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)
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 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)
Continuity mistake: When Michael asks Kay if she wants to meet Johnny Fontane the drink in his glass almost disappears between shots, then reappears later. (00:17:55 - 00:18:40)
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)
Continuity mistake: When Tom is walking down the alley between buildings at Woltz Studios before he meets Mr. Woltz, the bag he is carrying looks like a travel bag and is almost equilateral triangle shaped. When he meets Mr, Woltz, his bag is a much thinner (isosceles triangle) shaped briefcase. In almost every shot the hand carrying the "bag" is switched. (00:27:45)
Continuity mistake: When Tom Hagen and Woltz have dinner the scene starts with a wide shot with a huge log fire in the fireplace behind Woltz. In all later shots the fire is about half as high. (00:29:10)
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)
Continuity mistake: Before Luca Brasi's hand gets pinned to the counter by Sollozzo's knife, Tattaglia holds it down on the counter with both hands, but then, in a close-up of the stabbing, Brasi's hand is hovering over the counter and Tattaglia's hands are nowhere. (00:41:20)
Suggested correction: Incorrect. Throughout the murder, Tattaglia holds Brasi's left-hand down, with both his own, while Solozzo stabs Brasi's right hand with the knife, which pins it to the table. Any apparent "hovering" is due to Brasi struggling to lift his knifed hand. There is no point where this changes.
Continuity mistake: When Luca Brasi goes to meet Sollozzo and Tattaglia, he is stabbed in the hand with a knife and is bleeding. A few seconds after you see a shot of the hand, the blood is already dry. (00:41:30)
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)
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)
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)
Continuity mistake: When Vito Corleone gets shot, he rolls on his back and his coat opens up to show his shirt. Then we see Fredo sitting down on the nearby steps and crying. In the next wide shot, Vito is lying on the side, totally covered by his coat, and Fredo is sitting farther away than where we saw him before. (00:43:40)
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)
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)
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)
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 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)
Continuity mistake: In the scene where McCluskey breaks Michael's jaw the two cops who hold Michael by his arms get replaced by two others between shots. (01:06:25)
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)
