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.

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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

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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)

Factual error: In the scene at Idlewild airport, the actors walk past the rear of an easily identified 1965 Chevy Impala. Occasionally Chevrolet introduced vehicles early, but never two years early.

More mistakes in Goodfellas

Tommy DeVito: You know Spider, you're a fuckin' mumbling stuttering little fuck. You know that?

More quotes from Goodfellas
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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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