‘Goodfellas’: Why the Editor Knowingly Left a Major Continuity Error in the Movie
There are film fans out there who consider Goodfellas (1990) the perfect movie. Between the incredible (mostly true) story, the performances up and down the cast, and Martin Scorseseās bravura direction, you can certainly see the argument.
As for the film being technically perfect, you can shut down that conversation fairly easily. In fact, three-time Oscar-winner Thelma Schoonmaker, who edited Goodfellas, would be the first to admit to lapses in continuity.
When a fellow film editor wondered why sheād left a certain continuity flub in the film, Schoonmaker didnāt know what he was talking about. āWhich continuity error?ā she recalled him asking in a 2014 Film Comment interview. āWe have tons of them.ā
For Schoonmaker and Scorsese, mistakes of that variety were acceptable if it meant the difference between good and great performances by actors in the scene. And theyād leave them in on purpose, as they did in Goodfellas.
āGoodfellasā has a glaring continuity error in a scene featuring Paul Sorvino and Tony Darrow

As Paul Cicero, the boss of the outer-borough crew in Goodfellas, Paul Sorvino delivered a commanding (and often overlooked) performance. And in his scene with Henry Hill (Ray Liotta) and restaurant owner Sonny Bunz (Tony Darrow), Sorvino shines.
The three of them are talking because Tommy DeVito (Joe Pesci) has brutalized Sonny, who worries Tommy will kill him. Darrow himself does fine work in the scene, pleading his case about being treated ālike half a f*gā and potentially ābecoming an M.I.A.ā
The conversation goes on for more than two minutes. When Paulie asks what Sonny wants from him, Sonny asks him to take a piece of the restaurant. Theyāll be partners, he says. (That would guarantee his protection.) At first, Paulie laughs off the idea but eventually agrees to it.
Toward the end of this chat (when Paulie says, āItās not even fairā), the audience sees him from the back of his head. And you can see Paulie has a cigar in his mouth. But when he finishes the sentence and the point of view switches back to Paulieās face, he doesnāt have the cigar in his mouth.
Martin Scorsese and Thelma Schoonmaker kept the error in to preserve the great performances

While Schoonmaker has won three Oscars for her editing, sheās received eight nominations. And Goodfellas was one she didnāt win after being nominated. In Film Comment, Schoonmaker recounted her exchange with Neil Travis, who won the Oscar for editing Dances with Wolves.
Travis couldnāt get over why Schoonmaker left the flub in Goodfellas. But she didnāt regret it for a second. āIt was much more important for us to get this beautiful performance by this untrained actor [Darrow] than to worry about where the cigar is in Paul Sorvinoās [mouth],ā she said.
āOne doesnāt want to do that,ā Schoonmaker continued. āOne would hope not to do that. But if the choice comes between a beautiful, clean line and a laugh, we would always go for the laugh.ā No fan of Goodfellas can argue with that logic.