Goodfellas

Goodfellas (1990)

73 mistakes - chronological order

(26 votes)

Goodfellas mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Paulie is first introduced the long shot shows him holding his cigar next to his waist. The shot changes to a close up, and he is now holding the cigar up near his chest. (00:03:50)

Lummie

Continuity mistake: After Henry tells Tuddy that he won't be able to make any more deliveries, he points to his black eye. But when the shot changes his hand is suddenly in a new position, down by his side. (00:06:40)

ryguy_1983

Goodfellas mistake picture

Factual error: Early in the film, when Henry Hill is selling Pall Mall cigarettes out of a car trunk and is arrested, there are UPC price codes visible on the cartons of cigarettes. UPC codes were not used on products in the 1950's when the scene is taking place. They were introduced in the mid 1970s. (00:13:20)

Goodfellas mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Pauly talks to Henry and the restaurant owner about Henry's possible involvement in the restaurant biz, Pauly is talking with the cigar in his mouth and it cuts away to him saying "No?" with the cigar in his hand. (00:25:55)

Goodfellas mistake picture

Continuity mistake: After Henry gives Paulie a share of the money he took from the air port, Paulie tells him to say that he got the rest of the money playing Craps in Vegas. Paulie's left hand is around Henry's back with his hand flat out on his shoulder. When it cuts to a close up as Paulie is playfully slapping his cheek with his other hand, his left hand is now suddenly balled up in a different position on Henry's shoulder. (00:35:30)

Quantom X

Goodfellas mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Jimmy and Henry are talking to Morrie and the camera angle is behind Morrie you can see him holding the phone at his shoulder, when the camera angle switches he has the phone at his ear. Then the phone suddenly disappears when you can see both of his hands and then it comes back again right before Jimmy strangles him with it. (00:37:40)

Goodfellas mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Whilst Jimmy is choking Morrie in the wig store the phone suddenly rings and the shot changes. Between shots the way Morrie is standing has all of a sudden changed. Instead of leaning back, he is bent forward. The way he is holding the phone whilst being choked changes as well. (00:38:30)

Lummie

Goodfellas mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Henry picks up Karen from a phone booth after her neighbor tries to attack her. The left side of her shirt is dirty. When Henry drops her at home and beats up the neighbor, Karen's shirt is completely clean. (00:39:36 - 00:41:10)

Ben's Mom

Goodfellas mistake picture

Continuity mistake: After Henry beats up Karen's neighbour with his pistol, he puts the gun in Karen's hand. In the close up the gun is resting in her palm, but in wide shots of Karen and Henry she is holding the gun more by its barrel. (00:40:50)

Lummie

Continuity mistake: At the beginning of the movie they pull to the side of the road and stab and shoot the not yet dead man in the trunk. In this scene Jimmy shoots him 4 times. Later, when they get to this scene in the story and show it again in slow mo, Jimmy fires the gun 5 times. (01:00:34)

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

Suggested correction: Jimmy shoots the gun 3 times in each scene.

Goodfellas mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Tommy shoots Spider in the foot and he goes down, Henry is playing cards at the table, then in the next scene Henry is helping Spider up, then the very next scene Henry is back at the table watching Spider crawl on the floor. (01:09:30)

Continuity mistake: When Karen is pointing a gun in Henry's face, the close up is different from the one she has in her hands. (01:13:00)

Continuity mistake: When Paulie and Jimmy go to visit Henry at his girlfriend Janice's apartment to talk to him, after Paulie sits down and begins the conversation with Henry, both a Star of David pendant and a crucifix pendant can be seen hanging from the necklace around Henry's neck. At first the Star of David is hanging over the crucifix, then it has switched to the crucifix hanging over the Star of David. (01:16:15)

Goodfellas mistake picture

Continuity mistake: While Henry and Jimmy are beating up the guy in the car, Henry is holding a gun up to the guy's face. A few times during the scene, it changes back and forth from the gun pressed right up against his face to the gun a little away from his face. (01:17:50)

Lummie

Goodfellas mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Henry is in prison and he comes in to the kitchen with food in a bag, he first passes some bread to Paul. In one shot he picks up 2 jars and a bottle of wine. The next shot he is carrying the same food but suddenly has a loaf of bread in his hands. When the camera angle switches we now see Henry in front of the table about to sit at the table but now has no food in his arms. (01:22:10)

Goodfellas mistake picture

Continuity mistake: As the wiseguys in prison are about to have dinner, there are two loaves of bread on the table. The following shot one of the loaves disappears. (01:22:15)

Lummie

Goodfellas mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Henry Hill is in jail and talking with his wife, the child is playing with a stack of coloured toy blocks. The order the blocks are stacked in change in different shots. (01:24:15)

Continuity mistake: While Henry is in the shower pounding on the tiles after hearing about Lufthansa, his bar of soap changes hands between shots. (01:33:00)

ryguy_1983

Revealing mistake: Morrie gets whacked by Tommy with an ice pick. After that, Morrie is dead and lifeless. Soon after, Frankie Carbone (post Jimmy leaving) exits the car. When he does, the car light comes on and you can see Morrie blink. (01:45:40)

mriggins

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

Suggested correction: Morrie does not blink, but his body moves slightly due to the car rocking.

Twotall

You can see him blink in the edition I have.

mriggins

I saw it yesterday on the Netflix version. Morrie blinked.

The mistake is valid. When Tommy says, "Where you going, you dizzy motherf*cker you," specifically just as he says the words "you dizzy," we do indeed see Morrie's left eye blink (the shadow covers his right eye). It has nothing to do with: "his body moves slightly due to the car rocking." This mistake is quite visible when streaming (MAX and Tubi, timecode 01:45:43), and it's especially visible on a laptop or iPad.

Super Grover

Revealing mistake: In the scene where Tommy gets fatally shot, his body falls to the ground. As it falls, you see his right hand wobble like rubber, making it clear it is a rubber dummy used for the scene. (01:51:30)

HellZone72

Henry Hill: What happened?
Jimmy Conway: They whacked him. They fucking whacked him. I can't fucking believe it.

More quotes from Goodfellas
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

Suggested correction: False. Joe Pesci told the anecdote to Scorsese in the earliest stages of the movie. Scorsese asked him to add it during previous script readings and further rehearsals while notes were being taken by crew members. Then it was finally shot following those rehearsals and notes. In this video all the actors involved tell how Scorsese works and even he himself says he rewrote that scene 4 times. Minute 13:04: https://youtu.be/_bbzUZuxEB8.

Sacha

I have actually seen interviews where they admitted it was improvised. The reactions from the other actors was genuine.

lartaker1975

Just submitted a link to a video where they tell how they improvised during rehearsals and then scripted it.

Sacha

More trivia for Goodfellas

Question: In the voice over planning the Lufthansa heist. It's said that Joe Budda and Frenchy were supposed to tie up the guards and keep them from the alarms. Frenchy worked at the airport. No matter if he wore a mask or not, it would be a gigantic risk of being recognized for Frenchy to be anywhere near the guards who work at the same airport. How could this be?

More questions & answers from Goodfellas

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