Goofs
Jump to:
Anachronisms (16) |
Audio/visual unsynchronised (2) |
Character error (1) |
Continuity (15) |
Crew or equipment visible (4) |
Errors in geography (1) |
Factual errors (7) |
Incorrectly regarded as goofs (6) |
Revealing mistakes (7) |
Spoilers (1)
Anachronisms
Tuco examines a Belgian 10.4mm Galand revolver in the gun shop. The gun however was not invented until two years after the Civil War.
Share this
Share this
While Tuco and Blondie are under the bridge, in the background where the poles form a 'V', a car passes through the trees. (widescreen edition)
Share this
Share this
In one scene, Tuco praises Lee and damns Grant out loud to the troops coming out of the desert. However, the movie takes place during Confederate invasion of New Mexico Territory in February- March of 1862, when both Lee and Grant were unknowns at this time. Lee didn't assume command of the Army of Northern Virginia until June 1862. Grant was a relative unknown when he won his first victory at Fort Donelson in February, 1862, hardly enough time for Tuco and Blondie to know who he was. That being said, in another scene, Angel Eyes mentions Confederate abuses in Andersonville Prison, which only became a prison and started accepting prisoners in February 1864.
Share this
Share this
When Angel Eyes first enters Stevens' house, an electrical tower can be seen in the background over his left shoulder.
Share this
Share this
In the opening, when Eli Wallach is shown in close-up, he has an obvious cap or crown on a tooth.
Share this
Share this
In the prison camp scene where the musicians are playing while Tuco is being beaten by Angel Eyes, the fiddle has fine tuning adjusters on the tail-piece. These fine tune adjusters were designed for metal strings used many decades later.
Share this
Share this
A majority of the characters load metal cartridges into converted Civil War model revolvers. While this conversion did become commonplace in the late 1860's, back in 1862 metal cartridges hadn't been fully developed for those kinds of revolvers yet and paper cartridges were still the norm.
Share this
Share this
You can see a car passing by in the background when Tuco is balancing on the cross on the graveyard in the end of the movie.
Share this
Share this
Angel Eyes is seen smoking a pipe, which is clearly a Peterson P-lip model. Peterson was founded in 1865, and the P-lip system was developed many years later.
Share this
Share this
All of the railroad cars seen are four-wheeled. This design had fallen out of favor in the United States by the 1850s.
Share this
Share this
Tuco is seen inspecting a Galand Revolver, which was invented in 1868 while the movie takes place in 1862.
Share this
Share this
Blondie is seen shooting Tuco's rope with a Sharps 1874. The Sharps 1874 was not available in 1862.
Share this
Share this
The American flags flown by the Union army have 50 stars, incorrect for the time in which the film is set.
Share this
Share this
The movie takes place in early 1862 but the Union forces use at least one Gatling gun which would not have been put into the field this early in the war. In early 1862 the gun was barely finished and the weapon wasn't patented until 1865. The U.S Army did not adopt the weapon formally until 1866.
Share this
Share this
When the POW camp commandant is upbraiding Angel Eyes for his treatment of the Confederate prisoners, Angel Eyes responds with a comment about the treatment of Union POWs at Andersonville. Andersonville was opened in 1864. The Film is set in 1862.
Share this
Share this
In the store scene with Tuco, he and the owner pass by several crates of black powder marked "ACME." ACME was a generic name for companies that came into use in the 1920s to enable them to appear on the first page of most phone books. It would not have been in use in 1862.
Share this
Share this
Audio/visual unsynchronised
During Tuco's beating in the POW camp, one of the fiddlers stops playing. The singers behind him are still singing but only the music is heard.
Share this
Share this
In the scene with the POW band, the guitarist is shown strumming his instrument, but the soundtrack guitar is "finger-picking." There are other mis-matches in the scene, including actors playing valve trombones which aren't heard.
Share this
Share this
Character error
When Angel Eyes throws the shovel at Tuco by Arch Stanton's grave, he nearly hits Tuco in the head.
Share this
Share this
Continuity
Angel Eyes' grip on his spoon changes from overhand to underhand back to overhand while he chats with the rat.
Share this
Share this
Before the final gunfight, as Tuco is standing in the circle, he lowers his hand to the level of his pistol. His hand was already there in a previous shot.
Share this
Share this
When Blondie and Tuco are carrying the explosives on the stretcher, at first the stretcher is missing several wooden slats, but as they approach the bridge, it changes into a completely different stretcher with no missing slats.
