Continuity mistake: In the gun store scene, first shot there are three pistols on the counter, second angle only two. (00:36:36)
Continuity mistake: Just before Russell Crowe duels with Spotted Horse, there is a rope strung across the street with what appears to be lanterns attached to it. In the next shot of Russell Crowe, the rope is gone, but Spotted Horse later accidentally shoots it down. (01:12:50)
Continuity mistake: When Sharon Stone confronts Gene Hackman at the end, she throws the marshal star at his feet. It is an inch or two in front of his boots. After he is shot, he gets flung backwards several feet. Stone then picks the star up and throws it to Russell Crowe. She picks it up from behind Hackman's body, several feet away from where it landed but still sticking out of the sand the same way.
Continuity mistake: When Sharon Stone and the old man are talking in the graveyard it's raining. In the closeups, the sky is seen to be somewhat white and cloudy, but in the wide shots, the sky is a deep blue, and almost completely cloudless - and it's still raining. In the wide shot you can see the ground outside of the graveyard is bone dry.
Continuity mistake: Near the end, when Gene Hackman and Sharon Stone are finally duelling, the shadows change too fast. Before the first shots there are no shadows, then when Hackman has the little hole in his chest, there is a long one in front of him, and when Russell Crowe arrives, everything (even buildings) projects shadows over Hackman's dead body.
Continuity mistake: When Ellen flings the marshal badge towards Herod, it flies horizontally. You can even see it, still flying horizontally, on a downward curve as it starts to land. But when it hits the ground it hits vertically, so it can stick up out of the dust. It should be lying flat on the ground.
Continuity mistake: When Sharon Stone blows up the building near the end, money flies everywhere. Then when she shoots Gene Hackman through the head, he flies back and falls to the ground, and there is a paper bill under his head, flapping in the wind. Later it's not there. He didn't move either.
Continuity mistake: Near the end of the film, Ellen tosses her father's marshal badge into the sand at Herod's right foot. In the next shot of Herod looking down at the badge, it's suddenly shifted a few inches away from his shoe.
Continuity mistake: After almost every gunfight it rains, yet there's never any mud, or even wet spots on the ground afterwards - it goes back to being as dusty as it ever was.
Continuity mistake: When Russell Crowe is in the gun shop, he has one scab on his knuckles. When he is getting ready to shoot just after, he has two.
Continuity mistake: Sharon Stone is warned at one point that the clock clicks before it chimes, the chime that tells the gunpersons to draw. The click is quite prominent in all of the times that it is used, but it only chimes after the click on a few occasions, and when it does, it's not the time indicated on the clock.
Continuity mistake: While Herod shoots the kid, the sun changes between shots.
Continuity mistake: In the final gun fight, Stone is about to shoot Hackman a second time. Her arm is extended as she is about to fire. The scene shows Hackman and then goes back to Stone. Her arm is now bent as if she is drawing to shoot.
Continuity mistake: As the duel between Cort and Spotted Horse begins, Russell Crowe is shown from a distance. He is standing in a "ready" position, with his feet apart and knees and elbows flexed, swaying slightly. In the close up that immediately follows, he's standing up straight and motionless with his right hand above his gun and left hanging at his side.
Continuity mistake: While Helen kills Herod the sun on the floor is changing between shots.
Continuity mistake: When Helen confronts Priest, the sun changes between shots.
Answer: He's a fraud and he's trying to impress people and create a reputation. Most of what he brags about is likely either made up or was actually done by someone else.