Goofs
Anachronisms
The bass player in the band in the restaurant in 1963 is playing a Gibson EB-2D, which was introduced in 1966.Share this
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Anachronisms (21) |
Audio/visual unsynchronised (4) |
Boom mic visible (2) |
Character error (2) |
Continuity (32) |
Crew or equipment visible (8) |
Errors in geography (1) |
Factual errors (7) |
Incorrectly regarded as goofs (1) |
Revealing mistakes (11) |
Spoilers (14)
Anachronisms
In the scene that opens with "Idlewild Airport, 1963", Henry leans on a 1965 Chevy Impala.
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When Henry and others are outside Idlewild Airport in 1963, and overhead a Boeing 747 flies overhead. The first 747 test flights were in 1969, and they entered service in 1970.
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When Lois makes the call that dooms Henry, her Trimline phone has the 1984 AT&T logo. The scene is set in 1980.
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In the establishing shots of "Idlewild Airport, 1963,"a Swissair jet's livery has black and dark green stripes and the title "Swissair" in lower-case red letters on the fuselage. That color scheme was introduced in 1981.
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Near the end, when Henry is driving around watching for the helicopter, a package of Winston cigarettes is on the dashboard of his car. The scene is set in 1980, but the package design was introduced in 1987.
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Near the end, as Henry waits for the helicopter, his 1979 Cadillac Coupe DeVille Phaeton has a rear dash-mounted brake light, which was introduced in 1986.
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The pay phone in the airport diner is of the familiar current design, which was introduced by the Bell System in the late 1960s, or several years after this scene takes place (1963). It is, however, the rotary dial version.
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When young Henry Hill is arrested for selling black-market cigarettes (late 1950s), the cigarette cartons have UPC barcodes, which first appeared in the late 1970s.
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In a segment introduced as Brooklyn, 1955, the camera follows Henry running off to his job at the cab stand. Part of the view is a look through the utility poles to show the surrounding neighborhood. The shot includes a modern cable television amplifier.
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Towards the end, when Karen shouts at Jimmy, the street signs should be white on black, not white on green.
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When we first see Paulie's house, a cable TV wire is clearly visible on the outside. Cable TV didn't come to New York's outer boroughs until the mid-1980s.
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When Henry is almost in an accident, the door of a Nassau County Police patrol car appears for a split second. The emblem on the door is the Nassau Police shoulder patch, which they did not display on their cars until the mid-1980's, not in May 1980 when the scene was set.
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A McDonnell Douglas DC-10, introduced in the early 1970s, appears in one of the 1960s airport shots.
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The faux ivy back-drop at the hostess party is obviously contemporary silk-floral foliage. It should be plastic only.
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In May of 1980, when Henry and Karen hide guns at Karen's mother's house, a G-Body GM car is parked in the driveway. They were introduced in 1982.
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In an early 1970s scene, Visa and Mastercard logos are on the front door of a dining establishment. At the time, Mastercard was Master Charge, and Visa was the Bank of Americard.
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When Henry takes Karen to the Copa, they enter through a service door and through a labyrinth of passageways until they finally emerge in the dining room. As the camera follows them on their journey, a modern fire extinguisher is near the kitchen area. At the time, most fire extinguishers were either the dry powder, push-handle type (similar to old insect sprays) or gravity-fed liquid extinguishers that worked by turning the unit upside down and directing the nozzle. The extinguisher in the scene is a modern pressurized CO2 extinguisher with an OSHA filling inspection tag attached, which wasn't required in the early to mid 1960s.
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When Henry steals the truck at Idlewild Airport, and when the man comes back in and says that two men have stolen his truck, modern-day cars are passing by outside the diner.
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When Johnny and the boys are making spaghetti in the late 1950s, a bottle of dish soap in the window sill has a UPC bar code. The bar code was first tried in 1966, became a new industry standard in 1970, and was first scanned in 1974.
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When Henry and Karen are on their date at the Copa, they are drinking champagne from large flute glasses. While a 4oz flute that had been introduced in the 1930s, Henry and Karen should have been drinking from coupe style glasses as large flutes did not become popular until the mid-seventies.
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In the footnotes, it is noted that "In 1989, Henry and Karen Hill separated after 25 years of marriage", and yet the Corvette parked over the road from Karen's mother's house (before their marriage) is a 1966 model.
