The Godfather

Revealing mistake: When Sonny is punching Carlo under the spraying fire hydrant, he misses an audible punch by at least six inches. (01:43:30)

Factual error: In the scene when Michael visits his father in the hospital in 1945 there's a NYC Fire Dept. sign on the wall with the name of the Commissioner, Robert O. Lowery, who was commissioner from 1966 to 1973.

Ray Palermo

The Godfather mistake picture

Continuity mistake: 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. (01:53:20)

Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: Look again, the broken windows you are seeing are from the side windows, the windscreen was shot out entirely.

The screenshot shows the windscreen is intact after being shot out.

Ssiscool

The Godfather mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Luca Brasi is practicing his speech he is wearing a square faced watch. When he gives his speech to the godfather he's wearing a round faced watch.

Bill Early

Revealing mistake: 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. (02:28:25)

The Godfather mistake picture

Continuity mistake: 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. (01:25:15)

The Godfather mistake picture

Revealing mistake: When Moe Greene is shot through his right eye, the eyeglass is cracked, but has no hole where the bullet penetrated the glass. (02:33:50)

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.) (02:01:05)

Revealing mistake: 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). (00:24:30)

BillyBlake

Continuity mistake: When Tom Hagen is meeting with Jack Woltz, the server fills Tom's wine glass twice within a split second. (00:29:20)

The Godfather mistake picture

Continuity mistake: 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. (01:40:35)

The Godfather mistake picture

Continuity mistake: 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. (00:13:25)

Other mistake: After Sonny is shot on the causeway, there are a very large number of bullet exit holes visible on the sides of the tollbooths, which could only have been made if the gunmen shot through the walls (not the windows) of the buildings from the inside. This is common in movies. In real life, bullet entry holes in wood appear as small black dots, not the more dramatic-looking splintered gashes made on the other side of the wood as the bullet exits. (01:52:40)

The Godfather mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Marlon Brando is gunned down at the fruit stand, he drops the bag of fruit he just bought. However, when he's collapsing against the car, the bag of fruit is now on the hood of the car. (00:43:05)

The Godfather mistake picture

Continuity mistake: 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. (00:58:00)

The Godfather mistake picture

Continuity mistake: 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. (00:46:20)

NancyFelix

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. (02:41:05)

NancyFelix

Continuity mistake: 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. (00:52:55)

don_corleone

Revealing mistake: When Michael and Fredo arrive at the Las Vegas hotel, the actor playing Fredo is replaced by a double who doesn't resemble him even remotely. (02:13:15)

NancyFelix

Michael: My father is no different than any powerful man, any man with power, like a president or senator.
Kay Adams: Do you know how naive you sound, Michael? Presidents and senators don't have men killed.
Michael: Oh. Who's being naive, Kay?

More quotes from The Godfather

Trivia: Marlon Brando won a Best Actor Oscar for his role as Vito Corleone. Robert DeNiro, who played the role via flashbacks in Part II, won a Best Supporting Actor Oscar. They remain the only two actors to win Oscars for playing the same character. Heath Ledger and Joaquin Phoenix both won for playing the Joker, but not really the same character, given the very different films and portrayals.

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Question: Why did Don Corleone send Luca Brasi to gather intel on Sollozzo? Wouldn't it have been obvious to the Don that sending his bodyguard, who was widely known to be unquestionably loyal, wouldn't fool his adversaries, which would eventually, with Brasi dead, lead to his own death?

Answer: Luca wasn't Vito's bodyguard, Paulie Gatto was. In Mafioso circles the bodyguard is also usually the chauffeur which was the other part Paulie played. Luca was an independent who had loyalty to Vito. Unlike other members of the family, Luca had his own operation and his own scams. He was usually only called into service by the Don when some particularly nasty piece of business needed to be taken care of for which Luca was paid handsomely. Few people knew why Luca was loyal to Vito, it had to do with a bit of trouble Luca got into with a young girl, Luca was looking at some hard time and Vito was able to get him out of it. As explained in the books, Luca didn't care if he lived or died, he didn't even care if he was killed, but he cared very deeply that he wouldn't be killed by Vito. That was the hold Vito had on Luca which made his loyalty so deep. So far as the rest of the underworld was concerned Luca was just an independent contractor who worked for the Corleone's from time to time. If you'll recall when Kay sees Luca Michael tells her "he helps out my father sometimes." Barzini was probably the only other one who truly understood how deep Luca's loyalty went. So, why did Vito send Luca: Vito thought he was dealing with the Tataglias. Ten years prior to the Sollozo meeting there had been a Mafia war. Vito planned the strategy of the war while Sonny handled the tactics. The war was bloody and costly but the Corleone's were able to out maneuver the other families and come out on top. After that war Vito was top dog of all the 5 families. Had Vito been correct that Philip Tataglia was behind Sollozo, sending Luca would have been a smart move. As Vito mentions after the meeting of the commission "Tataglia is a pimp, he never could have out fought Santino." Tataglia would have seen getting Luca as a huge win, not only would he have Vito's special muscle, but he'd probably also believe he'd be able to get information from Luca. Where Vito made the mistake was not seeing Barzini pulling the strings, had he believed Barzini was involved he'd have handled it differently.

The line in Goodfellas seems illuminating here where Henry Hill explains that the Mafia is essentially an organisation that offers protection for those who can't turn to the legitimate law of regular society. This suggests that these "family" ties are not as strong as we imagine. These criminals are not a definite part of an orderly corporation, like head of HR at IBM, but a loose confederation of connections and loyalties that are rather more fluid. This is a theme also explored very well in the book and film, Donnie Brasco. Therefore, it wouldn't be totally unthinkable that someone in Luca Brasis position could turn to another "family" if he felt it expedient. However, these kind of guys have a tendency towards mistrust.

Answer: Luca was instructed by Don Corleone to act as if he was unhappy with his current situation within the Corleone family. In the book, this mission was planned more thoroughly and was spread out over a longer period of time with Luca frequenting the Tattaglia family's bars and bordellos, where he (falsely) bitterly complained to the prostitutes and anyone who'd listen about how he was underpaid and undervalued by the Godfather. Either this ploy did not fool Sollozzo or, if he did believe it, he didn't care and used it to send a message to the Corleones by killing Luca.

raywest

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