Release CalendarTop 250 MoviesMost Popular MoviesBrowse Movies by GenreTop Box OfficeShowtimes & TicketsMovie NewsIndia Movie Spotlight
    What's on TV & StreamingTop 250 TV ShowsMost Popular TV ShowsBrowse TV Shows by GenreTV News
    What to WatchLatest TrailersIMDb OriginalsIMDb PicksIMDb SpotlightIMDb Podcasts
    OscarsCannes Film FestivalStar WarsAsian Pacific American Heritage MonthSummer Watch GuideSTARmeter AwardsAwards CentralFestival CentralAll Events
    Born TodayMost Popular CelebsCelebrity News
    Help CenterContributor ZonePolls
For Industry Professionals
  • Language
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Watchlist
Sign In
  • Fully supported
  • English (United States)
    Partially supported
  • Français (Canada)
  • Français (France)
  • Deutsch (Deutschland)
  • हिंदी (भारत)
  • Italiano (Italia)
  • Português (Brasil)
  • Español (España)
  • Español (México)
Use app
Back
  • Cast & crew
  • User reviews
  • Trivia
  • FAQ
IMDbPro
Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci in The Irishman (2019)

Goofs

The Irishman

Edit

Continuity

Hoffa was released from prison in 1971 but before he is released, they show a shot of the World Trade Center that wasn't finished until 1973.
When Tony Pro talks to Jimmy in prison, more ice cream magically appears in Hoffa's dish.
Towards the end of the movie, when Frank is being checked by the nurse, her stethoscope changes from being in place in her ears, to being around her neck, as the camera angle changes.
When Frank, who has driven trucks for years, pulls out in a semi headed for Florida, he cuts the left turn way too tight and would not have been able to clear the adjacent building.
In the middle of the movie, when the Hoffa character stops Sheeran from storming out of the office in which Hoffa was haranguing his staff, Sheeran puts on his overcoat and the two discuss their differences, the camera switching perspective. When the camera fixes on Sheeran, the lapel of the overcoat is tuned down. When the camera looks at the Hoffa character, the lapel is turned up.

Factual errors

Pennsylvania vehicles do not have license plates on the front of their cars. Some cars are shown with a tag on the front bumper.
Jimmy is shown being released from prison shortly after the scene when Joe Gallo is murdered. Jimmy got out of prison in 1971 whereas Gallo was killed in 1972.
The movie states that Allen Dorfman was killed in Chicago in 1979, when in fact he was shot and killed in the parking lot of suburban Chicago hotel in 1983.
During the real-life assassination of Albert Anastasia in the barbershop of the Park Sheraton Hotel, the hitmen covered their faces with scarves before carrying out the hit. But in the film, the hitmen are seen approaching their target with no attempt being made to cover their faces.
Towards the end of the film, Frank says "Russell went to the prison hospital and then he went to the graveyard," possibly implying that he died in prison. Russell Bufalino was released from prison more than 4 years before his death.

Incorrectly regarded as goofs

When Hoffa notices the flag on top of the Teamsters building is at half-mast because of JFK's assassination, he goes to the roof to have it fully raised again. When his men raise it, it's at the bottom of the flagpole instead of half-mast. This is because the proper ritual for restoring a half-mast flag to full-mast is to lower it from half-mast to the bottom, then raise it to full.
In the scene where crazy Joe gets shot in the restaurant, Frank is using 2 revolvers to kill him. The newscaster on the TV report said that Joey was shot 14 times. The 2 snub nose revolvers were more than likely 5 shot which between the 2 revolvers would have been 10 shots, even if they were 6 shot revolvers it would have been a maximum of 12 shots, 14 shots would not have been possible.

Revealing mistakes

Franks 1949 Chevrolet Truck would have had an industrial 6 cylinder engine which had timing gears only. No timing chain. Making Russell's diagnosis impossible.
While looking under the hood of Franks 1949 Chevrolet Truck, Russell would not be able to tell the condition of a spark plug by simply removing the plug wire.
Franks 1949 Chevrolet Truck has a 1980's Heavy Duty Truck air cleaner. That industrial 6 cylinder engine would have had an oil bath air cleaner.
In scenes where the characters are riding in cars, the windows are all open, but no one's hair is moving and no sign of the air coming into the car.
In the key scene where Frank meets Russell, Russell suggests the issue is the timing chain. He tells Frank how to fix it. A timing chain repair is a major item that cannot be done on the road. Surprising in a Scorsese Film.

