The Green Mile goofs

The film, set in 1935, portrays executions in Louisiana as being carried out by electrocution, even though the Louisiana Legislature did not replace hanging with electrocution until 1940.

(at around 2h 5 mins) Although Scotch tape was invented in the 1930s, it had a yellowish tint and would not have been used over a person's mouth. It did not possess the tackiness of contemporary parcel tape and would come away immediately when exposed to saliva. Instead, white cloth adhesive bandages supplied on a metal reel that sat in a steel sleeve would have been used. Early Johnson & Johnson Band-Aids (plasters) were made of cloth with a sticky white adhesive that left residue on removal. Transparent parcel tape did not become widespread until the 1980s. Even the packaging tape available in the 1970s, made from the same plastic, tended to be brown.

(at around 1 hr 14 mins) Although the film is set in 1935, Eduard Delacroix is shown reading a November 1937 copy of "Weird Tales".

(at around 25 minutes) It is highly improbable that a radio station in 1930s Louisiana would have played a recording by Billie Holiday.

(at around 58 minutes) On the desk in "E-Block" at Cold Mountain sits a small black clock. It is next to the telephone and faces the wall behind the desk. When Wild Bill is brought into the cell block and a fight breaks out, the clock is knocked off the desk. That moment clearly reveals the timepiece: a Westclox Big Ben "Style 5". The "Style 5" was designed by Henry Dreyfuss and introduced in 1939, with production continuing until 1949. As the film is set in 1935, that particular model should not be there (especially considering how worn it appears).

Popular singer of the 1940s and 1950s Eddy Howard appears on three tracks from the soundtrack, all recorded on 4 October 1940 (five years after the film is set), with a small jazz ensemble that included pianist Teddy Wilson.

On the wall of his office, Warden Hal Moores has a portrait of Franklin D. Roosevelt, who was President of the United States in 1935. However, the picture is actually Roosevelt's official White House portrait, painted by the artist Frank O. Salisbury in 1947, two years after Roosevelt's death.

Paul observes "You'll be better off picturing this place as the intensive care ward of a hospital". The phrase "intensive care ward" (or "unit") did not come into use until the early 1950s.

In the sequence where William "Wild Bill" Wharton assaults the guards upon first being taken to death row, one can distinctly hear the sound of someone striking Wild Bill over the head just before the blow is shown.

When John Coffey utters "If she don't mind" in reply to being asked what he would like for his final meal, his jaw and lips remain motionless.

The mouse’s sex appears to change. When Mr Jingles first appears and scuttles beneath the doorway, he is clearly male (sexing mice is straightforward because of the relative size of their genitalia). However, in the scene where John Coffey shares his cornbread, Mr Jingles is plainly female.

(at around 2h) Percy is sitting at his desk reading a book about mental patients, with the dirty magazine tucked inside. Brutal and Paul enter, and Percy springs up, snaps the book shut and flings it so that it falls off the edge of the table. In the next shot, when Paul picks the book up, it is lying on the table open to the page with the magazine.

(at around 59 minutes) When the guards try to subdue Wild Bill, he strikes Guard Harry with the back of his head, knocking him to the ground. For a brief yet clearly visible moment, Percy is visible behind him on the left-hand side of the room. But immediately before that and for the remainder of the scene, he is on the far right-hand side, paralysed with fear.

(at around 1 hr 1 min) After Harry's wipes the blood from his face, it briefly reappears on his nose and chin. This is visible as he passes the camera to fetch Dean and head to the infirmary after Wild Bill runs amok.

The film depicts black and white prisoners together, both within the general prison population and working on a chain gang. That would not have taken place in the 1930s.

In the execution scenes, those subjected to Old Sparky are shown convulsing as if in a major seizure when the electric current is applied, but in reality this would not and does not occur. A continuous flow of electric current causes all of a victim's muscles to contract and remain contracted until the supply is cut off. Moreover, the kind of screams heard on screen would be impossible under these circumstances, since they sound as if produced with the mouth fully open, whereas simultaneous contraction of the muscles that open and close the jaw would result in a neutral (or clenched) jaw position, preventing such an open‑mouthed cry.

The houses depicted in the film are relatively large for men in state government employment in the 1930s. While the warden's residence would plausibly be a perk of working at the prison, the other properties are considerably larger than the homes that would typically be owned today by people earning much higher incomes from the prison service.

When Percy shoots at 'Wild Bill', seven shots can be heard, even though a typical revolver contains just six cartridges.

(at about 13 minutes) As Percy ushers John Coffey into E Block, he repeatedly calls out, "Dead man walking!" The phrase "Dead man walking" is typically announced to nearby prisoners and staff to indicate that a condemned prisoner is being taken to their execution. Percy, however, pays little heed to such protocol and will shout it at inappropriate times to taunt the prisoners.

(at about 2 hours 30 minutes) In the flashback sequence on the barn roof Mrs Detterick seems to call Klaus "Ralph". In fact she is saying "Klaus", but the slow motion can make it sound like "Ralph".

(at approximately 1 hr 45 min) Following the execution, Brutus hands Percy an old soda‑acid fire extinguisher. It is held horizontally. These old‑style soda‑acid extinguishers would automatically begin to discharge their extinguishing agent if turned onto their side or upside down.