Goofs

In the scene where Calamity Jane is making an eggnog in the milkshake machine for an opium hung-over Wild Bill, she is seen cranking the machine in opposite directions in the cuts back and forth between her and Bill.

Most historians agree that Wild Bill and Calamity Jane did not have a sexual relationship. But Calamity Jane was nowhere near as good-looking and sexy as Ellen Barkin.

Black Powder was used until the invention of 'smokeless powder' in 1880. In all the shootouts, the smoke is minimal, unlike black powder which produces a large amount of white smoke.

Wild Bill did not meet Calamity Jane at Deadwood but arrived with her and Charlie Utter in the same wagon train in July 1876.

Calamity Jane was being held by military authorities. She was not present at the assassination.

At the time of his death, Wild Bill was married to Agnes Thatcher Lake, a 50-year-old circus proprietor. He married her five months previously. Interestingly, Calamity Jane said in her autobiography that she was married to Wild Bill, although no records have been found that support this claim.

When Bill arrives in Deadwood for the first time, just after the Stagecoach door opens, the camera skips to the next angle behind the Stagecoach. Bill steps out as if the carriage has just stopped, however, the mud that the wheel has accumulated has dried on the tread part in clumps. If the Stagecoach had just stopped, the mud would still be wet on the tread of the wheel. If the road were dry, the treads would be clean as the rolling wheel would have broken the dried mud loose as it rolled against the dry ground.

The whole sequence with the hired gunmen is fiction. Jack McCall worked alone. His reason for killing Wild Bill is disputed but it was thought to be either being embarrassed by Will Bill paying for his breakfast that morning or being paid to do it by gamblers frightened that Wild Bill might become Deadwood's sheriff.

Of course it's fiction, as is most of the movie - which is an action movie, not a documentary.

In the big stable shootout, Wild Bill gets off more than 16 shots out of two colts.

Bill Hickok in real life used two Colt 1851 Navy revolvers which were Cap and Ball Percussion models. Throughout the film, he uses a Colt 1851 Navy with a conversion kit to fire cartridges.

When in the early scene wherein Will Plummer's horse falls, breaking Will's leg, a power pole and power lines are clearly visible over the roof tops.

When Jane is making love to Bill, she's wearing modern, short cotton socks, which were not in use until 1940's.

Deadwood is in a gulch in the Black Hills and is surrounded by cliffs on both sides.