Goofs

During the Bannister gang shootout, a long shot shows three of the gang shooting while previous close shots had reduced the gang to two members.

In the last scene, when John receives a letter while working a cattle roundup, the letter is sealed when it's handed to him, but when he takes off his work glove to take the letter out of the envelope and read it, the flap is unsealed, as if it never had been sealed at all.

As John and Harley sit at the table waiting for their steaks after the gunfight, John pours Harley then himself a whiskey, the color of the which is pale. When John talks to the Marshal moments later, he holds up his glass, and the whiskey is a shade darker. In the next shot of John and Harley, John's whiskey is back to its original color.

The ladies abandon their breakfast to hide upstairs when the Bannisters arrive, leaving plates and a pitcher of half-full milk on the table. When a Bannister enters the kitchen minutes later, the pitcher is empty and the plates are in different positions.

Carroll insinuates the Club is much older than Cheyenne itself: "It was there when there wasn't a railroad for 300 miles. It withstood prairie fires and Indian attacks... The first ounce of gold discovered in this territory was spent wisely and well [there]". Cheyenne was a camp Grenville Dodge established in 1865 after discovering the Sherman Hill "gang plank" during an expedition in the Black Hills, which would be used as a route by the Union Pacific. Dodge named the town after one of the Indian tribes who inhabited the Black Hills.

Arriving at the outskirts of Cheyenne, O'Hanlan informs Harley that they are in Wyoming Territory. The Wyoming Territory was established in 1868, one year after the story takes place. Cheyenne was part of the Dakota Territory at the time.

Willoughby informs O'Hanlan that the Club can't be shuttered because of the deal D.J. struck with the railroad. There were no deeded landowners along the route Union Pacific was surveying in 1865; Cheyenne was a Union Army camp in 1865; and D.J. was in South Carolina in 1865, although it's entirely plausible that D.J. negotiated with Union Pacific via telegraph at Fort Laramie.

When John and Harley are crossing the railroad tracks to see the Cheyenne Social Club for the first time, it is apparent from the camera angle that the last structure on the right is only a facade with no building behind it.

The railroad tracks look worn. Union Pacific reached Cheyenne in 1867, the year the film is set, so the tracks should be near mint.

Carroll tells O'Hanlan: "The first ounce of gold discovered in this territory was spent wisely and well at the Cheyenne Social Club". The first gold discovered in Wyoming was 213 miles north of Cheyenne, at the Sweetwater River. It's highly unlikely that the prospector would have traveled over 200 miles to the Club just to enjoy his good fortune.

Harley says that his parents were Democrats (an inside joke on the politics of stars James Stewart and Henry Fonda). The platform of the Democratic Party in 1867 called for denying non-white citizens their legal and constitutional rights. Harley doesn't seem like the type of man whose parents would have supported that platform.

At the time of filming, James Stewart was 61 years old. With the film set in 1867, his character John O'Hanlan would have been born in 1806. O'Hanlan says he was born in the Texas panhandle. Up through the 1850's, Commanche opposition to whites was so fierce that it would have been impossible for O'Hanlan's family to settle in the panhandle. There was a trading post at Adobe Walls that was the scene of a pitched battle, leaving the post abandoned and the Army issuing a warning for whites to stay away. In fact, the Chisholm Trail detoured west to the New Mexico Territory before heading north specifically to avoid passing through the panhandle.

Carroll tells O'Hanlan: "The first ounce of gold discovered in this territory was spent wisely and well at the Cheyenne Social Club". Gold was first discovered in Wyoming at the Sweetwater River in 1842. Cheyenne was incorporated in 1867.

As John and Harley walk through town talking, shadows of the camera and crew are visible.

There are no mountains in the immediate vicinity of Cheyenne, Wyoming.

Jenny pronounces Oregon "Or-ee-GONE". The proper pronunciation is "Or-uh-GUN"; "Or-ee-GONE" is a common mispronunciation.

As O'Hanlan is about to knock on Jenny's door to say goodbye, he overhears her with a client. The doctor told O'Hanlan that Jenny needs bed rest and cannot "entertain" for several weeks.

Harley lays down to drink from the creek with his horse, but he doesn't fill his water canteen.

O'Hanlan notes Harley has been jabbering non-stop for 1,000 miles. The distance between the Texas Panhandle and the Dakota Territory was less than 900 miles, depending on the starting point.