In one of the opening scenes where Charlie Wilson is receiving the award, Joanne Herring is shown clapping in close up, wearing black gloves. In the subsequent wide shots showing the entire audience, she is gloveless.
Afghan freedom fighters prepare to fire a Milan surface to air missile (SAM) at the three Russian helicopters. The helicopters cross the valley, fly over and fire into the village on the hilltop. By the time the SAM leaves the weapon, the helicopters are no further across the valley than they were earlier.
After Gust removes the bug from the bottle of scotch, the position of the label sealing the bottle changes between shots.
A third & fourth freedom fighter join the first two to fire Milan surface to air missiles (SAM) at two Russian helicopters. The helicopters are no further across the valley than they were earlier. Even though they have been seen flying over and firing into a hilltop village which is some distance ahead of them.
In Gust's first scene, he fights with his boss about who owes whom an apology. The window that Gust had previously broken has just been replaced. As the fight continues and he's ordered out of the office, Gust breaks the window again, leaving shards of glass in the frame. In subsequent shots, most of the shards are gone.
The clips showing the downing of Soviet aircraft include the distinctive silhouettes of a McDonnell-Douglas F-4 and Bell UH-1. These primarily US manufactured models were not available in Afghanistan in the period covered.
In the Las Vegas Suite, Charlie Wilson is watching the 60 minutes documentary 'Inside Afghanistan' for several minutes before leaving for the airport. Dan Rather's closing line of 'they will win' before Charlie leaves is from the introduction of the documentary rather than the end.
Doc Long's only wife was named 'Suzanne.' Joanne Herring refers to her as 'Muriel.'
The Pakistani Army helicopter used to take Charlie Wilson to Peshawar had a Pakistani flag from edge to edge on the vertical tail fin and the green circle insignia on tail boom. In real life, the helicopter has a significantly smaller Pakistani flag (with or without white stripe) on its vertical tail fin, and the green circle insignia is on the cabin's body, just before the tail boom. It is also a much lighter color.
The attacking Soviet helicopters are represented as the Mil Mi-24 Hind D models. During the attacks, their auto-cannon fire produces tracer fire that is the color red. The auto-cannon on the Hind D firing from the perspective shown in the movie is the YakB-12.7mm machine gun and, as such, can only chamber green colored tracer ammunition. All red color tracer ammunition is chambered for NATO automatic weapons only.
Larry Liddle complains about a problem with a crèche in Nacogdoches, in east Texas. Charlie Wilson represents the 2nd Congressional district, in southeast Texas near Houston. However, that was the result of redistricting in 2003. In the 1980s, the second district included Lufkin and Nacogdoches.
In the montage where the Mujahideen shoot down Russian planes and helicopters, four of the aircraft (an A-6 Intruder, an F-4 Phantom, a UH-1 Huey helicopter, and an F-16) are American-made, and would never have been used by the Soviet military.
During the first scene with two Russian helicopters en route to attack, their rocket pods are empty; you can see daylight through them.
FLIPPED SHOT: During the Red Square military parade, the army vehicles and the soldiers move southwards, with the Kremlin wall on the right. Suddenly, the parade changes direction, and the Kremlin wall is on the left.
During some helicopter attack scenes, bodies that were shot at instantly disappear, as if they were deleted from the screen.
To give a colleague an idea of how boring his tasks are, Gust Avrakotos describes in one scene how he has to analyze phone conversations "between French and German generals arguing over office space at NATO headquarters". However, France was not a part of NATO's military arm between 1966 and 2009.
The presentation in the airplane hangar before the Clandestine Service has a series of flags from the intelligence community in the background. One of the flags bears the distinctive seal of the National Geospatial-Intelligence Agency (NGA), which was reorganized on November 23, 2003. Before that, it was the National Imagery and Mapping Agency (NIMA) with a completely different seal.
Following a montage depicting events of 1987-1988 in Afghanistan, Charlie Wilson celebrates his reelection, and Gust tells him that Doc Long is going to be defeated. Long was defeated in 1984.
When Charlie Wilson is in Las Vegas, the date on the screen is April 6, 1980. The next day, back in Washington, Larry Liddle visits Charlie to complain about a problem with a crèche in front of a firehouse in Nacogdoches, TX, stating that it's Christmas time.
Towards the beginning of the movie, Charlie is at a Vegas Club in April 1980. The next day, he is back in Washington to meet with his constituent about a Christmas display. Later that evening, Charlie is with a young lady who sings along with "Angel of the Morning." However, the cover version by Juice Newton was released in 1981.
When Charlie Wilson returns to Washington to cast his vote, he enters the House floor from an adjoining room. Several times, he enters that same side room from the hall outside his office, which would be impossible. The interior architecture of Charlie's office indicates that his office is in the Rayburn House Office Building, across the street from the Capitol building.
While Larry Liddle talks to Charlie about a firehouse crèche in Nacogdoches, TX, they both refer to Nacogdoches Township. Texas does not have townships.
During the celebration, after charges against Wilson of using illegal drugs are found to be not within United States jurisdiction, Gust Avrakodos tries to hook up with Joanne Herring for the night. She pronounces his name as "Avocados" and walks away, leaving him hanging.