American Gangster goofs

In 1968, as Frank is about to ring his cousin in Bangkok for the first time, an internet URL can be plainly seen on a hoarding across the road.

In the film's 1968 opening sequence, Bumpy Johnson grumbles that McDonald's is on every street corner. The first McDonald's in New York City did not open until the early 1970s, when one launched in Harlem.

Frank Lucas watches Leroy 'Nicky' Barnes hand out copies of The New York Times Magazine bearing Barnes on the cover. That edition was published in 1977, while Lucas was serving a prison sentence.

During a 1970s raid by federal agents on Frank's home, a mid-1990s edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica sits on his bookshelves.

When the villains are removing the screws from the false‑bottom coffins, the sound effect used resembles that of a modern battery‑powered cordless drill (it sounds like an 18‑volt or 14.4‑volt model) fitted with an electric brake. Cordless power tools were introduced by the Apollo Moon Programme, and no battery‑powered drill available to industry was developed until decades later.

A 1990s Ford van, displaying "AVIS" along its side, appears as Frank and his new wife step out of the church to face the crowd.

Set in Saigon in 1968, Frank's cousin Nate makes use of turn-of-the-century slang, using "a'ight" instead of "all right" and "fiddy" to mean "fifty". Several other characters likewise say "a'ight" throughout the film.

Around 1970, Richie Roberts receives a letter informing him that he has been called to the bar in New Jersey. The correspondence notes that he passed the Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination. California was the first state to introduce a Professional Responsibility Examination, in 1975. The Multistate Professional Responsibility Examination, modelled on California's exam, was introduced in 1980.

Near the start of the film, set around 1970, the Staten Island Ferry sails past the Statue of Liberty, which is shown holding a gilded torch. The statue's original internally lit torch was replaced by a gilded one in 1986.

Shortly after Lucas hears on the television that Saigon is about to fall and reaches to ring his contact, a contemporary car passes the window.

As Javier leaps from the ambulance, a postal lorry bearing a logo from the 1990s can be seen.

When Detective Roberts is driving a requisitioned taxi and tailing a drug dealer with US$20,000 in bait money, he drives the wrong way into oncoming traffic before catching up with the car he is pursuing. As he rounds a corner, three modern vehicles are parked on the left-hand side: a silver SUV, a blue saloon and a gold estate car.

As Frank and Bumpy throw turkeys out of the back of the lorry, a DirectTV satellite dish is visible on the roof of a building.

When Frank drives into Washington, D.C., he passes a sign marked I‑395. That designation first came into use in the late 1970s.

During the family gathering in North Carolina, one of Frank Lucas' cousins describes Stevie as throwing as hard as Bob Gibson, even asserting he could reach "95 mph." This was the era before pitch speeds were measured with radar guns, so nobody could have known with that level of certainty how fast anyone actually threw a baseball.

Set in the winter of 1970–71, a task force, tailing a nocturnal deal for "Blue Magic", watches the suspect alight from a 1974 BMW 2002.

The Citicorp Center, which did not exist in the early 1970s, can be seen in several scenes.

In one scene at Fort Bragg/Pope AFB, a contemporary C-17 Globemaster III is visible in the background; the United States Air Force introduced them in 1993.

When Richie Roberts pulls up just before the scene in which Frank visits Nicky in the club, a Ford Crown Victoria and a Lincoln Town Car can be seen at the far end of the avenue. Those particular models were not produced until 1998. The same continuity lapse occurs again when Frank is apprehended just outside the church at the film’s end.

In the film the C-130 is actually a C-130A, fitted with different pylon tanks and three‑bladed propellers. During the Vietnam War C-130's were finished in camouflage; the uniform grey scheme was not introduced until the late 1980s.

The caps of the fire hydrants shown in the film were first introduced in the 1990s.

Night-time scenes plainly show streets lit by high-pressure sodium lamps that emit a warm red–orange glow. Those lamps were not introduced until the mid-1980's.

The inscription "A NYNEX company" is visible on a payphone. NYNEX was formed in 1984, following the break-up of AT&T.

At the time in which the film is set, the underground carriages would have been BMT Standard, R1/9 and R10–R33 types. Carriages similar to the 1986 model depicted would have been brand-new and exceedingly uncommon.

Contemporary fire alarms fitted with strobe lighting are visible throughout the film.

The underground train entering the Manhattan Valley tunnel was constructed in 1986.

While the corrupt officers steal cash from the drug dealer, a white service van from the 1990s is visible in the background.

The tattoo on Moses Jones's arm is a Wu-Tang tattoo. The Wu-Tang Clan was not founded until 1992. RZA, who plays Moses Jones, is widely recognised as the de facto leader of the iconic group.

