The Godfather
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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)

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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

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)

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)

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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)

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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)

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

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

Continuity mistake: When Michael is talking to Moe Green in Las Vegas, he takes his cigarettes out of his pocket twice in two seconds. (02:17:15)

Continuity mistake: 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. (00:43:10)

MCKD

Continuity mistake: 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. (00:54:40)

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Suggested correction: This is wrong. The shot taken from a distance is not where Clemenza is standing. You can actually see Clemenza standing just a few feet to the right of the car from this distance shot. The scene is accurate.

Continuity mistake: When the Godfather tells Tom that he is going to California that night, his glass switches from his left to his right hand. (00:24:20)

NancyFelix

Continuity mistake: Right before Sonny collapses his jacket is covered with with blood. When he is shot at while he is lying on the ground the amount of blood has gone down substantially. (01:52:55)

NancyFelix

Continuity mistake: When the baker is meeting with Don Corleone about keeping Enzo in the country, he's holding a shot glass in one hand, and a thin cigar in the other. When he reaches out to clasp the Don's hands in gratitude, the items are gone. A split second later, they're back. (00:11:20)

Continuity mistake: When they're all deciding whether to wait until the Don is better before making a deal with Sollozzo, the cigar box is closed. The camera cuts away for a second, then back and Sonny closes the miraculously open box. He can't have opened it while the camera was elsewhere, because opening it would have taken the lid right past the camera. (01:09:30)

Continuity mistake: During the strangulation of Luca Brasi, two mistakes occur between the front and side shots of him dying. First the knife in his hand disappears; second his head goes from being about a foot under the counter to about 6 inches over. (00:43:30)

BillyBlake

Continuity mistake: When Barzini gets shot in the back we see a lot of blood and other matter pouring out. When he rolls down the steps his coat is intact again. (02:34:25)

NancyFelix

The Godfather mistake picture

Continuity mistake: 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 withering. (00:06:00)

NancyFelix

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

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Tom Hagen: I'm an attorney for the Corleone family. These men are private detectives hired to protect Vito Corleone. They are licensed to carry firearms. If you interfere you'll have to appear before a judge in the morning and show cause.

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Trivia: The infant playing Connie and Carlo's baby son Michael Francis Rizzi who Kay holds during the christening scene is Sofia Coppola, Francis Ford Coppola's daughter, who was born in May 1971. Sofia later had a prominent role in Part III as Michael's daughter, Mary. Other than the main characters, Sofia is the only actor to have appeared in all three films. In The Godfather II, she can be briefly seen as an immigrant girl on the ship that brings Vito Corleone to Ellis Island.

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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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