There is no time lapse between the song played for the roller skaters, Jim taking Bridges out to the wagon, and Jim coming back in for his dance with Ella. Still, when he goes back inside, the entire crowd is gone, and Jim and Ella are no longer wearing the roller skates.
When Ella Watson sees her birthday present, only one of her breasts is covered by the blanket wrapped around her. Whilst the shot cuts between her and Jim, the breast that is uncovered changes repeatedly between shots.
During the pivotal pool hall conversation, the ball positions on the table are constantly changing during different edits.
Unlike their fates in the movie, Jim Averell and Ella Watson (actually husband and wife), were lynched in July of 1889.
In real life, James Averill attended Cornell, not Harvard.
Despite how he was portrayed in the film, Nate Champion was never any type of enforcer. He was a small rancher who stood up against the tactic of claiming all unbranded cattle. He was killed when a posse of vigilantes attacked his homestead. A journal of his battle survived the attack.
When Averill arrives at the train station in Casper, Wyoming, the streets are depicted as teeming with immigrants, residents, businessmen, etc. In reality, Casper's population in the 1890 Census was 544, and was never a hub for thousands of commuters as depicted here.
After hours lying outdoors in temperate weather, Nathan's corpse is miraculously free of flies.
At approximately 3:27:10 after the final ambush of John Bridges, Ella, and James Averill, actor Jeff Bridges is supposed to be dead but he's puffing like a steam engine.
When Canton shoots the immigrant point-blank in the back of the head, there is no blood, bone or hair shown coming off the head. In fact, after the immigrant's head is lifted to show his face then dropped down again, there is no sign on the back of his head that he's been shot at all.
As Jim and Ella stand over Nate's body, reading his final letter to them, look closely and you can see Nate still breathing.
The little boy that plays Kovac's son while the family is butchering the cow looks directly at the camera while smiling while they drag out the basket containing the cow's innards.
As Ella kisses Nate's forehead in front of his burnt cabin, his pulse is clearly visible on the neck and completely ruins all the romantic atmosphere.
In an 1890 pickup baseball, defensive players wear gloves, but even the average major league player wouldn't have such equipment until later in that decade.
The pool table over which James and Nathan had their defining discussion in the landowners' club, is a Brunswick Regina model, which was produced between 1922 and 1925 - over 30 years after when the scene was set.
Despite music and a yard full of waltzing couples, several 360-degree panning shots at the Harvard commencement ball show that there is no orchestra.
The opening scenes and epilogue are supposed to take place at Harvard, but were shot in Oxford, England. Oxford's buildings are built in a variety of architectural styles, while Harvard buildings are solely Georgian.
The opening scene shows James Averill (Kris Kristofferson) and William C. Irvine (John Hurt) attending their graduation event at Harvard University, in the United States. However, the scene was shot in Oxford, England, and shows several famous and easily recognized Oxford University landmarks, including the Bridge of Sighs, the Clarendon Building and the Sheldonian Theatre.