I was a little late in catching Sahara, well OK, a lot late, just having watched it on DVD. With as many references that CC has made in his novels, and considering his record in discovering and salvaging Confederate shipwrecks I was taken aback by two very blatant blunders in Sahara. The first occured in the opening scence as the Texas was steaming down the James River. The camera pans over her stern and there on the mast is the Stars and Bars, also known as the First National flag of the Confederacy. This flag was replaced twice by 1865. The Third National flag of the Confederacy should have been flying, a white flag with the Confederate battle flag in the upper left hand corner and a red strip along the edge. The second infraction when occured when Dirk was talking to Sandecker about the Confederate gold dollars that Jefferson Davis had minted. He mentioned that they we given to all his top general's and listed Robert E. Lee and Stonewall Jackson. General Jackson had been dead for over two years by April 1865. I'm assuming that Hollywood took a liberal view of historical accuracy for the sake of familiarity!

Now that I have that off my chest, I really enjoyed the film and certainly hope it's the start of a franchise.

Never, ever count on historical accuracy from Hollywood!!! p:

Maybe Davis gave the gold dollar to Stonewall Jackson before his death, around 1863. Just a guess, we'll never know. Remember, it's just a movie! p:

You hit the nail on the head with that, you old sea dog.

The real Texas which was captured before completion by the Union Army only had two cannon mounted-one fore and one aft. l was wondering about Stonewall Jackson also.

That would be my guess. Few people would have recognized the third flag of the Confederacy or known what it was. Heck, I've never even heard of it. Also, how many Confederate generals can the common person name? Especially if the movie is also being targeted to international audiences who may be less familiar with U.S. Civil War details (although international people tend to know more American history than most Americans do :lol: ).

Great finds, though. You certainly know your Civil War history! det:

Are we seriously debating whether the movie adaptation of a novel that featured, among other thiings, the abduction of Abe Lincoln, is historically accurate?
:lol:

Excellent point!

Hollywood runs on it's own timeline which all of us little people fail to understand. :lol:

Not just their own timeline, Hollywood has its own sense of geography, also. I remember seeing the scene in `Bird on a Wire` where Mel Gibson and Goldie Hawn caught a ferry boat ride from Detroit,MI to Racine, Wisconsin. :blink:

And that was the same BC Ferry ride that Julie took when she came to see me. :blink:

That movie was one of the first big budgets to be filmed here

There is no accounting for historical accuracy in the movies. My dad was a historical techincal advisor on the movie The Great Raid (Joesph Fiennes, Benjamin Bratt), and it was panned for being "too accurate". Please! :blink:

Good spotting, of course being a Kiwi they could've had the Stars & Stripes flying on that ship and I wouldn't have picked it! I never seem to notice out of place things like that in a movie til the second viewing.
As for Hollywood, there is a saying History is written by the victors. I think we should add - And then rewritten by Hollywood! :lol:

I can forgive the wrong flag. There's only one Confederate flag most people are familiar with, the stars and bars on a red field. The Thing that gets me is MM keeps saying it's a gold dollar when it's a 20 dollar coin.