Goodfellas

Other mistake: In the scene where Jimmy and Henry try to strangle Maury with the telephone cord, the handset is off the hook, but the telephone still somehow rings.

Other mistake: Even though this is a fictional event of how Billy Batts was murdered, he was a made man in the Gambino Crime Family. So, it doesn't make sense for him to have a party of him coming home from prison at a rival family's establishment, meaning Henry Hill's club, which was a Lucchese Crime family hangout. He would have had the celebration on his own turf, around his own family.

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

Suggested correction: While there is no way to prove how factual it actually is, this is almost exactly the way the real-life Henry Hill told the story in the mafia memoir, Wiseguy. The only differences being that Batts was not killed that night, but a couple of weeks later, and Henry did not own the club, Jimmy did.

ctown28

Well, that isn't at all the disagreement here. My only concern was, why was a Gambino made man having a party at a rival family's establishment and not on their own turf? That's the blooper here.

Because of the fact that he actually had the "party" at a rival family's establishment, negates it from being a mistake. And when he was killed a couple weeks later, he was killed in that same establishment.

ctown28

Other mistake: When we see the shot couple in the pink car, there's blood spatter inside the windows and windshield, so that means the windows were up when they were shot, and they were shot in the car. It makes no sense that neither the windshield nor the windows are broken. If Jimmy shot them from the front, he would've had to have shot them through the windshield. If he shot them from the side, he would've had to have shot them through the window.

MikeH

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

Suggested correction: This one is pretty weak. Jimmy knew them. He could have easily walked up to the door and opened it, as if to admire the car, as if to talk, or for any other reason, shot them, and closed the door.

Other mistake: When Tommy kills Stacks, after he leaves the apartment, they re-enact the murder from a different camera angle in slow motion, where we see Tommy's face. Right before Tommy starts shooting, we can see blood stains on the wall already.

Other mistake: Billy Batts is killed and buried in June 1970. Later on, Jimmy tells Henry that they have to dig the remains up due to condos being built on the site; Henry says "that was 6 months ago", putting the time frame at December 1970. In the car trunk-cleaning scene that follows, the trees are in full green foliage and Henry is dressed for summer. (02:36:00)

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

More mistakes in Goodfellas

Henry Hill: Jimmy was the kind of guy that rooted for bad guys in the movies.

More quotes from Goodfellas

Trivia: The lines in the scene at Tommy's house where his mother makes dinner for them were entirely improvised by the actors.

More trivia for Goodfellas

Question: In the scene where Tommy believes he is being made, right after he walks into the room you hear him say "Oh no!" right before he is shot. Tommy obviously realizes that he was set up. However, what is it that he sees in the room that tips him off?

Answer: He was expecting a crowded room full of friends congratulating him. Also it was common knowledge among the mafia that being walked into an empty room when you were due to be made meant you were about to be executed, so Tommy likely knew he'd met his end just moments before the shot.

William Bergquist

Answer: A man being 'made' is an event shrouded in ceremony. The top people in the family are there, among others to congratulate the new soldier. Tommy walked into an empty room.

Just as others have pointed out, the film implies Tommy realised something was wrong the moment he walked in and saw the place was empty...no other "made men" there for the ceremony. However, I always wondered why he hadn't caught on to what was happening when he saw there were only a couple vehicles parked out in the driveway.

Answer: Either the fact that the room was empty (being made is a big ceremonial event with many people) or he felt the gun pressed against the back of his head right before they shot him.

Answer: There should have been more people waiting for him.

Answer: Wasn't the floor covered with a plastic sheet? That would have given it away.

Or it was a floor with no carpet (tiled, I believe)...easier to mop up.

More questions & answers from Goodfellas

Join the mailing list

Separate from membership, this is to get updates about mistakes in recent releases. Addresses are not passed on to any third party, and are used solely for direct communication from this site. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Check out the mistake & trivia books, on Kindle and in paperback.