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Audio/visual unsynchronised
When Billy Batts says, "What?" to Tommy in the bar, Billy's lips don't move.
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When Billy Batts is mocking Tommy in the bar, he eventually raises his glass and says "Salud, Tommy", but his lips aren't moving.
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When Janice hands her dog to Tommy, we hear Tommy's voice saying that he's "gonna eat this f****** dog", but the movement of his mouth doesn't match his voice".
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When Jimmy, Tommy, Carbone, and Maury are getting in the car right before Tommy kills Maury, you hear 4 car doors shut when it should only be 3. Maury is still standing with the passenger door open.
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Boom mic visible
Shadow in Henry's house when he is talking with Marie about the Lufthansa heist.
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When Henry is released from prison, the mic is reflected in the car window when Karen turns to her right to hug Henry.
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Character error
In an early scene, the narrator says, "It was before Apalachin," referring to the upstate New York town where a late-1950s Mafia summit was raided by police, making national headlines. He pronounces it "ap-a-LAY-chin," instead of "ap-a-LAY-kin."
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During the prison dinner scene, Paulie says, "Freddie, Vinnie, come eat." There was no Freddie; he was talking to Johnnie Dio.
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Continuity
When Karen holds a gun in Henry's face, one gun is used in close-ups, and a different gun is used for long shots.
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When Karen visits Henry in prison, cheese and salami on the table change position between shots.
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When Karen visits Henry in jail the daughter sitting on her lap plays with blocks. These blocks change between shots.
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When Karen throws things on the table while visiting Henry in prison, her youngest daughter is cries on Henry's lap. When the girl hugs him, she is suddenly holding a bottle and pacifier.
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When Sonny Bunz has his sit-down with Paulie about Tommy, an over-the-shoulder shot from behind Sonny shows Paulie talking with a cigar in his mouth. In the next shot, an over-the-shoulder shot of Sonny, Paulie's cigar is gone. In the following shot, another over-the-shoulder from behind Sonny, Paulie has the cigar in his mouth again.
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When the police car pulls up while Jimmy is handing out cartons of cigarettes from the truck heist, the same two-tone brown 1957 Buick two-door sedan drives by several times, in the same direction, in the background.
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When Henry brings in the bag of supplies in jail, he hands the wine bottles to Paulie, then picks up a bottle of scotch and two jars. In the next shot, he is holding bread, a different bottle of scotch, and two jars.
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After Tommy shoots Spider's foot, Henry gets up to help him, but can be seen sitting down in the background.
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The phone jumps around on Morry's shoulder when he's talking to Henry.
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Henry's Catholic cross and Star of David during the shower scene.
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While Tommy tells his anecdote at the restaurant, wine glasses on the table fill and empty, and napkins move themselves, throughout the scene.
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When Henry's mistress is having a party to show off her new apartment, the women walk from the living room to the bedroom. Two women change position as they enter the bedroom.
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During Tommy's "Why am I funny" speech, the position of Henry's left hand, as well as the objects he is holding (cigarette, glass) change and move.
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Karen's sweater has dirt on the shoulder after Henry's fight. At the door, the sweater is clean.
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In the "You're a funny guy" scene, a styrofoam coffee cup disappears and reappears three times.
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Young Henry is right-handed; older Henry is left-handed.
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On the morning of May 11, 1980, Henry puts a paper bag into the car trunk with the left hand. In the close-up we see a hand with a watch and a bracelet, which Henry is wearing on his right hand.
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When Henry and Karen go on their first date alone, their clothes are different when they arrive at the club.
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When Henry hands in the gun to Karen, the way she holds it changes between the wide shot and the close-up.
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On May 11, 1980, when Henry and Karen are at the shopping mall, they leave their car by the curb in front of the store. When they leave the mall later, after looking out for the helicopters, the car is parked in the parking lot.
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When teenage Henry is given the keys to park a "wise-guy's" Cadillac, he gets into a 1952 or 1953 model. After Henry parks it, an overhead long shot shows him getting out of a 1949 Cadillac.
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During Henry's shower scene, the shampoo in his hair appears and disappears between shots.
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The same truck is used in 3 hijacking scenes: the diner, the guy that they take his drivers licenses away and possibly one other. It's the truck with the red cab in the front.
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When Tommy shoots Spider he is behind the bar putting ice in the drinks. The next shot he is meters in front of the bar and falls back into it.
