How the West Was Won

Corrected entry: When Linus Rawling's son comes home from the Civil War, his brother shows him their parents' gravestones, and says something to the effect that "Paw isn't really buried here, I just set up a marker." However, the ground in front of Linus Rawling's gravestone is raised into a rectangular mound. If there is just a gravestone with nothing buried under it, the ground in front of it should be flat.

Correction: It is possible that an empty coffin was buried in the grave. This is not unheard of in other cases.

Noman ★

Linus was killed at Shiloh which took place almost exactly 3 years before the end of the war when Zeb obviously comes home. Coffin or no, after 3 years the mound would no longer look fresh if indeed there would be much if any mound left at all.

William Lanigan

Corrected entry: During the fight at the river pirates land base, Jimmy Stewart throws a small keg of gunpowder at a fire. Seconds later there is a very large explosion. Frame by frame slow motion reveals that the keg hits the log behind the fire and totally shatters spilling its contents over the fire and nearly putting it out. Had the keg contained gunpowder it would have instantly caught fire.

Correction: If you need slow-motion to spot it, then it's not a mistake per this site's rules.

Sacha ★

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Mistakes

Continuity mistake: Approximately 46 minutes into the film, Robert Preston is testing a new bullwhip. The whip is in his left hand as he brings his arm back and cracks the whip. He brings the left arm back for a second crack, and the shot changes to a closer angle just as he brings the whip down, only now it is suddenly in his right hand and not the left. The editing, the sound effect, the arm swing all seem perfectly coordinated, except that the whip changed hands between camera set-ups.

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Quotes

Zeb Rawlings: Take a good look. You wanted a war, mister, you got one. I hope you're the first man killed in it.

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Trivia

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Questions

Question: Doesn't the water tower fall completely to the ground during the buffalo stampede in the original theatrical release? It's missing in the DVD release.

Answer: Yes, the water tower did indeed fall completely over in the initial release. I saw it fall all the way to the ground and release a flood of water. What happened was that the tower fell on the rump of one of the buffaloes, and the buffalo stumbled and got up and continued running. Later the animal rights people objected to the scene, so it was removed from the DVD, and all that was left was the tower shown leaning over.

Answer: Footage of the water tower falling has NEVER appeared in the film. My first viewing of the film was in Cinerama in 1962 and the tower doesn't fall over. It doubtless was supposed to fall over but for technical reasons it didn't come out right, and so no footage beyond seeing it wobble a bit has ever been in the film.

This answer is incorrect. The original release did have the tower fall over completely. There's even a picture of the flooding after it falls over. It was since deleted. Http://www.daveswarbirds.com/HTWWW/deleted_scenes.htm.

Bishop73

I agree. The tower fell and water poured out. I saw this movie in Cinerama in 1963. For years later, I wondered why I never saw that scene in its entirety again. A shame that for a mistake that caused the unintentional death of an animal, the scene should no longer be viewed by anyone.

Answer: I saw the film in Cinerama the week it came out and the water tower didn't fall. I remember being puzzled by the shot of it falling in the souvenir program.

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