Turnbull is fond of pointing out how exacting FFC was in his detail to authenticity (as is witnessed in the photo in the above post) and more often than not that detail proves uncannily effective.
Thanks, SC. I'd like to go through some of my favorites again:
--The "Dewey for President" poster on the wall when Sonny beats up Carlo. Some here think that it puts the time frame ca. 1949-50 because Dewey was the GOP candidate in '48. But he also ran in '44, and I'm putting the time frame at '46.
--The wool ribbons in the girls' hair at Connie's wedding, and the short ties on the men. That's because the usual materials (silk, rayon) were grabbed up by the War Department for parachutes.
--The old guy who sings at the wedding has his glasses in his breast pocket--exactly where an old guy would put them because he's too vain to wear them while performing.
--"Da wooden bumpiz" on Clemenza's '46 Cad. Detroit did ship 'em with wooden bumpers because of chromium shortages backed up from the war. (But Cad didn't start selling '46 models until May of '46--maybe Clem got a Mafia-only deal.)
--Every bit of the Havana sequence, which is so authentic that college professors teaching Cuban history advise their students to see II to get a feeling for what Cuba was like on the eve of the Castro takeover. One of the most brilliant details: the crowds attacking parking meters. Really happened: Batista promised that the revenue from the meters would go to a childrens' hospital, but he diverted them to his brother in law.
--All the cars.
