The following is a list of movies that got the laws regarding U.S. immigration wrong in some way. Note: This is not an all-inclusive list. Also, note that most films are set somewhere between the mid-19th century and 1969 (when our modern immigration system was created). Old films can be forgiven for getting immigration laws wrong because these laws have evolved over time.
Table of Contents
1) The Grapes Of Wrath (1940; Dir.: John Ford) –
In one scene, Tom Joad (Henry Fonda) is arrested for not having his “registration card” after returning from visiting family in Oklahoma. Joad was actually required to carry an Alien Registration Receipt Card (known as a “green card”) during the 1940s, but this requirement was abolished by Congress in 1952. Now he would only need to carry his green card if government officials suspected that he wasn’t lawfully admitted or present in the country.
2) Fail-Safe (1964; Dir.: Sidney Lumet) –
The President of the United States learn that over 100 bombers are headed toward Russia and will drop nuclear bombs on Moscow because their fail-safe mechanisms were triggered. What happens next? The President has to give orders to shoot down the planes before they drop nukes that will start World War III. The President can’t just let those bombs drop that would potentially kill millions of people, right? It’s a tense situation and the President (played marvelously by Henry Fonda) has to make a tough and quick decision.
3) Torn Curtain (1966; Dir.: Alfred Hitchcock) –
While on the run, Professor Michael Armstrong (Paul Newman), his fiancé/nurse, Sarah Sherman (Julie Andrews), and an East German agent (Ludwig Donath) cross the border from East Berlin into West Berlin. Before entering West Berlin, they pass through some type of checkpoint where passports are checked. However, this is unlikely because only about 100 yards away was Checkpoint Charlie where passports would have been checked. In order to get from East Berlin to West Berlin, one had to go through Checkpoint Charlie. Also, once the professor and his companions enter West Berlin, they are told that they must stay within a certain area. However, East Germany ceased being a country in 1949 when it was officially absorbed into the territory of the Soviet Union and became part of Eastern Europe under Communist reign.
4) Rosemary’s Baby (1968; Dir.: Roman Polanski) –
A young woman gives birth to Satan’s child without having any idea that her husband is involved with a coven who has put spells on her so she can’t remember anything bad happening during her pregnancy. The Satanic baby gets born by C-section after Rosemary Woodhouse (Mia Farrow) has been drugged. The Satanists then attempt to murder Rosemary’s baby under the orders of Roman Castevet (Sidney Blackmer). This scene is inaccurate because if a woman gives birth to a child and then that child dies, she cannot be charged with murder even if people think it was her fault. So Roman Castevet would not have gotten away with it and Rosemary definitely wouldn’t have gotten off scot-free either!
5) The Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1978; Dir.: Philip Kaufman) –
In this remake, Dr. Miles Bennell (Donald Sutherland) discovers that people are being replaced by aliens who have come to Earth to harvest our bodies for their own. He has to escape San Francisco before they get him too. However, he can’t just hop on a plane or train since those could be tracked. Instead, Dr. Bennell decides to drive back home to Santa Mira which is now overrun with body snatchers and where his friend Jack is convinced that his wife Becky has truly lost her mind and needs psychiatric help after she murdered one of them with a shotgun blast as it tried to attack him in their kitchen! If you live in the United States, you cannot travel by car from one state to another without passing through a checkpoint. The search for illegal immigrants along our roads and highways is big business for the government now (it’s called “Operation Gatekeeper”). Additionally, border patrol agents monitor both sides of our borders with Canada and Mexico even if it means they have to sit in their cars 24/7 on cold winter nights just waiting for someone crossing illegally! No matter where you are in America—whether you are driving or riding as a passenger on Amtrak or Greyhound–you must have appropriate identification at all times. So Dr. Bennell better has had his passport with him when he left San Francisco because otherwise, he would have never gotten out alive!
6) The Thing (1982; Dir.: John Carpenter) –
In this remake of The Thing from Another World, a team of researchers in Antarctica discover the original crashed UFO from the first story along with its frozen alien pilot. When they bring it to their camp, they accidentally revive it and have to do everything they can to stop it before it can escape and cause havoc around the world. This movie makes a huge mistake because the nearest US base where people would have been allowed to go into is about 1000 miles away. There were no real towns near this Antarctic camp either except for that made-up one called McMurdo Station which was built by Americans who worked there during summer months only! The “thing” could not have escaped since there is absolutely nothing else but ice within a 100-mile radius of the camp not to mention that there are no roads or planes for it to have hijacked either! So the US Antarctic Program is probably one of the safest places you’d ever want to be if an alien were coming after you, provided it’s only during summer months, of course!
7) Escape From New York (1981; Dir.: John Carpenter) –
In the year 1997, Manhattan has been turned into a maximum-security prison where no one can leave. The island is surrounded on all sides by heavily armed guards and police boats with orders to “shoot to kill” anyone who tries to escape. However, when Air Force One goes down over New York City due to mechanical difficulties, master criminal Snake Plissken (Kurt Russell) is ordered to travel into the city, find the President (Donald Pleasence), and bring him back safely. Snake has no love for America nor its president but he takes on the mission because if he fails, he will be given a death sentence and fed to his pet boa constrictor! Of course, anyone who makes it to shore knows that they won’t live very long since all ships entering or leaving New York Harbor are required to pass through several checkpoints. So it would have been impossible for Snake Plissken to even get off Manhattan Island without being spotted by one of those Coast Guard cutters!
For more information, you may ask or consult with immigration lawyers in Houston.
