Gaffes

During the opening shootout, a bald bounty hunter wearing a dark orange shirt and brown vest is killed with a shotgun blast. At the end of the scene, he can be seen exiting the hotel with the other bounty hunters, alive and well.

When Mapache's car is dragging Angel, a woman sits on the hood. Her blouse keeps switching color from greenish yellow to orange and back again between shots.

In the opening scene, all shots of the bounty hunters on the rooftop show heavy storm clouds in the background, but all shots from the Bunch's/townspeople's POV show a clear, sunny day (including over the roof of the hotel).

When Sykes (Edmond O'Brien) is shot by the bounty hunters while bringing the horses to Pike and the boys, it's the right leg that's hit. However, when he shows up after the battle at Mapache's headquarters, it's his left leg that's bandaged.

During the famous walk scene, Pike Bishop's Winchester 1897 shotgun has barrel that is equal in length to the lower magazine tube. Minutes later during the climactic gunfight, his shotgun barrel extends several inches past the magazine tube.

Early in the film, Harrigan threatens Deke Thorton by promising to send him back to Yuma if he doesn't catch Pike. In reality, the Yuma Territorial Prison had already shut down in 1909, roughly four years before the events of the movie, and had been converted to a high school.

In the scene in which Angel shoots his girlfriend, and the Wild Bunch is confronted by Gen. Mapache's men, Commander Mohr asks them about their weapons, and informs them that they are U.S. Army weapons and cannot be owned by civilians. However, the only U.S. Army weapons which they possess are M1911 Colt pistols, which in fact had been sold commercially since 1911, two years before this film takes place.

According to Pike, each man's share is $2500 in gold. Gold was approximately $19;00/oz. the 40 years from 1880 to 1920. From the 15th century, gold has been measured in Troy ounces, 12 ounces to the pound. So $2500 in gold would be approximately 11 pounds of gold. Hardly the weight of the bags that were being thrown around to make the various payoffs.

The American soldiers in the movie wear a pattern of shirt which buttons all the way up the front. During this period of time, U.S. Army shirts were pullovers and buttoned part way down the front. The shirt depicted in the film is similar, but was not adopted until later.

In the opening shootout when Angel is "slam firing" his shotgun up at the top of the hotel, he sweeps his aim from left to right in such a wide arc it would appear he's aiming at a passing bird rather than at a relatively small stationary target.

After stealing the guns on the train and getting away, Tector shares a bottle of whiskey. But as the bottle gets thrown from person to person, it starts to froth up. BUT whiskey does NOT froth. Tea, however, does froth, which is what Peckinpah undoubtedly substituted for whiskey so that his cast would be able to drink a lot and remain sober.

In the shooting in the beginning, one of the bounty hunters is shot and falls off the roof. When he hits the ground, one can see the ground break in where the air bag is hidden to break his fall (in the director's cut).

When the gang is crossing the desert and fall down the sand dune, two different shadows of the same person is visible, revealing that artificial light was used to shot the scene.

When Coffer shoots Sykes, Sykes is riding his horse toward Pike from a great distance - a good 200 yards or more. Pike is watching Sykes through binoculars. While still at least 150 yards away from Pike, Sykes is shown, in the binoculars, as riding right up to Pike and past him to the right of him. In real binoculars point-of-view, Sykes would have remained distant.

In the Director's Cut, Sykes is shot in the right leg at around 1:56, but at the end of the movie, his left leg is bandaged, at around 2:20, and there doesn't appear to be anything wrong with his right leg.

During the walk to get Angel, Ben Johnson gets too close to Warren Oates, and Oates slightly pushes Johnson out of the way.

The M1917 machine gun, out of place in a setting of 1913 as already stated, was a water cooled weapon. At no time during the firing of the machine gun is the water jacket hooked up to a source of cooling water.

According to the Internet Movie Car Database, Mapache's car is a 1914 Packard Six -- and the film's apparently set in 1913.

At least twice in the movie, characters refer to Gen. Huerta as the president of Mexico. This would place the time period between early spring of 1913 and the summer of 1914. However, when Sikes is telling his colleagues about a "flying machine", Pike informs them that he heard the machines would be used in "the war", which would place the time period late 1914, after Huerta had been overthrown. Also, at least twice during the film a character refers to Pancho Villa indicating he was a major figure in the rebellion against Huerta. During the revolt Gen. Venustiano Carranza was the leading rebel; Villa was a minor figure, although he did ally his forces with those of Carranza (he also later led a rebellion against Carranza after Huerta was overthrown). Mentioning Villa's name may have been an attempt to place a well-known name before the audience to give them an historical context.

The machine gun used at the end of the film is a Browning model 1917, the film is supposedly circa 1913

Coffer is seen using a Model 1903/A3 bolt-action rifle on the rooftop during the bank shootout scene. The /A3 model is clearly distinguishable from its earlier predecessor, the Model of 1903, by the rear sight placement on the rifle. The Model of 1903 used tangent sight located on the barrel, in front of the receiver, whereas the newer, improved variant used a "peep" sight located on the receiver bridge nearer to the bolt handle. The /A3 variant was a World War Two (circa 1941) improvement on the older model of 1903. Coffer should have been seen using a Model 1903, instead of a 1903/A3.

Elsa Cárdenas, as Angel's ex-girlfriend Elsa, has hair and eye makeup that is not from 1913, when the film is set, but looks very 1968, when the film was shot. None of the other women in the film, particularly in Mapache's compound, look like this and the gaffe really sticks out in a film that, otherwise, was very meticulous in recreating its period setting. While concern about correct dress and grooming for the era of the movie is important, it is harder to point to hairstyles being of the wrong period than it is clothing. One reason for this is that in any period there are those who, for one reason or another, wear their hair in styles not identified with the period in question (i.e. "There's always one"). There is little doubt that persons sporting hairstyles from the 1910's could be found walking the streets today, not many but a few. Given the relative simplicity of 1960's hairstyles finding such styling in 1910 would be no more difficult, especially on the streets of a small hot dusty desert town in southwest America or northern Mexico, where more people cared for comfort and convenience than style or panache.

When Lyle and Tector are shooting at the wine casks, the slide on Lyle's gun is locked indicating the gun is empty. However, shots are still heard. In the 1995 re-release version this has been corrected. Only one shot is heard after the slide locks on Lyle's .45, and that shot comes from Tector's revolver.

Several scenes with dialogue not matching mouth movements.

At the end of the opening sequence, when Crazy Lee shoots three lawmen, the electrical line to the squibs is visible.

Every time the gang crosses from Texas into Mexico, the river is running to the west. The Rio Grande actually flows in the opposite direction.

The Rio Grande River (which is crossed by the group) several times throughout the film wasn't dammed at the time, nor drained off as it would have been in the 1960s. It really should have been much wider and much deeper than it was when they forded it. In fact the narrowest portions of the river actually small towns on them as that's where most travelers crossed the river.

There are no sand dunes in West Texas anywhere near the Rio Grande.

The Monahans dunes are nearer to Odessa which is more than 175 miles from closest portion of the Texas-Mexico border. And there are no sand dunes in Northern Mexico anywhere near the Texas border.

After the hijacked train crashes into the railroad car holding the horses of the army unit assigned to guard the train, the sergeant in charge orders a corporal to ride to the garrison and report the train robbery. The corporal salutes with his left hand and responds, "Yes, Sir!" Soldiers salute with their right hand and sergeants are neither addressed as "Sir"--except in basic training--nor saluted. A raw recruit might make such mistakes in such a stressful situation, but not someone who has been in the army long enough to become a corporal.