The action of the film takes place in 1881. When the townspeople are forming
a posse, they are discussing who will pay for expenses, and one of them says
that the store won't sell them any more 30-30 shells unless they pay cash. The
30-30 was not introduced as a cartridge until 1896.
When English Bob is shooting the pheasants from the train, strings attached to
the pheasants are clearly visible.
Although pheasants were not introduced to the American west from Asia until
the 1890s, they are present along the railroad tracks in 1880.
English Bob says that no assassin would dare hold a gun to a monarch. There
were, in fact, six assassination attempts made against Queen Victoria, and they
were well known at the time. He certainly would have known about them, though
it should be mentioned that he was concerned with successful attempts (looking
at a monarch causes the hand "to shake").
In the shoot out between Will Munny and the deputies in Greely's Saloon, the
blood stain appears on the shirt of the second deputy before he gets shot.
At the first time in the saloon, Munny pushes the glass on the table until it touches
the bottle. The next shots show the glass a little distant from the bottle.
Belt loops are clearly visible throughout the film despite the fact that they were not
invented until the 20th Century.
English Bob is in jail and Little Bill is reading from W.W. Beauchamp's novel, but
a sheet of script is taped onto the page and clearly visible.
When William Munny wakes up from his fever after being assaulted by sheriff
Little Bill he sits outside the shack and talks to Delilah Fitzgerald. You can see
the blue sky behind the house through springs in the wood revealing that it's not
the same house/shack as in the first shot and the fact that it's a scene-set.
Several of the characters, including Little Bill and William Munny, are seen sometimes
wearing shirts that button all the way up the front. This is incorrect for 1880/81, when
men's shirts were still of the pullover variety, with or without a collar, and a small
buttoned placket at the top.
In the bar room shootout scene, many pistol shots are fired. The foley sound is
correct. When Munny fires the rifle to kill Little Bill, the foley sound adds the classic
"rifle shot" sound, with obvious echoes. In the enclosed barroom, there would be
no echoes of the shot, just a loud bang.
When given back his Spencer rifle by Bill (around the 95th minute), Ned's grip on
the rifle jumps between shots.
The 38 star flag shown has the stars incorrectly offset (like today's 50 star flag).
In fact the flag then had the stars aligned with two missing in the 2nd and 4th rows.
The Schofield Kid shoots Quick Mike three times in the chest. However, when
Fatty runs out to check on him, one shot shows Mike with a bullet wound
in his forehead.
Go back to the main Movie Goofs page
Go to the filmography page
