The Use of History in Django Unchained

    I'm sure many of you have seen the hit movie Django Unchained, which was released at the end of last year. I'm also sure that if you've seen it you know that Quentin Tarantino wrote and directed it, and even had a small role in it. Of course Tarantino is a great filmmaker and I'm not going to say anything to take that away from him because I too love his movies. However, when it comes to history in his movies he is not the man to ask, I mean, just look at Inglourious Basterds, we all know that Hitler did not die that way. But, that movie was just for fun and a little alternate history for us, so I'll let that one slide, mainly because, again, I loved the movie. But, his latest movie, Django Unchained, was not alternate history, it was a movie set in a real time during the United States' history and should have used real facts and objects. So, here we go, all of the historical facts Django Unchained got wrong, well most of them anyway. Warning, this might contain spoilers!
    First things first, Tarantino got something wrong right off the bat. In the opening scene, after the credits, it reads "1858 two years before the Civil War." Well, I think most of us know that the Civil War began in 1861 and not 1860, so that would be three years before. Also, in that scene are lanterns hanging off of shotguns, that style of lantern was not around until the 1890's.
    Next, there is a scene that appears to depict an early going of the KKK. You might remember the scene from all of the comedic lines, which was funny. But, the KKK was not established until 1865 and did not start causing trouble until 1866. However, there was a predecessor group called The Regulators, who did wear hoods to seal their identity. But, this group was more of a religious powered group who claimed to be taking law into their own hands. So, as depicted in the movie, they would not have gone after the main characters because what the main characters did was justified, in their eyes.
    The next area to look at would be the depiction of beer and cigarettes. In the movie we see two things that are wrong with how beer is served. First is the tap, one of our main characters uses it, but the tap was not invented or used until the early 1900's. The next depiction of beer is the bottle that it is served in. The bottle appears to be the traditional bottle, that is still in use today, with an easy screw off cap. That style of bottle and the easy screw off cap were not invented until the mid 1870's. We also see several characters smoking cigarettes, although smoking has been around for a long time, that kind of cigarette was not massed produced in America until the late 1880's. Up until then they were hand rolled. Also, Leonardo DiCaprio's character is seen smoking using a cigarette holder, which was not used in America until the mid 1910's and was mainly used by women.
    Another thing I caught, was a replica bust of Nefertiti, who was the wife of Egyptian Pharaoh Akhenaten. They lived around the 14th century B.C., so the original bust is around 3,000 years old and was not discovered until 1912. So, naturally there would not be any replicas of it in 1859, which is the year the movie, after it goes through the winter scenes, takes place.
    Finally, I've saved the best for last, the weapons. First, all rifles used in the movie were lever action, which is wrong, they would have used either the cap and ball mechanism or possibly still the Flintlock mechanism. The lever action was not invented until 1860, although an earlier style was invented in 1848, but was not used because it was very unreliable. Second, dynamite is used on a couple occasions during the movie, mainly during the climax, well dynamite was not invented until 1867. Next, is the Derringer pistols that our two main characters use, the small gun that pops out of their sleeves. They are very interesting and fun weapons to use. Although there were Derringer's with a cap and ball mechanism in that time, the style they used was not introduced until 1866, which was a .41 Rimfire mechanism.
    There were three other rifles that were used in the film that were not around yet. The first one was the lever action Henry Rifle, which was the gun with the brass receiver, it wasn't invented until 1860 and not put into production until 1862, its production was halted in 1866. The next rifle was the Winchester Model 1873, at least that is what they looked like, or they could have been the 1866 Model, either way they were not around in 1858 or 1859. The final rifle would be the Sharps rifle that our two main characters use to kill a bounty. Even though it has the right firing mechanism the style is wrong, the style of that gun is that of the Sharps Model 1874 Buffalo Rifle. It could fire one shot and is very accurate, but it is too big of a one shot rifle, not musket, to be around at that time.
    Now, I know I pointed out all of these historical inaccuracies with the movie. Although they did get the right looking pistols, which appear to be either the Army or the Navy Colt 1851 Model which were .50 caliber pistols. That does not mean it is not a good movie because it definitely wasn't.. As a matter of fact, I loved the movie, it was very entertaining, well written, directed, and had a wonderful cast. It is still worth the watch. Just don't use it as your history lesson!