The Godfather (1972) - 54 mistakes

Revealing: When Sonny is punching Carlo under the spraying fire hydrant, he misses an audible punch by at least six inches.

Revealing: At the Godfather's funeral, as Al Pacino stands up, you can see a reflection of his mother over on the right of the screen. It's clear in the widescreen video. The same happens when he sits down again.

Continuity: When Sonny is shot at the toll booth the front windshield is torn apart by bullets yet when the bodyguards arrive thirty seconds later, the windshield is intact.

Continuity: After Michael shoots Sollozzo in the head, he turns to McCluskey and shoots him in the throat and then in the head. But in the long shot, before he shoots McCluskey in the head, you already can see the hole in the forehead.

Revealing: When Moe Greene is shot through his right eye, the eyeglass is cracked, but has no hole where the bullet penetrated the glass.

Continuity: When Tom Hagen is meeting with Jack Woltz, the server fills Tom's wine glass twice within a split second.

Factual error: In the scene where all the heads of families meet shortly after Sonny's death, there is an exterior shot of a large grey-brick building with an American flag hanging from it. If you look carefully, the flag is a current flag with 50 stars, with alternating rows of indented stars. But, the scene is takes place circa late 1940's when there were only 48 states and all the rows of stars were even. (By the way, the flag inside the meeting room is the correct one.)

Revealing: When Vito Corleone is walking Johnny Fontane out of his office, he opens the door and you can see an extra walk by and stop, look at the camera and actors, and back up out of the shot. (Mentioned on the commentary).

Continuity: When Michael and Kay are eating lasagna during the wedding, Kay is smoking a cigarette. But depending on the shot, that cigarette disappears from her hand, then reappears.

Continuity: When they're all having a meal in Sicily, watch behind Appollonia. Two people, one in red, one in white, walk past in the same direction twice - once in a wide shot, and once in a close-up of Appollonia.

Audio problem: When Carlo gets strangled in the car and kicks the windshield the sound of breaking glass can be heard before it actually happens.

Continuity: When Clemenza knocks at the door Sonny gets a gun from a drawer and puts it in his belt. When he pushes Clemenza the gun disappears, but it's back a moment later. As the shot where the gun disappears is uncut the gun must have slipped down his pants.

Continuity: When Tessio delivers the bulletproof vest and the fish, Sonny's hands are in one position (one below, one on top of the parcel), a fraction of a second later they are in a very different position (both on top, unwrapping). The parcel is half open while Tessio is carrying it but fully closed when he puts it on Sonny's lap.

Continuity: In the first scene the undertaker Bonasera asks the Godfather for help. When the Godfather gets up from his desk the rose in his lapel is either fresh and straight or slightly wilted and bent in alternating shots. Also later in the wedding scene this rose keeps recovering from intermittent spells of weakness.

Visible crew/equipment: After Paulie gets shot there's a reflection of a cameraman in the small triangular side window of the car.

Continuity: When Michael is talking to Mo Green in Las Vegas, he takes his money out of his pocket twice in 2 seconds.

Continuity: Before Paulie is shot, Clemenza gets out of the car to relieve himself and walks only a few steps away from the car. As Clemenza hears the gunshot, he looks back at the car to see Paulie slumped over the steering wheel, and the car is a much greater distance away, than just the few feet he had walked away from it. As Clemenza walks back to the car, it again takes him only a mere few steps.

Continuity: When Don Vito Corleone gets shot, the camera angle from the side of the car shows Fredo bent over trying to pick up the gun he dropped, but when we see him from the camera angle from above, he's just walking to the front of the car. When the angle cuts back to the front of the car, Fredo is once again bent over trying to pick up the gun.

Continuity: When Diane Keaton and Al Pacino have dinner, he gets up, puts on his coat and sits down again. Now watch Diane Keaton's glass: When the camera's on Al Pacino she's holding the stem, but when the camera's on her she's holding the body of the glass. Another mistake is that at the end of the scene the amount of wine in her glass suddenly doubles.

Revealing: After Michael shoots Sollozzo and McCluskey, as he quickly leaves the restaurant and he pushes his way out of the front door, you can see that the shot is jarred because the camera must have been bumped.