Continuity mistake: At the beginning, Eastwood dismounts from his horse to rescue the calf lying in the river. His horse is left standing in the river with the water up to his knees. When Eastwood places the calf on dry land, his horse is standing nearby. The horse's legs are dry.
Other mistake: At the beginning when the lawman is cutting down Eastwood from tree in the background you can see a white vehicle driving along a road in the background.
Visible crew/equipment: As Cooper is unloaded from the wagon in Fort Grant and taken into the jail, a man can be seen on the far left of the shot who appears to be wearing modern clothes, with a yellow polo shirt, baseball cap and sunglasses.
Factual error: Near the end, when Cooper and Rachel are talking in the street, you can see in the background a multi-story brick and glass office building. It appears again a few shots later.
Audio problem: At the start of the movie, when Clint Eastwood says "You're making a mistake," his lips don't seem to be moving.
Visible crew/equipment: While Clint Eastwood is walking into a saloon (or maybe a jail) you can see the cameraman and director's shadow on the ground.
Continuity mistake: During the opening credits, when titles are appearing under Eastwood's swinging feet, you'll see the footage of the swinging feet reverse itself at least twice.
Visible crew/equipment: In the scene where the judge is releasing Clint Eastwood and telling him that his story checks out he calls him over to the window to watch a hanging. As the guards walk down the scaffold steps on the ground under the gallows there is a pile of rope and next to the rope is a modern electrical box of some type. It's silver with with louvers (vents) in it.
Factual error: In the scene where people are arriving in town for the hanging, a family are told they have tents set up in the Boondocks. "Boondocks" is a Philippino word that entered the English language when the Philippines was a colony of the U.S. The movie is set 9 years before the Spanish American war so the word didn't exist in the English Language during the period of the movie. (01:11:20)
Revealing mistake: Towards the end of the film when the old guy (Ed Begley Sr) is shooting a rifle at Clint Eastwood, the thumb of his left hand is on the top of the barrel, preventing him from seeing the front sight.
Revealing mistake: In the second hanging scene (with the speech of the whisky) Clint Eastwood is looking at the judge's window and he sees him watching. If you look at the window, you will she a big shiny circle over it, probably from the flashlight.
Plot hole: The judge asks Jed Cooper if he would like to see what McCloud looks like, (McCloud is the killer who cheated him and murdered the rancher), as he is being hanged. Of course since Jed Cooper had previously purchased the cattle from McCloud, he knew what he looked like. (00:10:00 - 00:15:00)
Continuity mistake: When the cowboy comes riding up to Cooper and Sheriff Calhoun yelling about a murder, the sheriff grabs the reins of the cowboy's horse. Subsequent shots show the the sheriff's left hand either resting on the butt of the cowboy's rifle, sometimes not.
Factual error: The film is set in 1889 yet there's a sign for Kitchen Queen Baking Powder in the store window, which didn't exist until 1898.
Revealing mistake: Towards the end of the credits, on the highest mountain peak, you will see an air traffic light flash twice.
Visible crew/equipment: When Jed is being bought breakfast in bed, the shadow of one of the camera crew's head is visible.
Continuity mistake: In the bar, when Marshall Cooper tells Reno he is under arrest, Reno pours another shot of whiskey. The shot glass is only about a quarter full. Cooper then puts out his cigar in the shot glass, which is now half full from a different camera angle. The amount of liquor in the shot glass changes from half full to barely a quarter full from one shot to the next. (00:35:00 - 00:36:00)
Continuity mistake: The first hanging scene in town, after Clint is cleared; and the real bad guy is about to hang. The hangman walks down the steps, you can see a long stick through all the rings (multi-trap door release); but when the judge nods his head, the hangman is only grabbing one ring.
Continuity mistake: Just before the hanging of the six, the video shot of the 18-year-old rustler shows his hair is parted on the right side. The video shot as the hanging begins shows his hair parted on the left side.
Factual error: As the hanging begins a lady is walking across the street, she is wearing modern tennis shoes.
