Goodfellas
Goodfellas mistake picture

Revealing mistake: In the scene where Karen is too afraid to accept free clothes from Jimmy and speeds off, the yellow NY state license plate falls from the parked car to reveal the modern white one underneath. (02:11:35)

Goodfellas mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Pauly talks to Henry and the restaurant owner about Henry's possible involvement in the restaurant biz, Pauly is talking with the cigar in his mouth and it cuts away to him saying "No?" with the cigar in his hand. (00:25:55)

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Continuity mistake: When Jimmy and Henry are talking to Morrie and the camera angle is behind Morrie you can see him holding the phone at his shoulder, when the camera angle switches he has the phone at his ear. Then the phone suddenly disappears when you can see both of his hands and then it comes back again right before Jimmy strangles him with it. (00:37:40)

Goodfellas mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Henry Hill is in jail and talking with his wife, the child is playing with a stack of coloured toy blocks. The order the blocks are stacked in change in different shots. (01:24:15)

Goodfellas mistake picture

Continuity mistake: As the wiseguys in prison are about to have dinner, there are two loaves of bread on the table. The following shot one of the loaves disappears. (01:22:15)

Lummie

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Factual error: Early in the film, when Henry Hill is selling Pall Mall cigarettes out of a car trunk and is arrested, there are UPC price codes visible on the cartons of cigarettes. UPC codes were not used on products in the 1950's when the scene is taking place. They were introduced in the mid 1970s. (00:13:20)

Goodfellas mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Tommy shoots Spider in the foot and he goes down, Henry is playing cards at the table, then in the next scene Henry is helping Spider up, then the very next scene Henry is back at the table watching Spider crawl on the floor. (01:09:30)

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Continuity mistake: When Paulie is first introduced the long shot shows him holding his cigar next to his waist. The shot changes to a close up, and he is now holding the cigar up near his chest. (00:03:50)

Lummie

Goodfellas mistake picture

Continuity mistake: When Henry is in prison and he comes in to the kitchen with food in a bag, he first passes some bread to Paul. In one shot he picks up 2 jars and a bottle of wine. The next shot he is carrying the same food but suddenly has a loaf of bread in his hands. When the camera angle switches we now see Henry in front of the table about to sit at the table but now has no food in his arms. (01:22:10)

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Continuity mistake: Whilst Jimmy is choking Morrie in the wig store the phone suddenly rings and the shot changes. Between shots the way Morrie is standing has all of a sudden changed. Instead of leaning back, he is bent forward. The way he is holding the phone whilst being choked changes as well. (00:38:30)

Lummie

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Continuity mistake: When Ray's girlfriend is showing off her apartment to her two girlfriends they walk down the hall to the bedroom. The camera then changes to them entering the bedroom door and the order of girls has changed.

Goodfellas mistake picture

Continuity mistake: Henry and Jimmy are eating in a diner waiting for word about Tommy being "made". When Jimmy goes outside to make the call to find out, there is a car parked outside the diner, at this point, the car's window is open. When Jimmy starts kicking over the phonebooth and Henry comes outside to join him, the car's window is closed. (01:51:35)

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Continuity mistake: After Henry beats up Karen's neighbour with his pistol, he puts the gun in Karen's hand. In the close up the gun is resting in her palm, but in wide shots of Karen and Henry she is holding the gun more by its barrel. (00:40:50)

Lummie

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Continuity mistake: When Henry has just shown De Niro the guns and he returns to his car, you see him light up a cigarette. When the shot changes the cigarette has vanished. (01:54:45)

Goodfellas mistake picture

Continuity mistake: While Henry and Jimmy are beating up the guy in the car, Henry is holding a gun up to the guy's face. A few times during the scene, it changes back and forth from the gun pressed right up against his face to the gun a little away from his face. (01:17:50)

Lummie

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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

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Continuity mistake: Henry picks up Karen from a phone booth after her neighbor tries to attack her. The left side of her shirt is dirty. When Henry drops her at home and beats up the neighbor, Karen's shirt is completely clean. (00:39:36 - 00:41:10)

Ben's Mom

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Continuity mistake: After Henry gives Paulie a share of the money he took from the air port, Paulie tells him to say that he got the rest of the money playing Craps in Vegas. Paulie's left hand is around Henry's back with his hand flat out on his shoulder. When it cuts to a close up as Paulie is playfully slapping his cheek with his other hand, his left hand is now suddenly balled up in a different position on Henry's shoulder. (00:35:30)

Quantom X

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

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

More quotes from Goodfellas
Upvote valid corrections to help move entries into the corrections section.

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: What is the song being played during the scene when Henry is being chased by the helicopter towards the end? It starts when he puts the bags in the trunk of his car before going to pick up his brother, but it's not on the soundtrack and I can't see it listed in the end credits.

Stacey

Chosen answer: The song is called "Jump Into The Fire" by Harry Nilsson, and is not on the original motion picture soundtrack.

More questions & answers from Goodfellas

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