Once Upon a Time in America

Continuity mistake: In the first 1968 section, where Noodles rents a car and drives back to his old neighbourhood, watch the background of the wide shot as he is stopping the car. In the close-up that follows when Noodles gets out, two girls have appeared, hanging around a doorway, who were not to be seen the moment before.

Continuity mistake: When Noodles is raping Roberta in the car, her socks are pale brown-grey, then camera angle changes, and they are black, and then they are grey-brown again.

Revealing mistake: When a man is shot in the head, the bullet hits his hat, and it's very obvious there's no real bullet wound, his hat just opens and reveals a red hat he's wearing.

MikeH

Factual error: Noodles visits the mausoleum containing the caskets of his friends who were killed in 1933. He finds a key hanging on the wall from a plaque that says Noodles built it in 1967. Earlier, he tells Fat Moe he had not been in town for 35 years, since 1933, so the action was taking place in 1968. The key is to a locker at a bus terminal. Inside the locker is a suitcase full of money, stacks of twenties. The bills have the signature of Secretary of the Treasury William Blumenthal, but he was appointed by President Carter in 1977.

Factual error: The Kate Smith recording of God Bless America was made in 1938. It is playing in the background during the opening scene but the opening scene takes place in 1933: 5 years before the song was recorded.

Factual error: Directors extended cut. Train leaving New York with Deborah for Hollywood you see the sign "voie 13." French for platform 13. The scene was shot at Gare du Nord, Paris, France. (02:55:23)

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

Suggested correction: In the scene you're referring to, the person Noodles calls, and the character Danny Aiello plays, was the police chief, not Sgt Halloran. In the film, Danny Aiello is credited as Police Chief Aiello. Also, his wife (played by Karen Shallo) is credited as Mrs. Aiello.

Bishop73

Officer 'Fartface' Whitey: Okay, boys, we're even.
Young Noodles: The hell we are.
Young Max: You'll be collecting your pension before we're even.

More quotes from Once Upon a Time in America

Question: Why, being there so many sequences of nudity in the film, the woman in the funeral car Max brings for Noodles after he is released from jail has her breasts blurred?, why would this scene be conceived like that?.

Answer: You have a censored version. The American R1 version has no such censoring.

More questions & answers from Once Upon a Time in America

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.