Revealing mistake: When Ransom and Hallie Stoddard are riding the train back to Washington at the end of the film, pay attention to the view out the window as Hallie responds to Ransom's suggestion of returning to Shinbone. When the conductor brings the spittoon and talks to them, the same exterior footage repeats from when Hallie started to speak. (02:01:30 - 02:02:15)
The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance (1962)
1 revealing mistake
Directed by: John Ford
Starring: John Wayne, James Stewart, Lee Marvin, Vera Miles
Character mistake: Stoddard in class says the founding document of the country can be added to with amendments. Pompey says it is the constitution written by Thomas Jefferson. Stoddard says 'declaration of independence'. Pompey was right, Stoddard incorrectly corrected him. It IS the constitution. The declaration can't be added to with amendments.
Ransom Stoddard: I don't want to kill him, I just want to put him in jail.
Tom Doniphon: Ohhh.
Trivia: Liberty Valance's last poker hand is, appropriately, aces and eights. (01:30:10)
Question: When Ranse confronts Liberty and reaches for the dropped gun, there appears to be something written at Ranse's feet in the dirt. What is it?
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Answer: At first glance, it looks like the word "LEFT" in large, widely-spaced lettering. It's very unlikely that this would be a blocking cue, telling Jimmy Stewart to move left (which he does from that point). That's not the way blocking cues are done, for one thing, and a seasoned actor such as Jimmy Stewart wouldn't need such a cue. It's also very unlikely that it's a warning message from John Wayne who is hiding in an alley across the street, on Stewart's right. John Wayne didn't want anyone to know that he actually killed Valance, so he wouldn't alert Jimmy Stewart with any messages scrawled in the street. All hypothesis aside, it's probably just footprints in the dirt, an illusion of light and shadow.