Corrected entry: In the scene where Eastwood beats up the baddies with a 'good piece of hickory,' he tells the guy with the lighted match that he shouldn't play with matches. Then he throws a bucket of water over the baddie, soaking him, but the match remains lit.
Corrected entry: At the final showdown with Stockburn, the Preacher wields a cap-and-ball New Model Army Remington that requires a cylinder change to reload. Why does he have a gunbelt full of thumb-size.45 Colt cartridges? They'd never fit in the little sheriff's model, even if it had been converted to a cartridge revolver.
Correction: He has 2 guns. The second shoots Stockburn in the head.
Corrected entry: When Lahood's men decide to confront the preacher in the general store, 5 or 6 of them break in and proceed to empty their Colts. In an age where black powder was the norm, some 30-36 weapon discharges would have created so much smoke that no one would have been able to see anything.
Correction: While true, this is a film convention, not a mistake. Reputedly Clint Eastwood tried black powder guns on Unforgiven but changed his mind, given that the audience wouldn't be able to see anything happening on the screen. Same with Pale Rider - better to have a small historical inaccuracy than a film nobody can see.
Corrected entry: Towards the end of the film, Preacher is confronted with the task of having to outwit and kill each of Stockburn's deputies in the town. During the scene when Stockburn tells his deputies to spread out and find the Preacher, keep a close eye on the deputy positioned immediately to Stockburn's right. His foot slips on a patch of ice as he steps forward and, for a split second, the actor loses his balance slightly. (01:38:15)
Correction: People do slip on ice.
Correction: Since they actually did that on the set, and that is what happened, there is no film mistake. The water missed the match. Unusual, noteworthy, but obviously possible.