Goodfellas

Goodfellas (1990)

74 mistakes

(26 votes)

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

Character mistake: In jail when they're all sitting down to eat, Paulie says "c'mon boys let's eat, Freddie, Vinnie let's go" The problem is the other guy's name is Johnny Dio, not Freddie.

Family5

Continuity mistake: When Tommy kills Stacks he shoots him once in the back of the dome, then cracks Carbone's castanets about the coffee. Then it cuts to a slo-mo reprise of the whacking with a Henry voice over and Tommy shoots 6 times.

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Suggested correction: After Tommy shoots Stacks in the back of the head, you see Carbone come into the room with the coffee pot, a shocked expression on his face. While the camera is focused on Carbone you can hear Tommy continue to shoot Stacks several times off-screen.

BaconIsMyBFF

Also, the slo-mo of Tommy shooting Stacks the blood splatter is already on the wall before he shoots him.

Goodfellas mistake picture

Visible crew/equipment: When James is in the phone booth and he gets the call about Tommy, the camera moves in really quickly. The reflection of the lens is visible for some time as James talks on the phone. Left of screen.

manthabeat

Continuity mistake: When we see the close-up of Tommy pulling the ice pick out of Morrie's head, there's lots of blood on the ice pick. But in the next shot, there's no blood on the ice pick. The next shot is a little quick and blurry, but we can still easily see the ice pick's silver when it should be red.

MikeH

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

Continuity mistake: In the scene where Tommy shoots Spider in the foot, we hear 7 gunshots from a S&W Model 36 5-shot .38 revolver. [The first gun, not the Colt 45 he kills Spider with later.]

Continuity mistake: After Karen has been with her girlfriends, she is talking to Henry about what is going to happen if he gets killed, at that point Henry is folding his pants by the closet, when the camera angle switches he is suddenly very quick on his knees in front of Karen.

Continuity mistake: When Henry is in the shower listening to the radio news about the Lufthansa robbery, his hair is brushed backwards. Then he starts to shout and it turns to messy and loose, then back to the first angle and it's pressed and brushed backwards as it was the first time.

Sacha

Continuity mistake: When Henry and his girlfriend enter the Copacabana avoiding waiting in the line, their way through the catacombs of the nightclub is prolonged artificially because they exit the kitchen by the same door they entered it. The scenery is changed a bit by moving some racks and a curtain but you can tell it's the same because they pass the same firehose on the wall twice.

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

Continuity mistake: When Karen is at the the Hostess party, and Jimmy Conway's wife is talking about Jeanie's family, if you look at the lady she's applying make up to, she crosses begins to herself twice. One when the camera is one her and Jimmy's wife, then again when the camera is just on her.

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.

Factual error: When Henry meets with Jimmy after his arrest, the scene takes place in 1980, yet a 1984 or newer white Corvette is seen parked across the street at the end of the scene. (02:14:50)

Factual error: When Henry and Jimmy go to Morrie's to collect jimmy's money, Morrie's commercial seems to be running on a loop, presumably via VCR. VCR was invented in 76 and available in the US a year later. This scene was before then.

steven_frankel

Continuity mistake: When Tommy is shot, there's no bullet wound in his head, but in the very next shot, there is. And we don't see the moment of impact, that wound was always there in that entire second shot.

MikeH

Continuity mistake: When Henry beats the neighbor kid and then passes the gun to Karen, her knit sweater is sometimes on one shoulder and sometimes on both arms.

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.

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

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 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

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