American Gangster

Continuity mistake: At the end, when the church doors open, the door on the right opens all the way in the first shot then begins to slowly close back. It is then wide open in the following shot from the other side.

manthabeat

Continuity mistake: When Russell Crowe and the other cop are chasing a crook through a hotel room, Crowe gets pinched in a doorway by the crook with the door. The crook starts to bite Crowe's hand, so Crowe signals the other cop to smash the crook's head through the door with a mallet. When the cop does, he uses the handle end, and in the next shot, when he's pulling the mallet out back through the door, it's coming out with the hammer-head end first.

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Suggested correction: This is incorrect. The mallet goes through the door handle first, then the door opens and we see the mallet end.

Continuity mistake: During the big drug bust, Russell Crowe pursues a suspect down a hallway and then down a fire escape. Along the way, he cocks the shotgun multiple times.

Continuity mistake: In the car-follow scene in which Russell Crowe yells at the cop driving their car to follow a car into NYC, in outside shots, the car they're in is a Cadillac. But in shots from the interior, the nameplate on the dashboard says it's a Ford Torino.

Continuity mistake: In the opening scene, just after the man is set afire he falls to the ground. Frank shoots him and while firing his weapon jams. A casing is stuck in the ejection port (called a stovepipe when it happens). After the round sticks he continues to pull the trigger and the weapon continues to fire.

Continuity mistake: During the Bronco-following scenes, the silver Cadillac goes back and forth between having (during interior shots) and not having an antenna on the fender on Richie's side of the Cadillac. This is because the interior scenes were filmed using a Ford Torino, not the Cadillac. (01:00:45)

johnrosa

Continuity mistake: As Richie and his partner watch the red Bronco leave the car wash, we see that the driver's door window is about one-third up from the bottom. But as the Cadillac starts moving, the window is fully open. (01:00:40)

johnrosa

Continuity mistake: In the final scene where Frank Lucas is released, an extra comes into the shot from the right while the gate behind him is opening. Then it goes to a wide shot and the same extra walks into the frame from the right again as the gate is closing.

Continuity mistake: Near the end of the movie, when Richie stops by Joey Sadano's house for the last time, he exits the car with snowflakes flying. He even shivers and warms himself walking up to the house. Inside the house the snowflakes are still flying outside Joey's back window, yet the entire backdrop shows a lush landscape full of green trees in mid-summer glory.

DJ Vander Schaaf

American Gangster mistake picture

Factual error: In a shot in Harlem, a Ford Econoline AVIS rental truck drives on the adjacent street. The specific Econoline van was at least a mid-90's to 2000+ model van and the movie takes place in the 70s.

More mistakes in American Gangster

Richie Roberts: This man murdered thousands, and he did it from a penthouse and driving a Lincoln.

Friso94

More quotes from American Gangster

Trivia: Ruby Dee was nominated for the Best Supporting Actress Academy Award for her role as Mama Lucas, even though she's only on screen for less than 10 minutes.

More trivia for American Gangster

Question: What was the whole thing of not wanting to turn in the $987,000 they found in the car because it would make them appear untrustworthy? Why would all cops distrust them for handing it in? I get that dirty cops would be annoyed but when they were counting it in the precinct, every cop was drawing them daggers.

The_Iceman

Answer: The idea is if cops wouldn't take a million dollars for themselves, free and clear without risk, they are impeccably honest. Therefore, they wouldn't accept bribes and probably not hold still for shakedowns or payoffs. They wouldn't cover up drug or weapon planting and would testify against crooked cops.

More questions & answers from American Gangster

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