer: The answer to this question is quite simple. Whenever any book is put on to the screen things must be glorified in order to catch the eye of a film goer. In movies like this one, heroes, brave men, and down right bad ass characters are what people need to see. If the movie was just like the book, there would be just a whole bunch of equally important characters, which is something very rarely seen in movies. So in short they made sgt Eversmann a main character simply because the movie needed one.

That makes sense but does anyone know why Eversmann was the specific soldier chosen as the focus for the movie?

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