The Godfather corrections

The Godfather (1972) - 29 corrections

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, starring Al Pacino, Diane Keaton, James Caan, Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall

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An arithmetic issue. Tom Hagen suggests to Sonny the the "Five Families" would "come after" him if they hit a police captain (which will be Capt. McCluskey). Since the Corleones are one of the five families, that would leave only four others to oppose them. [His own family would come after him, as well. Making the cops angry at them would not be good for business.]

Shooting a .38 in a stone walled basement is very painful unless you have earplugs. Michael and Clemenza do not. [After firing, Michael complains "Marrone, (sp) my ears" to Clemenza.]

When Sonny arrives at the toll booth there is a toll booth operator taking money from the other cars. When Sonny drives up, the toll booth operator ducks down and then disappears, never to be seen again once the hit is over-he simply vanishes from the scene altogether. [The toll booth operator ducks down behind a door, and he knew that all the gangsters would shoot Sonny, so if I had been the toll booth operator, I would also stay down, untill it was safe to come out again.]

The Godfather was roundly criticized by the Italian-American Civil Rights League for its stereotypical portrayal of Italians. [Ironically, the League itself was a Mafia front controlled by the Bonnano family.]

The infamous horse whose head is found in the bed of his owner, bloodied and mangled, has a white spot on it before it is chopped off. Later the white spot is gone. [The white spot is still there, just less visible because it's smeared with blood.] Corrected by Nancy<>Felix

When Michael allows Kate to ask him just 1 question about his business, he walks up to his desk and places both hands on the desk. When the camera angle changes to a rear view of Michael he is seen just standing straight up, when it changes again to a front view he is leaned over with his hands back on the desk. [In the shot from the back you see just Michael's head and part of the shoulders. That's by no means enough to tell that his position has changed.] Corrected by Nancy<>Felix

Luca Brasi goes to meet the Tattaglia family and Sollozzo, to pretend he would like to defect. Before they garrot him, Tattaglia stabs a knife into Brasi's left hand. Halfway through his death throes a wider shot reveals the knife in his right hand. The sequence concludes with Brasi slumped on the floor with his knife-impaled left hand still on the counter. [His right hand is stabbed. The other man grabs his left hand after lighting his cigarette, and just holds his arm so Tattaglia can stab the other hand.]

Just before Michael Corleone shoots Virgil Solozzo, he speaks Italian to him. When Michael then is in Sicily, he needs his friend Calo to translate from English to Italian for him while he is talking to Signor Vitelli. [Being of Sicilian descent and quite knowledgeable in Italian/Sicilian history, I can tell you that there is no single 'Italian' language. The 3 main regions of Italy (Northern, Central and Southern) all have different dialects and even different cultural ideals. As such, Sicily has a completely different dialect which is vastly different from basic 'Italian'. It is in fact more Greek rooted and has a distinct differentiation in most respects. Some individual towns in Sicily even have there own distinct and unique dialect to this day. Plot-wise, Michael was also trying to keep his identity and reasons for being there secret. It was also more respectful to not directly address Signor Vitelli given the situation.]

James Caan is hit with at least a few dozen Tommy gun bullets at point blank range, which should've turned him into a hamburger. Instead, he appears to be riddled with little red holes. [Well, maybe. From that era, the standard 45cal load (Army 45 pistols and Thompson submachine guns both fire the same cartridge) was a round-nosed lead bullet. That round doesn't deform unless it hits a bone. From the front where the bullets went in, all you'll see is a round hole maybe 1/2" across. If the bullet goes thru and punches out, unless it hits a bone and deforms, the outbound hole isn't much bigger.]