In one scene at Fort Bragg/Pope AFB, an Aérospatiale AS355F1 helicopter is visible as the C-130 has its door open. That model did not first fly until 1979, several years after the scene is set.

In the climactic church scene, as the congregation sing "How Great Thou Art," the third and fourth lines are not synchronised with the parishioners' lip movements.

Towards the end of the film, following Frank's initial appearance in court, he and Richie are left alone in a room, speaking privately. When Frank utters the words "I want them cops, Richie" his mouth does not move.

At a cocktail party, Frank is introduced to Mr. Svbota. When Frank asks if he can get him anything, Mr. Svbota replies "How about a left-hander Charlie says is your nephew." Later in the film, Stevie Lucas is seen playing baseball in Frank's back garden, throwing with his right hand.

Before the raid on the heroin house, Richie picked up a shotgun in the corridor; because the shotgun was being held as evidence, his use of it constituted tampering with the evidence.

After Frank Lucas is released from prison, several background extras pass by repeatedly, all moving in the same direction.

While Detective Roberts is lifting weights, the weight plates fitted to the Olympic bar change from shot to shot.

When Det. Roberts moves Lucas' picture to the top of the board, the photograph of Dominic Cattano beside it switches from facing forward to turned sideways and back to facing forward across different shots.

Towards the end of the film, following Frank's initial court appearance, he and Richie are left alone in a room talking. If you pay close attention, the coffee stirrers in their cups change position several times — from pointing the same way, to pointing differently, and then reverting again.

As the federal agents leave Roberts' office — having warned him that a contract has been taken out on him — one of them puts his hat on. After a cutaway shot, the same agent is shown putting his hat on once more.

In the first courtroom scene, when speaking with his solicitor, Roberts' arm lies stretched across the bench behind him in wide shots, while it hangs down behind the bench in close-ups.

When Richie meets his friend while the children are playing pool, they make a poor break that only displaces two balls; yet shortly afterwards in the same scene Richie walks over and begins gathering the pool balls, which are suddenly scattered across the table.

Richie Roberts visits an associate who demonstrates a microwave in operation. A close-up of the oven's interior reveals a bowl of popcorn heaped high and spilling over. The camera cuts to another shot, and when the bowl is taken out of the microwave it is noticeably less than full.

Near the end of the film, after Frank's initial court appearance, he and Richie are alone in a room talking. When the cups are on the table they contain spoons or stirrers, but when Richie drinks there is no spoon or stirrer in his cup.

While Detective Trupo searches Frank's home, the reflection of Ridley Scott can be seen on the television screen.

When Richie pursues the car across the George Washington Bridge, the film indicates he is travelling from New Jersey into Manhattan, where he lacks jurisdiction. He starts tailing the suspect on the Manhattan side of the bridge as they head into New Jersey, only to end up back in New York.

A distant mountain range can be seen in a scene identified as Fort Bragg, North Carolina, despite the location being predominantly flat.

In the extended cut, Richie Roberts' team listen to a phone tap they installed on a line at an establishment purported to be in New Jersey. The scene was actually shot on West 125th Street, between Broadway and Riverside Drive in Harlem. Dominating the setting is "The Cotton Club," which opened on that site in 1978 and was named after the famed Harlem venue of the 1920s and 1930s, originally situated at 142nd Street and Lenox Avenue.

Although Frank's cousin is wearing a wire and stays some distance away while Frank is on the telephone, the following scene — when the recording is played back for the police — clearly contains both sides of the telephone conversation, which would be implausible for an external microphone situated at a distance to capture.

The courtroom scene depicting Detective Richie Roberts and his estranged wife battling for custody of their son did not take place; in real life, Richie Roberts has no children.

As Frank departs the supplier in the jungle, the rifle he's slung is clearly an M4 variant or an AR-15 fashioned to resemble an M4. From the telescopic stock and rounded pistol grip to what appears — though unlikely — to be a birdcage flash suppressor, its features are telling. Such weapons were not introduced until 1986.

While Jay is confronted by a hostile crowd outside, two paramedics remain in the flat. In such circumstances, paramedics would not attend unless the scene had been declared secure.

In the film Detective Roberts is shown fighting his former partner in court over the custody of his children; in actual fact, the real Ritchie Roberts did not have any children.

After Lucas and Eva step out of the church following their wedding, she pauses at the top of the church's steps and throws her bouquet to the people gathered in the street. Traditionally, the bouquet is thrown at the wedding reception.

In some scenes, while snow is falling, the broad-leaved trees in the background still display green summer foliage.

At 1:11:10, as Frank places bundles of cash into a safety deposit box, the top bundle flexes open, revealing blank filler 'notes' hidden in the centre of the bundle.