Goofs

Near the end, when the hit man is assembling his rifle, he mounts the scope backwards. Later in the film it is on in the correct direction.

During the hit by helicopter in the Atlantic City hotel, Al Neri helps Michael and Vincent escape, but in the next scene, when Vincent hot-wires the limo and drives Michael away, Al is not with them.

When Kay is on the steps about to get into the car in Sicily, Michael can be seen removing his cap through the windshield. Then, after she gets into the car, Michael turns around and again removes his cap.

In The Godfather Part II (1974) the car that Anthony drew for Michael is gray while in Part III it is red.

At the beginning of the movie Vincent gets in a scuffle with security at the party being held for Michael. Vincent's coat gets knocked off his arm but in the next shot it's there again. This happens a few times and when Vincent walks away the coat is back on his arm.

When Cardinal Lamberto hears Michael Corleone's confession, he is not wearing the purple stole all priests wear during the sacrament. There is no reason why he wouldn't have one, since all priests carry one on their person at all times in case of emergency (such as giving absolution during last rites).

The Opera Cavalleria Rusticana is shown out of chronological order. The prologue is shown first (Anthony singing backstage), followed by a scene near the end. The procession scene shown next, is actually in the middle of the opera. Then the conclusion is shown.

In the Opera some scenes take place in an empty box with unused stacked chairs. In a presumably sold out show there would be no unused boxes and even if so, the box would have been prepared, because it can be looked over by the boxes on the other side, as we see the boxes with the audience.

One of the newspapers headlining the executions is dated "Wednesday November 15 1979". November 15, 1979 was a Thursday.

A newspaper is dated "Friday March 27, 1980". March 27, 1980 was a Thursday.

Although the details of Pope John Paul I and his death in the film are not always consistent with those of the real Pope John Paul I, this is not a factual error, as this film is only presenting a fictional story partially (and loosely) based on true events.

The name of the new Pope was John Paul, not John Paul the First, as to name him so would be to tell the future. He is incorrectly referred to in dialogue and in the NYT story title. Nevertheless, when he was elected Pope, he named himself John Paul I, in order that he not be given the numerated double name John XXIV Paul VII. And this was reported in the world's newspapers such as the New York Times.

When Corleone allows himself to be shaved a towel is placed over his left shoulder. A second later it is shown on his right shoulder. However when the towel is placed on his shoulder he is seen reflected in his shaving mirror and the shot switches to a non reflected shot so it is actually on his right shoulder to start with.

When Michael's daughter runs away due to her father's advice to quit her relation with Vincent, Tony tries to soften the situation by saying what sounds like "She'll understand about Joey", which makes no sense in this context. He is in fact saying "She'll understand eventually", which is confirmed by the subtitles.

When the assassins find Frederick Keinszig and begin to subdue him; he reaches for his gun on top of the table of stolen money. As he struggles, one of the top bills gets moved to reveal that the stacks of money are mostly just blank pieces of paper.

Many times newspaper headlines are shown describing events in the film. However, the clearly legible articles underneath the headlines are obviously unrelated to the headlines. In one case, a WSJ headline "article" appears to have been lifted directly from a computer instruction manual!

The scenes where Michael advises his daughter Mary against seeing Vincent, and the one where he gives Anthony the car drawing are not in sequence. That is noticeable because Anthony and Michael are wearing the same clothes and in the first scene (with Mary) Anthony has the car drawing in his hand. Also in the second scene, Mary's flowers briefly pop into frame.

In the very last scene, Micheal passes away and falls off his chair. He instinctively moves his arm to brace himself, despite having just died.

The drawing which Michael shows to Anthony (1:52:17) is not the same drawing used in The Godfather II (0:35:00). Both are drawings of Michael sitting in a car, but definitely not the same.

During the helicopter hit scene, one of the dons is shown trying to get his overcoat from the hook, shouting "It's my lucky coat!", but he cannot get it free. If you watch in slow motion or frame by frame, you can see that one of the squibs on his back goes off early. A few seconds later, he is shown pulling his coat again, and only then, he is actually shot.

Mary walks backwards, taking multiple photographs as she continues to move. The only way to avoid completely blurry images would be to use a high-speed film with a fast shutter speed. As this is a very sunny day, she would not load her camera with such film.

In the first "overview" shot of New York City at the beginning of the film, the World Financial Center is shown. Construction of the complex began in 1981 and was not finished until 1987.

A chart showing the strength of the British pound over the years 1988-1990 is shown in one of the newspapers dated 1980.

The opening of the film indicates that we are in 1979, but Pope Paul VI and Pope John Paul I, who are still alive at that point in the story, both died in 1978.

The clothes worn by some characters, notably Mary and Kay, are clearly fashions created in the late 1980s.

When the Corleone family moves to Sicily, one white car license plate can be seen. This color was not used in Italy before 1988.

There is a band playing in the town square in Sicily while Corleone and Kay are talking. The cymbal player is careful to ensure that the plates don't actually meet.

At the opera house, Vincent is heard yelling while his mouth is not moving.

At the beginning of the last (wide) shot of the meeting with Don Tommasino in Sicily, Vincent can be seen speaking to Michael Corleone while the latter gets up, but nothing is heard.

When Vincent and Grace are in bed together at Vincent's apartment, Vincent is alerted to the presence of the two hit men by a noise somewhere in the apartment. Grace asks him "Do you have a cat?" but her mouth never moves.

When Michael arrives to Sicily, the caption says "Bagheria" and it's shown a Greek temple, but there are no Greek temples in Bagheria.

In an early scene, in Michael's office, a picture can be seen of Vito and Michael, from the scene in the first movie, where Michael and Vito are talking privately about the upcoming Barzini meeting. There was nobody else there, so who took that closeup picture that's now framed on the wall?

Pope John Paul I is addressed by a servant as "Your Eminence". The Pope's proper title is "Your Holiness".

Vincent points out to his cousin that Vito Corleone started as a lowly delivery boy at the Genco Olive Oil Company. In fact, Vito was its founder. It is possible, however, that Vincent was thinking of Vito's tenure at the Abbandando Grocery Store, where he in fact was a delivery boy. It was where he met his friend and future partner Genco Abbandando, after whom their joint venture was named.

There are numerous errors in the use of Latin by priests in the film. In Saint Patrick's where Michael Corleone is honored by the Church, the presiding clergyman pronounces the Latin word et ("and") as "ay", rhyming with "day", as if it were French. It is in fact pronounced like it is spelled, to rhyme with "wet" and "pet".

Later, when Cardinal Lamberto (later Pope John Paul I) absolves Michael Corleone, he ends with the standard "in the name of the Father," etc., in Latin. But he wraps it up saying "et Spíritus Sánctus". The correct Latin is "et Spíritús Sánctí". But Spiritus here is not a nominative, it is the genitive (possessive) singular (Spíritús) of a fourth declension noun (Spíritus), and the correct form of the adjective here is Sánctí.

Of course, these very mistakes won't be noticed by many viewers, but they will be noticed by anybody who took first year Latin and/or had any training in the Church.

Although the character played by Franco Citti in this movie, and in The Godfather (1972) Part I, is named "Calò", Michael Corleone always calls him "Carlo".

In the German dubbed version Vincent several times refers to Mary as his cousin in Italian. He mispronounces the word 'cugina' (cousin) as 'cucina' (kitchen), though.