Share this
Share this
Tuco has Blondie put his head through a noose and the way the rope is looped around the roof beam changes after the cannonball strike.
Share this
Share this
When Tuco and Blondie are carrying the crate with the explosives on the stretcher, it has turned about 90 degrees between the two shots when the music starts playing.
Share this
Share this
Blondie and Tuco walk down the street of the desert town to confront the Angel Eyes' gang. At the beginning, their shadows are projected to behind them. Next shot, the shadows are projected in front of them.
Share this
Share this
When Blondie is comforting the dying Rebel soldier near the end of the film, he gives him two puffs of his cheroot cigar - it changes length by almost an inch from shot to shot, first longer, then shorter, then longer again
Share this
Share this
When Blondie kicks the lid off of Arch Stanton's grave, the lid slides sideways along the ground. But, in the next shot, the lid almost hits Tuco in the face, like it was kicked upward.
Share this
Share this
When Tuco enters the gun shop, he hangs the "CLOSED" sign at a downward-right angle on a nail on the back of the front door. As he exits the shop, the "CLOSED" sign is angled slightly down to the left.
Share this
Share this
Near the end of the film, when Tuco's head is in the noose in the cemetery, the tightness of the knot keeps changing between front and rear shots.
Share this
Share this
One of the three bounty hunters that shoots Tuco off his horse has a piece of grass in his mouth just prior to been shot by Blondie, that was not there in the previous frames when he tells Tuco he has a face worth 1000 dollars.
Share this
Share this
After Angel Eyes is shot second time, his gun falls at the front side of open grave towards the central area . When Blondie shoots the hat, the gun appears at right side of the grave.
Share this
Share this
Before Blondie enters the water for the first time his coat is already wet. He was walking through a puddle before, but it could not have produced this amount of wetness.
Share this
Share this
At the start, when Angel Eyes is first seen, the boy stops the burro and the well's cross beam is in front of, and slightly above his head. In the next shot of the boy, the burro hasn't moved but the cross beam is now behind his head.
Share this
Share this
The Commendant of the Union prisoner of war camp is referred to as "Captain" but he wears the shoulder-straps of a Union Major.
Share this
Share this
Crew or equipment visible
When the rhythmic music stops and Tuco is choking after screaming "Blondie", a person walking to the left can be seen on the left side of Tuco's face. You can also see a sun reflection on something carried by the person.
Share this
Share this
In the cemetery scene when Tuco is balancing himself on the cross, you can see a person standing in the background, just to the left of his head.
Share this
Share this
When Blondie is lifting the heavy bags of gold to load them on his horse, you can see a parked car on the far left.
Share this
Share this
When Tuco is balancing himself on the cross at the end of the movie, a motor vehicle is visible on the right. It is moving right to left.
Share this
Share this
Errors in geography
Note that in all the desert scenes, there are no cacti visible. Cacti are found only in North and South America, making it obvious that this was filmed in the Old World; in this case, Spain.
Share this
Share this
Factual errors
When the two armies battle at the bridge, the Confederates are using the flag with the blue criss-cross on the red field. This is not the Confederate national flag, rather it is the banner of Gen. Robert E. Lee's Army of Northern Virginia. It would have been in battles in the east, not in the west.
Share this
Share this
If each gold coin had approximately 1 troy ounce of gold in it worth $20, $200,000 implies there were approximately 10,000 coins in the eight bags that Blondie and Tuco recovered. The weight of those 10,000 coins would be (10,000 coins * 1 ozt/coin * 31.1 g/ozt * 1 kg/1,000 g * 2.2 lbs/kg) = 684.2 lbs. Each bag would then weigh approximately 85.5 lbs. Blondie is seen loading up his horse with the gold two bags at a time (170 lbs). It doesn't seem likely that a person could lift that much gold without much more difficulty. Also, could a horse carry 340 lbs of gold, approximately 200 lbs of rider, and maybe another 50 lbs of provisions (roughly 600 lbs total load)?
Share this
Share this
At the end of the movie Blondie flips up the long-range leaf sight on his rifle but the cross member is so loose it falls down to the very bottom. This would give him no elevation of the gun barrel to allow for bullet drop, at the 1000 yards he must have been at, to make that shot.
Share this
Share this
The man pointed at as the Confederate General Sibley (by the hotel owner) is actually a Confederate Captain according to the rank insignia on his collar. The buttons on his uniform is furthermore misplaced compared to that of a authentic Confederation Captain. A genuine uniforms buttons would have been closer to the chest.
