Continuity mistake: Near the end, Sam Clayton is nearing the finish. The audio leads you to believe that the horse is breathing VERY hard, but when the camera shows the horse, the nostrils are NOT flared as they would be on a horse that has been run to exhaustion (or even down the block). Also, the people filming this scene obviously have no clue about the nature of sweating in horses. They showed "lather" all through the horse's mane. The ONLY places horses will lather while sweating is where something is rubbing, i.e. underneath the saddle, the bridle or breast collar, where the reins rub on the neck or between their back legs.
Continuity mistake: When the stagecoach enters Tonto street, it's shadow switches sides between angles.
Continuity mistake: When Abbott and Costello are on the train. Costello walks over to see the guys playing poker. In the background a man closes the back door of the train. As Costello passes you see the door is open again and the same guy closes it again. (00:17:10)
Continuity mistake: Shortly before the big cattle drive arc begins, Kipling Flynn pours a teacup full of rum for Lady Ashley to drink. The camera cuts to an over-the-shoulder view as Lady Ashley starts to tip back her teacup; at this point, you can see that the cup is completely empty.
Continuity mistake: In the scene where Eastwood is watching "the city of Lago volunteers" training,he is drinking a beer. The first time he lifts the glass to drink, it is about half empty. After he says something to the man with the knife, he lifts the glass for another drink and it is nearly full.
Continuity mistake: After the Baxter/Rojo dinner, the background changes from nightime to daytime at the cemetery, then back to nightime again when Clint kidnaps Mirasol.
Continuity mistake: Near the end when they're entering the Mexican village, Billy's coat disappears as he rides through the gate. (01:17:45)
Continuity mistake: In the bicycle riding scene where Butch lets Etta ride on the handlebars, you can see her feet are resting on some sort of pegs protruding from the axle on each side of the bicycle wheel. When she is not riding, the pegs are not there.
Continuity mistake: While one of his advisors tells Houston that some of the men from Gonzales have deserted to go to the Alamo, the advisor's hands change from clasped in front of him to on his knees. (01:06:55)
Continuity mistake: Near the film's end, Kirk Douglas, in custody, is being walked along a street, his hands fastened behind him. He gets jostled by a horse and his arms instinctively come up to fend off the steed, even though his hands are supposedly tied or cuffed behind him.
Continuity mistake: When Mitch is trying to find the hand, Glen grabs the map. When he grabs the map there is a hole in it, but before he sets it on fire, the hole is gone.
Continuity mistake: When Charlotte Taylor Wilson arrives by stage, Don Esteban is making a speech. Behind him is a shield over the gateway. In most shots, the shield is in full sun. But in a couple, it's partially in the shade of some trees.
Continuity mistake: After Moco and Azul finish their telephone conversation about how many of Moco's men Azul killed, Azul leaves, but one of Azul's men goes back to see Azul's women. In the background, there are posters of the Playboy bunny logo and a woman on a jetski. Ashe runs away from the lethal women, the posters are nowhere to be found next to the doorway. (00:43:15)
Continuity mistake: This is actually in a deleted scene on the DVD: Jones shoots a mountain lion at night, and it's seen to be completely dark out. The two other men go out to look at it, but when they're walking across the snow, the sky is suddenly pale blue and there's light just below the horizon. It looks like it's just before dawn or just after sunset. But when they reach the dead mountain lion, the sky is suddenly black again, and it looks like it's the middle of the night.
Continuity mistake: When Josey was in the general store picking up supplies with the Indian man and women, Josey was handed a picture of Slim Fixin. If you watch carefully, he walks out with the picture. When you see Josey after he has walked out of the general store, he does not have the picture in his hand.
Continuity mistake: Near the end, banditos murder Fred C. Dobbs and leave his stripped body by the waterhole as they go chasing after the burros, which they later try to sell in town. Within hours, Howard and Bob Curtin ride right past the same waterhole on their way to town, but Fred Dobbs' body is nowhere to be seen.
Continuity mistake: After the scene where Sara and Maria tie up Quentin and take pictures of him naked, when they are leaving the hotel with Quentin tied up, Sara's hair is just below her shoulders, but the whole movie her hair is to her waist.
Continuity mistake: In the scene towards the end of the film, when three troopers creep into the church, Margaret Mary hits Sandy over the head. When Margaret Mary starts to speak, a ribbon around her neck curiously unravels itself and disappears behind her back .
Continuity mistake: While every other actor in this movie wears the same costume day and night, day after day, John Wayne's costume changes regularly, even between shots. For all daytime scenes, he wears an orange long-sleeved shirt with a contrasting blue neck-kerchief; in some night-time scenes, he wears a blue long-sleeved shirt with a contrasting yellow neck-kerchief; and sometimes his daytime neck-kerchief changes from blue to yellow in a matter of seconds, between shots.
Continuity mistake: In the prosecuting attorney's speech in the first courtroom scene, the judge's house of cards is no more than 2 levels high (a base level with a peak) [0:2:20]. In the close-up shot of the judge, the house of cards changes to 3 levels high (2 base levels and a peak)[0:2:35]. When the scene focuses back on the prosecuting attorney, the house is back to two levels of height[0:2:39]. (00:02:20)