Continuity mistake: The three bounty hunters run into a building to catch Tuco. After they run into the building, the shot pans over to the window. The shadows on the wall surrounding the window change when it cuts to the closer shot of the window, where Tuco jumps out of it. (00:05:35)
Continuity mistake: When Angel Eyes first mentions the name Jackson to Stevens, he picks up a loaf of bread and starts cutting a slice. At first, the loaf is held at a tilted angle. When the shot cuts, the loaf is level. (00:11:30)
Continuity mistake: When Stevens puts the bag of money on the table, the bag has a string on it that is shown hanging over the edge of the table. When the shot cuts, the string is suddenly on the table. (00:13:53)
Continuity mistake: After Stevens' wife hears the gunshot, it cuts to Angel Eyes lowering his gun. In the shot from behind Angel Eyes, there is a loaf of bread, shown at the edge of the table. When the shot cuts, the bread is further away from the edge of the table. (00:14:25)
Continuity mistake: When Tuco is riding his horse, he encounters three bounty hunters - one fires a shot making the horse misstep, and fall, bringing Tuco down to the ground. One of the bounty hunters ask Tuco, "Hey amigo, you know that you have a face beautiful enough to be worth $2,000.00?" He has a big blade of grass between his lips as he backs away from Blondie (Eastwood), however, there was no blade of grass between his lips when Blondie and he were close to one another. As he backed away, he had a rifle in his right hand and a wanted poster in his left, and he knew that Blondie had a gun pointed at him through his overcoat, so he was not able to put a blade of grass between his lips at any point. (00:17:50 - 00:18:50)
Continuity mistake: When Blondie is handing Tuco in at the first town, in the shot of Tuco saying he hopes his mother ends up in a whorehouse, Blondie is holding onto a leather strap. The shot then cuts to him handing the leather strap to a man on the ground, and his hand appears to have rotated 90 degrees in between shots. (00:20:10)
Continuity mistake: When the Confederate soldier is explaining to Angel Eyes the circumstances surrounding the missing money, in the shot of the soldier saying "and when he's found, I'd be scared to be put in his shoes", a man and woman are shown walking past. It then cuts to Angel Eyes, but the man and woman cannot be seen walking past. It cuts again and two men have suddenly appeared walking past Angel Eyes. (00:25:35)
Continuity mistake: When Angel Eyes is about to get into the carriage, he says, "Even a filthy beggar like that has got a protecting angel." At this moment, the pipe he is holding is level with his chest. In the next shot, it is suddenly raised higher. (00:26:35)
Continuity mistake: When Blondie abandons Tuco in the desert, watch the rope around Tuco's neck. It changes between shots, sometimes over his left shoulder, and sometimes hanging down in front of him. It is not due to the camera angle. (00:28:27)
Continuity mistake: When Angel Eyes begins questioning Maria, he turns on a lamp. When he does this, Maria's hair is hanging over the front of her left shoulder. But in the next shot, her hair is behind her shoulder. (00:30:52)
Continuity mistake: At the gun store, when Tuco throws the guns off the counter, he turns around to look at some other guns. When this happens, the owner has his left hand on the counter. When the shot cuts, his hand is off the counter. (00:34:20)
Continuity mistake: When Tuco tosses the rope to Blondie to hang himself with, the rope is all tangled up with no knot showing. In the scene break that cuts back to Blondie, the rope has changed to a nice neat coil with the hangman's knot showing. (00:47:45)
Continuity mistake: When Blondie is saved by the mortar shell, and it shows the empty noose, it is completely different than the noose that Blondie had around his neck. The loop that the noose went through to hold it to the beam has changed. (00:48:25 - 00:49:33)
Continuity mistake: When Tuco stands back up after falling through the floor at the hotel, there is dust on his poncho. Then it cuts to a closer shot where he is shown looking up at the floor above, and there appears to be less dust on his right shoulder. (00:49:27)
Continuity mistake: When Angel Eyes is talking with the Confederate soldier at the hospital camp, whilst the soldier asks him, "And you, have you ever heard of someone named Camby?", he picks up a handful of wood pieces so that he can throw them into the fire. It then cuts to a closer shot of the two, and there are fewer pieces of wood in the man's hands. (00:52:42)
Continuity mistake: Whilst Angel Eyes is speaking with the soldier at the Confederate camp, when the soldier is saying, "I just don't know what you drifters could be thinking," Angel Eyes has his back hunched forwards. In the next shot, he is standing upright. (00:52:55)
Continuity mistake: When Tuco shoots the water bottle after it lands on the ground, water begins leaking out of the bullet holes. The water is shown in front of the bottle when it leaks into the sand, but a minute later, when Blondie and Tuco continue moving, the water is shown to the left of the bottle. (00:58:00 - 00:59:15)
Continuity mistake: When Blondie grabs Tuco's shoe, take note of the plants to his left. There are a few to the very left of the shot. But two shots later, after it is revealed Tuco is washing his feet, there are more plants to the left of him. (01:03:04)
Continuity mistake: When Blondie attempts to have a drink of water from the bowl, Tuco flips it over. It then cuts to a shot of Blondie, and the bowl is shown flipping over a second time. The bowl is also closer to the ground the second time it is shown. (01:04:03)
Continuity mistake: Blondie collapses from exhaustion and rolls down a sand hill. When he reaches the bottom of the hill, there is no sand on his neck or his shoulder. When the shot cuts, there suddenly is sand on his neck and right shoulder. (01:05:30)
Answer: There's a show called "Hollywood Weapons: Fact or Fiction" which dealt with this exact question (s01e03). Blondie is roughly 200 yds away. In the show the host didn't hit the rope, but only missed by an inch on his first attempt. I definitely think an expert Sharps Rifle shooter could make the shot. The issue however, is the bullet would most likely not actually slice the rope apart as seen in the film (they fired the Sharps at point blank and the rope remained partially intact still). They also tested shooting a hat off someone and (as expected) the bullet just goes right through the hat without lifting the hat at all.
Bishop73
That was another thing that puzzled me. On several occasions in this film, Tuco is suspended from a rope, and Blondie cuts the rope by firing a bullet at it, (I think Clint Eastwood repeated the trick in "The Outlaw Josey Wales"). But if you fired a bullet at a rope holding a (rather large) person like Tuco (or a similarly heavy weight), even at close range, would it really sever the rope? I will have to look out for "Hollywood Weapons Fact Or Fiction." I hope they only used a dummy or a model to re-create the shooting feats. I don't think I would have liked to have been hanging on a rope while somebody fired bullets at me to see if this would sever the rope, or to stand there while they fired bullets into my hat to see if they could lift it off my head.
Rob Halliday