Share this
Share this
The character "Jackson/Bill Carson" is referred to as a member of the 3rd Regiment in the Confederate Army. During the New Mexico campaign the Confederates deployed the 2nd, 4th, 5th, and 7th Regiments of the Texas Mounted Rifles and some unnumbered territorial groups. There was no Confederate 3rd regiment of any sort, although the 3rd U.S. Cavalry did participate on the Union side.
Share this
Share this
In the retreat scene in the town a large unit of Confederate foot infantry is shown as marching with the retreating column. In reality, Sibley's force consisted entirely of mounted units and a single battalion of artillery. No foot infantry were used in the campaign on the Confederate side.
Share this
Share this
$200,000 in gold, at $20.67 per ounce in 1862, would weigh about 806 pounds in Troy ounces. Eastwood packs half of this onto his horse, or about 403 pounds. It is impossible for any horse on Earth to carry that much weight plus a 200-pound man.
Share this
Share this
Incorrectly regarded as goofs
Blondie's rifle is a Winchester, which was not available when the movie is meant to take place, but the production took the pains to remove the wood fore stock to disguise it as a Henry which were available.
Share this
Share this
During the bridge scene with the explosives, the fuse is often seen in the water. Would this mean it could not burn? No, because fuses were coated in wax, lots of mine & tunnel work back then occurred in damp & wet conditions.
Share this
Share this
When Tuco and Blondie ride their coach up to the mission to recuperate from the desert several power poles are visible in the background to the left. (May only be visible in the wide-screen version). However, one can make the assumption that these are telegraph lines since the telegraph was a common form of long-distance communication during the civil war. Power poles are even visible by the train tracks when Tuco escapes his captive which makes sense since telegraph lines were commonly built along railroads.
Share this
Share this
Tuco and Blondie blow the bridge using dynamite. Though dynamite was not available at that time, if you examine carefully, they appear to be black powder charges wrapped in paper.
Share this
Share this
During the final show-down by Tuco, Blondie and Angel Eyes at the cemetery, Tuco has no bullets in his gun but you can see a flash from his pistol when Blondie shoots Angel Eyes. However, this is the sun glittering on the barrel of his gun, not a muzzle flash.
Share this
Share this
When the sheriff unrolls the wanted poster in Tuco's face, you can see 'Guy Calloway' on the bottom. Guy Calloway was a criminal who was hunted down by Lee Van Cleef's character in For a Few Dollars More. This could possibly be a left-over prop from that film, and they pasted Tuco's picture over Calloway's, but forgot to change the name.
Share this
Share this
Revealing mistakes
When the runaway Confederate carriage first appears in the desert you can see someone steering it. Then, as Tuco seizes the horse-team to stop the carriage, the reins are obviously being held by the out-of-frame driver. In the next shot, viewed from the driver's bench, the reins visibly tighten to halt the horses and then drop.
Share this
Share this
When Tuco and Blondie seek Angel Eyes in the deserted town, they discover a note that says "see you later idiots" but if you look closely at the paper, it is actually a page of the film script.
Share this
Share this
When Blondie says, "Your spurs," and shoots the last of the three ambushers in the hotel, the man falls backwards, knocking the wall and making it wobble.
Share this
Share this
The scene is the one in which Tuco (Ugly) runs up to the carriage filled with dead bodies. When he opens the gate to the carriage and checks in, it can clearly be seen that the guy lying to the left is clearly blinking, even though everybody in the carriage except Bill Carson is supposed to be dead.
Share this
Share this
During the preparation of the charges on the bridge supports, they are connected in series, and Blondie lights only one (too short) fuse. When the bridge blows, all four charges detonate simultaneously, since they were detonated electrically.
Share this
Share this
Leading up to the final gunfight, there are several close ups of Angel Eyes' hand creeping toward his gun. The gun is clearly a Remington percussion type, but there are cartridges visible on his gun belt.
Share this
Share this
When the Sheriff unrolls the wanted poster in Tuco's face the poster clearly has a photograph of very good quality instead of a sketch which seems highly unlikely at the time the film takes place.
Share this
Share this
Spoilers
Continuity
In the final scene when Tuco is shot down by Blondie, the position of the rope changes while hanging around Tuco's neck. First it is hanging vertically in front when he steps into the courtyard. Then it is slung over his left shoulder in the close-up.Share this
