Goofs for
Once Upon a Time in America (1984) More at IMDbPro »

• Anachronisms: In November, 1968, when Noodles visits the locker in the station and pulls out a wad of US Currency, the top bill is signed by W. Michael Blumenthal, President Carter's Secretary of the Treasury from January 23, 1977, to August 4, 1979.
  
  
• Continuity: When Fat Moe gives Noodles the locker key, he opens the door of the clock. The key for winding up the clock is in place. After a quick cut to Noodles, the key is gone.
  
  
• Factual errors: Chief Aiello wears Captains insignia, not police chiefs rank.
  
  

• Errors in geography: When Deborah's train leaves for Hollywood, a French railroad car (SNCF) is on a track in the background.
  
  
• Anachronisms: A 1950s New York housing project is visible when Bugsy shoots Dominic in the early 1920s.
  
  
• Anachronisms: The Plymouth Valiant Duster was not available until 1970.
  
  
• Errors in geography: The scenes at the Miami hotel show the sun setting over the water. Miami is on the Atlantic coast, so the sun should set over land. The scene was shot at St. Petersburg beach, on the Gulf coast.
  
  
• Anachronisms: Noodles watches a 1967 telecast concerning the investigation revolving around Chairman Bailey (on a decidedly European-looking television set). Twice during the telecast, we see a cameraman with a portable video camera and an assistant with a portable videotape recorder. The very first Electronic News Gathering (ENG) equipment wasn't available in the US until at least 1971.
  
  
• Anachronisms: Container cargo cranes are visible when the boys are waiting to for the crates of booze to float to the surface. Containerized cargo was not used until the middle 1950s.
  
  
• Factual errors: In 1968, Noodles rents a 1962 Pontiac, which is far too old to be in a rental fleet.
  
  
• Continuity: When Deborah removes her theatrical make-up, her hands get covered a mix of greasepaint and make-up remover. When she says "I thought you might know why"- "Me? Why me?" they're clean.
  
  
• Errors in geography: The boys first put money in a locker at the Lackawana Terminal in Hoboken, NJ. When they come out into the street, they are at the base of the Manhattan Bridge in Dumbo, Brooklyn, some distance away.
  
  
• Factual errors: When the cargo floats to the surface in the scene in the harbor, the crates are floating with the balloons out and on top of the water, offering no extra buoyancy, and therefore not needed.
  
  
• Revealing mistakes: When Max and Noodles are on the beach, Noodles' girlfriend lays a newspaper across his face. When the wind blows, you can see duplicate pages, revealing that it's a fake newspaper.
  
  
• Anachronisms: In 1968, Noodles returns to the train station and opens a briefcase full of money. As he gets set to close the briefcase, we hear the chug-chug of a steam locomotive starting up in the background, then a steam whistle sounds. New York City banned steam locomotives in 1860. In the US, most steam engines were replaced with diesel locomotives by 1958.
  
  
• Anachronisms: Just before the boys demonstrate the salt trick to the Italians, fluorescent lighting is visible inside the large buildings in the background. Flourescent lights weren't commercially available until the 1940's.
  
  
• Anachronisms: In the scene at Miami Beach which takes place in 1933, beach goers are seen playing with beach balls. The beach ball was not invented until 1938.
  
  
• Continuity: In the very first scene, when the woman is shot, her shirt is covered in blood. When she is shot again, even more blood stains her shirt, but when she falls back, her shirt is completely free of blood.
  
  
• Continuity: When Noodle stabs Bugsy they are on the left side of the Manhattan bridge. But when the police are coming, the whole scene is moved to the right side of the bridge.
  
  

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