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When Henry, Paulie and the restaurant owner are discussing Paulie taking over part of his restaurant, to make it safe from Tommy, Paulie's cigar moves around and even disappears in between scenes.
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When Morrie says "Give them 8 to 5 on Cleveland," the phone is in his right hand and next to his ear. In the next shot, a split second later, the phone is in his left hand and down by his side.
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When Jimmy and Paulie go to Janice Rossi's apartment to convince Henry to go back to his wife, Henry is wearing a Star of David around his neck when he sits down on the couch. In later shots from the same scene, Henry is wearing a Cross around his neck.
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Just before Henry enters the jail cell with a bag of supplies, Paulie sits at the table drinking. A jar containing a bunch of fresh basil is in the middle of the table. Paulie is still drinking in the next shot, but the jar and the basil are gone.
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When Tommy is beating Billy Batts with the gun in his hand the cylinder of the gun comes out and lands on the floor, this would only happen if there was no retention screw to hold the cylinder
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When Karen aims the gun at Henry's face the chambers are visibly empty and then loaded in alternating shots during the scene.
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After Tommy kills Morrie and he and Frankie are discussing where to chop the body up, Morrie's chest rises and falls, as if he were alive and breathing.
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After the first shot of Tommy killing Stacks, the following shot of Tommy shooting him, there is already blood splatter on the wall behind Tommy.
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Crew or equipment visible
When Jimmy calls about Tommy being made, the front of a camera is reflected in the side of the phone booth.
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When young Henry enters the phone booth as he and Tuddy Cicero are "running around" making Paul's phone calls, you can see a wireless mike pack in his back pocket.
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When Henry and Karen hide the gun at her mother's house, a camera is visible in the background.
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Reflected in the window while Karen tries to find the stolen dresses.
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About 45 minutes in, one of the cameramen can be seen on the right-hand side of the screen.
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During the long Steadicam shot through the restaurant's kitchen, the camera's shadow is briefly visible on the left-hand side as it exits.
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Early in the movie, when young Henry's father beats him with a belt, the boy clearly has some sort protective padding under his shirt.
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During dinner scene with Tommy's mother, the camera shakes noticeably on a single shot of Henry.
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Errors in geography
The Airline Diner is outside Laguardia Airport, not Idlewild (Kennedy).
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Factual errors
Henry looks into a bag filled with $20 bills. They're signed by "James A. Baker" (James Baker III), who was Treasury Secretary in 1985. The scene is set in the mid to late 1970s. Also, the money is clearly photocopies and not genuine currency.
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When Maury's address is shown in his TV ad, not only is the number not hyphenated (as all Queens addresses are) are, but address should be "Neighborhood, NY", not "Queens, NY". Except for Manhattan, which is always "New York, NY", the names of the other New York boroughs are used in addresses.
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When Henry says "Air France made me. . .", the aircraft shown is a Convair 240, which Air France has never flown.
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In the film, Henry and Karen Hill have two daughters. In real life, they have a son and a daughter.
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In the 1955 sequences, Tommy DeVito is portrayed as a boy about the same age as Henry Hill, maybe slightly older. Pesci's character was based on real-life mobster who was born in 1950. He would have been 4 or 5 years old when these events took place.
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In real life, Tommy DeSimone was a big man, standing about 6 ft 2 in (1.88 m) and over 200 pounds. Joe Pesci is a small actor, but otherwise his portrayal has been called accurate.
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When Henry picks up his brother at the hospital after nearly being in an accident, the doctor gives him an orange tablet which is suppose to Valium 10mg but Valium 10mg tablets are blue. Valium 5mg tablets are yellow; therefore, it could not have been two 5mg tablets.
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Incorrectly regarded as goofs
During the "You're a funny guy" scene, set in 1963, a bottle of Crown Royal whiskey is on the table. Crown Royal wasn't sold in the US until 1965. Tommy smuggled it into the States.
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Revealing mistakes
When Karen drives off after Jimmy tells her to go to the dress shop, the car blows a fake license plate off another car.
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Obvious blood spray used in wide shot of Stacks Edwards Hit. Also, Tommy's gun does not recoil.
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When the mailman's head is pushed into the pizza oven, his hand is clearly seen resting on the inside of the oven door before the image is frozen, even though a cooked pizza is shown inside the oven as it is opened (i.e. it was too hot for him to keep his hand there for the few seconds shown without reacting).
