Goofs

Feathers throws a potted plant through the window to distract the gunmen. In the next scene the window is not damaged at all.

When Chance rushes into a stable, his hat flies off, but in the next shot it is back on his head.

In the final shootout, a bullet hole appears in the window casing next to Colorado, in the next shot the bullet hole is missing and then reappears in later shots.

When Dude confronts Burdett and his gang, a rifle's butt is showing from the fore part of Burdett's horse. But in the moment he takes off his gun and gives it to a gunman, the rifle is missing.

Burdette sets the time for the exchange of Dude and Joe at a half-hour after sunrise; but when the three leave the jail, the shadows are nearly vertical.

Regarding Stumpy throwing sticks of dynamite and Sheriff Chance and Dude shooting them, Dynamite does not explode when hit by a bullet. It is a very stable medium that will only explode when a blasting cap (usually with a fuse inserted into it) explodes. Likewise one stick that is attached (or bundled) to others can set-off a chain-explosion as long as there is at least one blasting cap that explodes. Dynamite can be shot, struck, dropped, or even burned without exploding.

The US Treasury has never issued a $50 gold coin for general circulation.

Colorado (Ricky Nelson) tells the sheriff (John Wayne) that the sheriff and Dude are the only ones who saw the shooting. The sheriff says they are only ones who are willing to testify. The sheriff was knocked out cold by Dude hitting him on the head before the shooting in the saloon. The sheriff is lying on the ground, not moving at all. Furthermore, he's lying on his stomach, on the floor, and his back is facing the shooting done by Joe. He would be unable to see any of the events after he was hit over the head by Dude. Therefore, he could not testify in court about any aspect of the shooting. Even if he was awake and listening, but not moving, he would have heard very little because no one speaks in the saloon before, during, or after the shooting.

While it is true that Santa Ana had all 14 of the bands with his army play El Deguello ("The Throat-Cutting Song") all night and day prior to storming the Alamo, it was a bugle call, not a full band composition, and sounded nothing at all like what is played in the film. The actual call sounds more like the fanfare from "Gonna Fly Now," the theme from Rocky.

John T. Chance wears a wedding ring throughout the movie even though he was not a married man in the story. However, John Wayne was married at the time in real life, but did not take his ring off during filming.

When Stumpy throws his first stick of dynamite it hits the dirt about 3 feet away from where the explosion occurs.

During a poker-playing scene, one of the players asks the bartender for a new deck of cards. However, the bartender starts reaching for the new deck before the player asks.

Towards the beginning of the movie, Dude is shown at the end of town when the sun is rising. Later in the movie the same camera angle and view are used as a sunset shot of Dude before he returns to the jail.

When Burdette's man shoots Wheeler from the stable, the rifle isn't pointed at Wheeler.

At night when Dude and Chance are making their rounds, the camera follows Dude as he walks briefly off the set. A huge concrete pillar that he walks past can be seen.

When Dude walks into the saloon, the camera pans from left to right and there is a guy wearing modern brown shoes sitting at a table with his left side to the screen.

When Feathers goes in her hotel room after Chance believes she was cheating on the card game, she goes over to an oil lamp on a small table and it instantly lights up. It would have required her to light it with a match.

The majority of the men in the film are clean shaven. Given the 1885 setting of the film, this would be statistically unlikely as most men in the Old West wore facial hair. Facial hair at this time was in fashion and it was nearly impossible to shave frequently with the limited access to clean water.

The windows in the buildings are made of pane glass, not wave glass which was cheaper and was what would be used in towns in the West at the time.

During the final gunfight, when Stumpy throws the Dynamite for Dude, and Dude says, "I didn't allow for the wind ", his lips never move.

When Dude comes back from parking Pat Wheeler's wagons, he tells Chance he's going to get a beer. Chance tells him there are some cold ones inside. When Dude is getting off his horse he says "Just as long as it's beer" yet his mouth never moves.

The first line is Chance saying: "Joe, you're under arrest." However, he clearly begins talking before his voice is heard. He appears to say: "Come on Joe, you're under arrest", but those first two words have been silenced.

When Dude drops the $50 gold piece on the floor after shooting the bad guy in the loft, it makes a tinny sound when hitting the floor. A $50 gold piece was 2 1/2 ounces of gold and would make a distinct "thud" when hitting a wood floor.

When Stumpy, Dude, and Colorado are sitting around playing music and singing, on the second song (where Stumpy sings) in the second verse, Colorado sings "I wish I had an needle..." but he mouths the words "I wish I was a needle."

After Chance learns that Feathers didn't get on the stagecoach, he storms up to her room to confront her. She's standing beside a window when he enters. As she walks away, the shadow of the boom mike can be seen following her across the window curtain.

Saguaro cacti don't grow in Texas.

There are frequent references to the Fort Worth stage. As the story is set on the south Texas border and Fort Worth is approximately 450 miles away, there would have been no stage to Fort Worth. There would have been a stage to San Antonio, but not all the way to Fort Worth.

Chance sleeps at the unguarded hotel, instead of at the jail.

It would be too dangerous to leave Dude at the edge of the town on his own.

The gang could have taken the dynamite from the unguarded wagons and used it against the lawmen.

When Feathers steps behind the divider to change out of her tights, she's standing in front of a window with the shade up. So, whatever she didn't want Chance to see, the whole town below in the street got to see.

When Chance and Dude are making their rounds at night and run into Carlos at the Alamo, he says "Señor Chance! I've been looking everywhere for you!" Obviously he hasn't because Chance and Dude have been in the sheriff's office for much of the day and all night long. The whole reason they went out on patrol was because Chance saw that Dude was suffering from anxiety from staying inside the jail all day.

When Pat Wheeler and his men arrive in town, he introduces Chance to "Colorado" Ryan. He mentions that he's the son of a former cowhand named "Rocky" Ryan. He tells Chance that the kid's name is "Colorado". However, later Chance is talking to Wheeler in the saloon about hiring extra men to guard the jail, and Chance questions Wheeler's abilities as a gunfighter by saying, "If you're so good, then why'd you have to hire Colorado?" Wheeler gets an idea and says "Hey! That's an idea. Ryan, Colorado you call him." It's a strange line of dialogue because it makes it sound as though Chance came up with the nickname "Colorado" at that moment when Wheeler was the one who told Chance that was his name.

After dismounting his horse and talking with Chance in front of the Sheriff's Office, Pat Wheeler remounts his horse from the left side. As he rides away, he is unable to get his right foot into the stirrup closest the camera and must hold his boot tightly against the horse to avoid falling off.