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 Barzini's driver is shot, the killer first shoots him in the chest but the driver grabs his stomach, before he is shot there a second time. (02:34:20)
Factual error: On the way to the meeting when Michael is going to kill Solozzo, the car made a U-turn on the George Washington Bridge (GWB), which connects Manhattan to New Jersey. However, the scene is shot on the Queensborough (59th Street) Bridge, which connects Manhattan to Queens. They look nothing alike, the GWB is a suspension bridge, the Queensborough Bridge is a cantilever bridge. (01:22:35)
Revealing mistake: When Michael calls Sonny, after he finds out that his father has been shot, the phone booth he calls from has a broken dial - you can see that the dial is off center and would not work in that condition. (00:45:00)
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)
Factual error: At the end of the movie, when Michael's car pulls up in front of the Las Vegas hotel, if you look through the glass windows, two men wearing 1970's shirts and gold neck chains, with "hippie-style" haircuts walking through the lobby, though this is supposed to be in the late 40's or early 50's. (02:13:50)
Suggested correction: Similar to another entry about the supposed anachronistic style of the Vegas scenes, the style was not unheard-of at the time, especially in Las Vegas, where people tended to dress a little more outlandishly.
Continuity mistake: When Michael announces that he is going to kill Sollozzo, his speech suddenly is mumbled. Also the props in his swollen cheek change shape several times in this scene, as well as the way his hair is combed. (01:11:45)
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 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 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 Sonny is gunned down at the toll station the bullet holes in the car roof disappear and reappear. Plus, there are some dents in the roof where the bullet holes appear. (01:52:45)
Factual error: When Luca Brasi goes to meet the Tattaglia family and Sollozzo to pretend he would like to defect, and they garrote him, Brasi is making all kinds of loud noises while being strangled until he dies. During choking or strangulation, one is unable to make much (if any) sound because air cannot pass through the vocal chords on its way out of the body just as it cannot enter the body and get to the lungs. (00:41:25)
Suggested correction: By tightening the neck muscles, one can resist strangulation, especially if one is stronger than the person strangling you. Luca is very physically powerful and so resists in this way, which is why he is able to make gargling noises as he struggles. Eventually, though, the reduced oxygen takes its toll, and he succumbs.
Continuity mistake: When Michael Corleone goes to Las Vegas to meet with Moe Greene, watch carefully when Moe sits at the table while continuing his argument with Michael. There's a glass of water that changes places from shot to shot. At one moment, the glass is behind Moe's arm, then in the next shot it's in front. Moe moves the glass at one point, but nevertheless, the glass continues to move from shot to shot. (02:17:30)
Continuity mistake: Michael shoots McCloskey in the throat with a black plated gun. The shot following shows Michael pointing a silver plated gun against a black background, so they probably needed something to stand out. Michael then finishes McCloskey with a black plated gun.
Continuity mistake: When Michael is sitting with Sollozzo and McCluskey, the owner (presumed owner) of the restaurant (shown from the rear, walks behind the bar to ring up and put a check in the register, he is smoking a pipe. (in his mouth) But yet a split-second later from a front angle there is no pipe in his mouth, hand, or anywhere near him.
Continuity mistake: In the meeting of the heads of all families, when Tattaglia asks the Godfather for assurance that there will be no vengeance, we see him leaning back in his chair, waiting for an answer. In the next shot the camera is on the Godfather, and we see Tattaglia leaning back again. (02:05:15)
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.
Revealing mistake: In the kitchen scene where Sonny is talking on the phone one can see that the lower portion of the telephone handset has no internal parts. (00:48:50)
Character mistake: In the scene where Vito is buying fruit right before he is shot if you listen closely you can hear Vito ask for 3 oranges (the subtitles say the same) but the produce seller only puts 2 in the bag.
Revealing mistake: When being transferred to another room the supposedly unconscious Don pulls his left arm up so it won't hit the door frame.
Suggested correction: He's shown to be awake when Michael is talking too him moments later, albeit weak. He was probably woken up by the movement before this point, so he was conscious enough to move his hand.