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At the airport, when Tommy and Henry take the Sargent key and walk over to the locked storeroom, the whole knob turns when the key is turned. That means the lock was already unlocked. If it had been locked, only the key would've turned.
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When young Henry breaking the unwanted cars' windows, the glass breaks and falls out easily, as if they were window panes.
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When Henry brings the guns for the silencers that have already been purchased, the silencers are threaded and the barrels are too big. In reality, gun barrels are threaded and the silencers fit over them.
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In the legendary steadicam scene, Henry and Karen's route doubles back on itself in the kitchen. As they turn left to enter the kitchen, a fire hose is behind a waiter in front of them; Thirty seconds later, they emerge from the same door with the fire hose on their left. Henry doesn't take them through the kitchen at all, they just walk around inside it. They could have passed the kitchen door and turned right into the nightclub.
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When Karen visits Henry in prison and she has to sign the register, she scans the entries in the book. With the camera looking at the register from Karen's point of view, Karen spots Henry's name, then her eyes look to the right to see who had visited him. The camera pans to the left, not the right.
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When Tommy shoots Stacks in the back of the head, it's clear that the blood is coming from off-screen.
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In the slow motion shooting of Stacks Edwards, it is apparent that no spent shell casings are ejected from Tommy's semi-automatic.
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When Henry hears about the Lufthansa heist on the radio while taking a shower, the radio is tuned to 710 AM. The station playing, identifiable by its signature "you give us 22 minutes" sounder, is AM 1010 WINS.
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Spoilers
Audio/visual unsynchronised
When Tommy kills Stacks, the silencer is heard three times after he shoots Stacks in the head. During the slow-motion replay, Tommy shoots Stacks 5 times in the back, 2 times more than in the previous scene.Share this
Continuity
After Tommy breaks a bottle over the restaurant owner's head, his jacket changes from clean and dry to splashed and back between shots.Share this
Continuity
When Jimmy opens up the trunk of the car and finds Billy Batts still alive, Tommy pulls out a large butcher knife and plunges it into Batts almost to the hilt several times. He then stands watching while Jimmy empties his gun into Batts' body. There is no blood on either Tommy's hands or the knife.Share this
Continuity
A title card dates the Billy Batts murder as June 11, 1970. When they go to dig up the grave, Henry says "it's been six months." It should be winter in New York, but the boys are in short sleeves and Henry's kids are going to the beach the next day.Share this
Continuity
Every scene coming to or going from Karen's home, regardless of passage of time, (i.e. the neighbor rough-up, Henry leaving) was obviously shot in the spring, with all trees, shrubs in the same state of bloom. In the latest shot, the hot pink almond or dogwood tree was faded.Share this
Continuity
When Jimmy strangles Morrie with the telephone cord, Morrie's grip on the phone changes between shots.Share this
Continuity
When Jimmy finds out Tommy has been "whacked", check the car window in the background. When Jimmy goes to the car it is open, but when he pushes over the phone booth, it's closed.Share this
Continuity
When Tommy kills Stacks, Carbone stands in the doorway and watches Tommy shoot Stacks three more times after shooting him once in the head. In the slow motion alternate view, Carbone is not in the doorway, and Tommy shoots Stacks five more times instead of three.Share this
Crew or equipment visible
When Jimmy is crying about Tommy getting whacked, a crew member is reflected in the phone booth.Share this
Factual errors
When Tommy shoots Spider in the foot, Tommy fires a total of seven shots from a S&W Model 36 5-shot revolver without reloading.Share this
Incorrectly regarded as goofs
When Tommy takes out Stacks, he says, "You'd be late to your own funeral" as he puts the gun to the back of Stacks' head. When they show Tommy in slow motion, he doesn't say anything. Tommy shoots him once in the head, then changes positions before shooting him again. In slow-mo, we don't see the first shot, only the latter ones.Share this
Revealing mistakes
After Tommy De Vito kills Morrie from behind in the car, Morrie clearly breathes on the left edge of the screen.Share this
Revealing mistakes
When Tommy pulls out the knife to stab Billy Bats, you can see when the light hits it that it is a retractable prop knife.Share this
Revealing mistakes
When Tommy stabs Billy Batts, the knife is a very obvious rubber prop knife.Share this
