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)
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 Michael and Kay are eating lasagna during the wedding, Kay is smoking a cigarette. But depending on the shot, that cigarette disappears from her hand, then reappears. (00:13:25)
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 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)
Revealing mistake: When Vito Corleone is walking Johnny Fontane out of his office, he opens the door and you can see an extra walk by and stop, look at the camera and actors, and back up out of the shot. (Mentioned on the commentary). (00:24:30)
Continuity mistake: When Tom is walking down the alley between buildings at Woltz Studios before he meets Mr. Woltz, the bag he is carrying looks like a travel bag and is almost equilateral triangle shaped. When he meets Mr, Woltz, his bag is a much thinner (isosceles triangle) shaped briefcase. In almost every shot the hand carrying the "bag" is switched. (00:27:45)
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 Tom Hagen is meeting with Jack Woltz, the server fills Tom's wine glass twice within a split second. (00:29:20)
Visible crew/equipment: During the meeting between the Corleone family and Sollozzo to discuss drug dealing you can see a boom microphone reflected in the glass window when Don Corleone stands up to pour Sollozzo a drink, it can be seen moving around. A little later in the same scene when Don rejects Sollozzo's offer you can see a crew member reflected in the same set of window's moving around (above Sonny's head). (00:37:20 - 00:38:44)
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.
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 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 Marlon Brando is gunned down at the fruit stand, he drops the bag of fruit he just bought. However, when he's collapsing against the car, the bag of fruit is now on the hood of the car. (00:43:05)
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)
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)
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)
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)
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 Clemenza knocks at the door Sonny gets a gun from a drawer and puts it in his belt. When he pushes Clemenza the gun disappears, but it's back a moment later. As the shot where the gun disappears is uncut the gun must have slipped down his pants. (00:46:20)
