Goofs

The tall case clock that Widmark and family are taking in their wagon is operational during the journey. A tall case clock has to be level and stationery in order for its pendulum to function and enable the clock to keep time. This clock is working as it chimes while crossing the rolling hills of the Great Plains as well as going up a very steep incline of the mountains west of Fort Hall. Being transported inside a jarring wagon over this rough and uneven terrain would have caused the pendulum to swing wildly about inside the tall case and rendered the clock inoperable. In other words, no such clock under such conditions could chime.

The pendulum keeps the hands at the correct time. If the clock has a mainspring, (which it does- Becky wound it at 0:08;18) the chimes can sound without the pendulum, just not at the right time.

When the Indians captured Brownie Evans (Michael McGreevey), you can see they were all wearing flesh colored underwear under their loincloths.

The men in this film are seen wearing pants with belt loops quite often. Belt loops first appeared 79 years after the 1843 story of The Way West, in 1922.

1922 was beginning of belt loops on Levis 501 jeans, not their first appearance on pants. The 100th anniversary of belt loops was 1922.

When the party reaches the river and the obviously parched settlers fall into the water to take a drink, the horses and other livestock seem to be curiously uninterested in doing so.

The Sioux chief's hair is not styled in the Sioux fashion. It more closely resembles that of the Pawnee, traditional Sioux enemies.

The Sioux and and all the other plains tribes wore a variety of styles.

Kirk Douglas' revolver was first made in 1860 or later. The time line of the period is 1843. He would have been using a percussion single Shot US Model 1842 or at best a civilian Patterson Colt with no trigger guard and especially, no side barrel extractor tube.

Lola Albright is wearing a heavy pink lip gloss in some early scenes.

When Kirk Douglas lowers himself into the canyon the rope is through a carabiner that would not have existed in 1843.

(0:16:30) Summers says to camp for the night and cross the river in the morning. Anybody who watches Westerns knows that you cross the river first because an overnight rainstorm way up in the mountains could raise the water level to the danger zone.