In the elevated train sequence, the villain "Bernardo" is shown outside the train car as "Papa" is first shown on the roof of the train. In the next cut, he's still inside the train preparing to exit.
When McQueen stops at a gas station he speaks with Levar Burton through the car window. A piece of trim hangs from the convertible top. McQueen is seen actually fiddling with the trim without repairing it. McQueen gets into the car and the trim is instantly taped up and out of the way.
When Papa runs and jumps to avoid a thrown stick of dynamite, his bomber jacket is unzipped as he starts to jump, is zipped up mid jump, and then unzipped as he lands again.
When Mr. Thorson goes to pick up Bernardo, he fires 9 rounds from a Colt M1911 pistol, a pistol which can hold at most 8 rounds. Since he flipped the slide on the pistol, any round in the chamber would have been ejected, so he should have been able to fire but 7 rounds.
When Papa goes to pick up the Branch Brothers, he gets surprised by a bundle of dynamite with a lit fuse tossed at his feet. As he runs away in slow motion, the dynamite explodes behind him, throwing him into the air and his feet out in front of him as he lands on his back. A second later, grass lands in his face from the explosion behind him, but it comes clearly from the front as if thrown by a crew member.
Although he has reversed at least three times into cars behind him when trying to park there is subsequently no visible damage to the rear of Steve McQueen's car.
About 44 minutes, Ralph (Steve McQueen) takes delivery of a rental car. It's a 1980 Pontiac Trans Am; a true "muscle car" in its day. You can tell by the way Ralph is driving it is a stick shift; not an automatic transmission. By law, all rental cars must have automatic transmissions (excepting exotic cars).
A 1980 Pontiac Trans Am muscle car *is* an exotic.
A 1980 Pontiac Trans Am muscle car *is* an exotic.
When Papa Thorson is meeting with Sheriff Strong in his office, you can see the background of what is suppose to be a city view out of his windows is just a photograph, as the smoke rising from a building top in the background doesn't move.
In the Chicago train sequence, when the train they are on leaves the station it has four cars. In the tunnel scene when they get off of the train and the train pulls away, there are more than four cars.
The train chase was filmed using "6000" series CTA train cars (now out of commission). The train is labeled "Ravenswood B" - but Ravenswood trains would NOT have gone into a subway. They run only on ground level or on elevated tracks.
Near the end of the chase with the Branch Brothers through the corn field, they come face to face with Papa in the Combine Harvester on the road. The Trans-Am goes into reverse and the sound of tires squealing on asphalt is heard. However, they are on a gravel road.
About ten minutes into the film the shadow of the camera is visible on Steve McQueen's jacket when he is filmed sitting in his car.