Miscellaneous

The microphone Frank's holding reveals for a moment that it's just heavily used Shure SM58 which didn't exist in the plot date.

Anachronisms

When the men are unloading the weapons from the US Army truck, two men can be seen carrying a box of rifles labeled "M-16" but the US Army didn't start getting M-16 rifles until 1964 which would have been three years after the Bay of Pigs Invasion that took place in 1961.
The chartered Cessna light-twin has modern "computer" instruments not in production for several years to come. Its parked propeller doesn't move, it's parked in the same spot, & the clouds are the same in both the arrival & return scenes. The identification N-number is of a design not available in that much-earlier era. It's a charter-op's turbocharged piston-engine plane, not a private jet.
In the beginning of the movie, Frank Sheeran talks about taking 476 North out of Philadelphia on the way to picking up Russell Bufalino in Pittston, PA on the way to the wedding in Detroit, MI. At that time of this trip (presumably in summer 1975), no section of I-476 was yet constructed and open to traffic. The first section of I-476 to open, did so in 1979, but only as a 4 mile connector between the Schuykill Expressway (I-76) and the Pennsylvania Turnpike I-276 at Plymouth Meeting, PA. From Plymouth Meeting to Pittston, he would have likely taken PA Route 9, known at that time as the Northeast Extension of the PA Turnpike. Later, in 1996, the Northeast Extension (PA Route 9) would be renamed as I-476.

Although it may be perceived as a geography error in the movie, it was perfectly possible for Frank to take "476 out of Philly" on the way to pick up Russell.
The scrap yard that Dorfman takes his car to is run by all modern equipment that didn't exist in the 1960s.
In all the scenes outside near the house where Jimmy Hoffa got murdered there are fiber network cables under the power day which didn't exist at that time. Also the slack carriers (visible in one scene filmed on the junction near the house with a view from above) are actual models which didn't exist back then.

Audio/visual unsynchronised

At 2:12:20, when Jimmy is taking to Russ, Jimmy's mouth is not moving when he is saying "That's right, nobody."

Errors in geography

When confronting the shop owner who pushed his daughter, a nearby street sign reads Allegheny Avenue. Allegheny Avenue is not in South Philadelphia.
When driving between the Red Fox restaurant and the nearby meeting house, Frank Sheeran repeatedly passes an intersection marked as "Telegraph Road" at "Seven Mile Road". This is shown as a small junction of two 2-lane roads. In the real-life metropolitan Detroit, these are major multi-lane arteries carrying thousands of cars per day, not small two-lane roads.

Character error

When Frank is watching the news report about Joe Gallo's murder, the news correspondent says that Joe was celebrating his 47th birthday when he was killed. It was his 43rd birthday.
When Frank is being checked by the nurse near the very end, she puts her stethoscope backwards (the earbuds are pointing to the back), then it's suddenly correctly set in her ears (the earbuds are pointing forward), then it's backwards again.
In the Frank Sheeran Appreciation Night scene (which in real life took place in 1974), "Skinny Razor" DiTullio (played by Bobby Cannavale) appears. However, the actual "Skinny Razor" died in 1966.
In the beginning, when Frank was outlining and narrating his trip to Detroit, he talks about taking "Route 476", stating it as "Four Seven Six" Folks who live in Philly, and its surrounding suburbs, would refer to this as "Four Seventy-Six"

Contribute to this page

Suggest an edit or add missing content
Robert De Niro, Al Pacino, and Joe Pesci in The Irishman (2019)
Top Gap
What is the streaming release date of The Irishman (2019) in Canada?
Answer
  • See more gaps
  • Learn more about contributing
Edit page

More from this title

More to explore

Recently viewed

Please enable browser cookies to use this feature. Learn more.
Get the IMDb app
Sign in for more accessSign in for more access
Follow IMDb on social
Get the IMDb app
For Android and iOS
Get the IMDb app
  • Help
  • Site Index
  • IMDbPro
  • Box Office Mojo
  • License IMDb Data
  • Press Room
  • Advertising
  • Jobs
  • Conditions of Use
  • Privacy Policy
  • Your Ads Privacy Choices
IMDb, an Amazon company

© 1990-2025 by IMDb.com, Inc.