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)
Factual error: The Cadillac Miller and Cadillac Meteor flower cars at Vito Corleone's funeral are an anachronistic impossibility, given that he died some time in the summer of 1955. With two exceptions (one from 1951 and one from 1955), the Cadillacs serving as flower cars are 1956 models. Although a 1956 Cadillac Fleetwood 75 limousine also makes an appearance, it's plausible that the funeral could be taking place at a time when the first 1956 Fleetwood 75's were released. Miller and Meteor, however, did not begin converting 1956 Cadillacs into flower cars until 1956 proper.
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)
Revealing mistake: After Michael shoots Sollozzo and McCluskey, as he quickly leaves the restaurant and he pushes his way out of the front door, you can see that the shot is jarred because the camera must have been bumped.
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 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: 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)
Audio problem: During the assassination attempt on Don Corleone, one of the assassin's last shot makes no sound but smoke is coming out of the gun barrel. (00:44:55)
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)
Factual error: Tom Hagen flies to Hollywood on a Lockheed Super Constellation. This scene is set in the 1940's and the Super Constellation did not fly until 1951.
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)
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)
Revealing mistake: When Michael is riding in the car with Sollozzo before the assassination, notice the headlights in the rear window during the close-up. You can notice that many of them move directly on top and underneath each other, impossible for real car's headlights to do such a thing. (01:21:25)
Continuity mistake: When the Godfather sits in the garden, talking to Michael who has just returned from Las Vegas, he is holding his wine glass in his hand. When he puts it down the amount of wine in the glass doubles. (02:20:55)
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: Outside the hospital McCluskey punches Michael. A few days after the episode outside the hospital, Michael shoots McCluskey and Sollozzo at the restaurant, but there is no mark on his face where he was hit. Then in Sicily when Michael meets Apollonia for the first time, there is still no mark on his face, but suddenly at Apollonia and Michael's wedding, he has a large mark on his face.
Revealing mistake: When Sollozzo picks up Tom Hagen after killing Luca Brasi, you can easily tell that the snow falling is made of thin plastic.
Continuity mistake: In the meeting at the Las Vegas Hotel, while Michael is talking to Johnny before Moe Green enters, Fredo takes his sunglasses off and puts them away. A moment later he sits down with his sunglasses back on and takes them off again. (02:16:05)
