After The Godfather (1972), this was James Caan's favorite film of his own. He had stated that his monologue in the diner was the scene of which he was most proud in his career.

The vault that Frank breaks into in the opening scene was a real vault, purchased for $10,000, specifically so that James Caan could break into it, using the real tools and techniques supplied by John Santucci.

In the hospital scene, James Caan decided to stare coldly at J. Jay Saunders, who played the doctor. This really frightened Saunders, and his reaction in the scene is genuine.

Jeff Bridges was Michael Mann's choice to play Frank, but was rejected due to the fact he was young, and wasn't experienced enough to play a hardened criminal.

James Caan made sure to speak slowly and clearly and tried to avoid using contractions in his words. He decided that Frank would do this so he would save time by never having to repeat himself.

Continuity

The door Frank closes when he first backs out of Attaglia's office is closed, but in the next scene it is slightly open and Frank slams it shut on his way out.

When Frank arrives outside with Barry at the L & A Plating Company, it is overcast. When Frank arrives in Attaglia's office only a minute later, the weather outside is completely different.

When Sgt. Urizzi pulls over Frank for the first time, there is a gold sedan coming the other way, but when the scene immediately cuts to Urizzi going up to Frank's car, the gold sedan is gone.

When Frank is with Joe Gaggs at the restaurant in the booth, Frank looks straight ahead to see Jessie at the counter. Yet, when Frank gets up to pay the tab he has to turn to his right to go to the counter; therefore, the line of sight is inconsistent, and there is no way Frank could have seen Jessie from where he was sitting.

When Frank blows up his house, the lighting and camera position clearly changes in the cut between him leaving and the bombs exploding.



Factual errors

It is unthinkable in any hospital (and against procedures) that any type of surgery cleanup instruments would be left next to the patient's bed, especially those showing visible body fluids--the forceps and pans with blood on them next to Okla's hospital bed. Presumably, this was done to make Okla's angina condition more believable.

Frank is clearly drilling through wood at the beginning of the film, the rpm is too high for cutting steel with a large drill bit like that. Drilling through steel produce much larger chips that doesn't crumble to dust.

During the gunfight in Leo's house, no empty shell cases are ejected from Frank's Colt semiautomatic as he fires it.

One of the cops surveilling Frank as he meets with the broker, who wanted to meet him, says "There's 2 inches of money out there." A two inch stack of hundreds is about $30 to 40,000. Frank was supposedly getting $185,000, which is far too much in hundreds to be able to pass hand to hand. It makes a large bundle that would have to be carried in a bag or box.

Gas tank used for Mg lance is green, denoting an inert gas while lance would only function with blue oxygen tank.



Incorrectly regarded as goofs

Frank's mentor at the steel mill said, "Seven-, Eight-thousand degrees. Portable equipment! Sonny, if I can build it, it's going to be a son-of-a-bitch to use." Given that and the small hole cut at the top of the elevator shaft, getting into the vault room with all the welding equipment, oxygen and acetylene tanks would not have been easy but they could have winched it down. When planning the heist, it is mentioned they would be spending 16 to 18 hours inside the building.

As Frank reloads his pistol in the final sequence, the slide of the weapon is forward, not locked back, as would be normal in a Colt semi-automatic, magazine-fed pistol. But if you count the shots before the reload, he only fired five shots, not seven, so the slide would be forward, since there was at least one round left in the magazine.



Revealing mistakes

During the L.A. heist, the device intended to remove the key-lock assembly from the door leading to the vault is screwed in (undiscernibly) and jerked back without removing the lock, i.e., having no effect whatsoever. In the next shot, the lock assembly is gone. (Maybe it took more than one try.)

After Frank puts the transponder on the bus bound for Des Moines, the scene reveals the police car holding back traffic for the shot behind.



Miscellaneous

Frank is handed an envelope supposedly containing $185,000. Considering bank notes larger than $100 were withdrawn by the time of this film, the envelope should have been much larger to contain 1,850 $100 bills weighing about four pounds.



Crew or equipment visible

When Barry is cleaning out the vault, a stage light is visible in the bottom of the jewel tray.

Late in the film, when Frank gets out of his car to plant the bomb at his bar, the Green Mill, the lights used to illuminate the scene are clearly visible in the car door as the door's angle changes. When he opens the car door to get back in, the lights are visible again.



Character error

When Frank goes to visit his friend Sam at the steel mill, Sam's totals about the load of copper tubing are incorrect: "18% zinc, 42% copper, 38% tin, and one percent I don't know." This adds up to ninety-nine percent.