Other mistake: The objective of the band is a cache of gold hidden some years ago in the firebox of a wrecked locomotive in the wilds of Northern Mexico. When they finally dig the firebox door out and open it, the strongbox is sitting inside a completely clean firebox, with nary a cinder, ash, or chunk of burned wood in sight. If the loco and cars had been abandoned after the derailment, there would still have been residue in the firebox.
Continuity mistake: At the very end of the show when Marshall Cass Silver gets in the carriage with Sally, Sally enters first, sitting on the left and him on the right. When the next shot shows them riding off together in the carriage, they have switched sides.
Revealing mistake: On the way to the border, after Gabrielle has died, when the camera pans it on her face, you can see her eyelids shift and blink.
Continuity mistake: When Buster is shot, his hat with the hole in it disappears.
Revealing mistake: While Billy and Eli are on the river, with Eli in the front and Billy in the background, pay attention to Eli's paddle. When it passes in front of Billy, you can see right through it to see Billy through the paddle. (00:56:25)
Audio problem: When the band is marching with the Massingale rally one can hear flutes and many band instruments, but the band consists of only a few brass instruments.
Plot hole: The women leave the bordello and cross a waterless, hot mineral desert to reach Jericho. Meanwhile the posse that arrives at the bordello behind them takes a different route and catches up with them near the mine. Why didn't the women go that way?
Continuity mistake: In this scene we see several Government Officials talking in a room. One of them, while talking, is playing a game. The game is to balance the lid of an ink bottle on the end of a ruler and over the ink bottle. When the ruler is flicked rapidly gravity would do the rest and the lid would fall into the ink bottle. Things don't work to plan and the lid falls on its side. In the next wide shot, the lid is right side up and a little distant from where it fell earlier.
Continuity mistake: The sheriff wears his badge over his left side, which is traditional. As he is approaching on horse in the final scene of the movie it is still on his left side. Then for a few seconds in one shot his badge is on the right. (01:23:10)
Character mistake: Ryan's final diary entry says the US Cavalry fought against "French irregulars." The French lancers were actually regular troops.
Factual error: Steve Judd makes a ten cent bet with Gil Westrum and plops down his dime. When we see the dime we see the worn reverse of a Mercury Dime. Mercury Dimes were not released until October 1916. This movie is set in the early years of the 20th Century, many years before Mercury Dimes were placed in circulation. (00:06:55)
Continuity mistake: After Isaiah kills a bear, Otter Bob holds out a bottle of liquor at him. In the close-up, Bob is holding the bottle by the neck. In the wide shot, he's holding it by the body.
Continuity mistake: Baxter and Beecher are riding in a horse-drawn wagon. As they go across a bridge, the train carrying the Marx Brothers approaches. Baxter and Beecher leap off the bridge, one jumping to the right and one jumping to the left, but they are side by side when they land in the river below.
Continuity mistake: In a saloon, Moe and Curly are playing poker with Longhorn Pete, the proprietor. Among Curly's five cards are an ace of hearts and an ace of diamonds. Moe's cards include an ace of spades and an ace of clubs. They pass some of the cards to each other under the table in the hope that one of them will wind up with all four aces. When their cards are shown again, Curly and Moe each have an ace of spades and ace of clubs. The ace of hearts and ace of diamonds have disappeared.
Continuity mistake: When John Deakin discovers the Reverend's body in the coffin, the Reverend's eyes are closed in one shot and open in the next.
Continuity mistake: After a passing train disturbs the Mousekewitz's home and extinguishes their candle, Papa strikes a match and lights it up. He tosses the match somewhere offscreen, but one shot later it appears right in front of his feet. (00:04:55)
Factual error: As well as the sergeant's stripes on his cuff, Sergeant O'Neil wears three pips on his epaulettes, which would indicate a much more senior rank and would not be worn together with the stripes.
Factual error: In two, maybe three scenes, there are ring-necked pheasants. One is early in the movie as the Jameses ride past a butcher shop where ducks and pheasants are hanging up for sale. One is mid-way in the movie in the scene of the house- or barn-raising and big picnic. The movie supposedly took place in the mid-1870s. Pheasants were not imported to America from China until 1881.
Factual error: Two grave markers at the end, approximately one hour and 27 minutes into the film, have the date of November 7, 1889, on them. The script made it clear that the climactic gunfight between Glenn Ford and Broderick Crawford came on a Sunday. Ford was called out of church services, for example. According to The World Almanac and Book of Facts, November 7, 1889, was a Thursday, not a Sunday.
Revealing mistake: Why does the railroad station look so old? It should be almost new at the time of the film.