Winchester '73

When Sgt.

Wilkes welcomes Lola, his neck cloth repeatedly changes between shots.

Near the end of the movie, when Lin McAdam rides towards Dutch's cover, we see Lin's shadow projected to his right side and in the next shot to his left side.

This movie is based on a rifle-shooting competition held in Dodge City on 4 July 1876.

During a poker game in the movie, Dutch refers to a "Dead Man's Hand".

The "Dead Man's Hand" refers to the hand Wild Bill Hickock was holding when he was shot in the back by Jack McCall on 2 August 1876 - less than a month later.

It was too soon for the "Dead Man's Hand" to be a famous phrase.

During the final shootout scene, billboards and a highway are visible in the far distance on the upper left of the screen.

When Lin and High Spade leave Rikers, they are supposed to be riding at night.

However, when they are fleeing the pursuing braves, the sun is clearly visible behind the ridge they ride along.

When Lin was chasing Dutch at the end and they had just left Tascosa, they were riding through the desert full of Saguaro cactus which are native to Arizona.

Tascosa is in the Texas pan handle near Amarillo.

- PLOTIn the gunfight at the Jameson house, it is said that that Noonan's posse consisted of 12 men and was down to 9, and then another of them is shot.

However, when the burning wagon is pushed into the house, there are 9 men pushing it.

- PLOTLola Manners appears clean and virtually pristine throughout her ordeal, despite the physical punishment she endures in the desert, on the wagon, and at the hands of Waco.

During the gunfight at the end, when Dutch is cringing in the rocks and gets wounded by ricochets from Lin's gun, during that sequence you can clearly see the ricochets appearing on the face of the rock in a V-shape (clearly charges placed in a row) except for one scene in the middle where they all disappear and we see the first one happen, and then they all reappear again the next scene, so those scenes were ordered out of sequence in the final cut.

During the gunfight in the rocks at the end, gunshots clearly ricochet on the rocks many times in places not even accessible from Dutch's position atop the rocks.

When Dutch Henry and his two henchmen arrive at Riker's trading post, the name of the henchman played by James Millican is given as "Ben".

Later, at the desert hideout, Waco Johnnie Dean calls the same man "Dan".

When discussing Custer's Last Stand, Lin says that the Indians knew that his command was armed with single-shot Springfield rifles.

The Indians sent in a small wave of Indians to draw their fire and, when the cavalrymen were reloading, sent in a second wave that overwhelmed them.

Battlefield archaeologists studying the site starting in the 1980s have determined that that the battle unfolded in a substantially different way with the command being overwhelmed in mostly small groups rather than one large stand.

When Lin and his partner ride into town just before the robbery, the shadows on their horses and buildings are extremely long, suggesting very early morning and not the 3:00 PM that it was supposed to be.

Five minutes later when Lin rides out of town after Dutch, there is hardly any shadow from his horse, suggesting mid-day.

Whilst the film has a reputation as being a classic of its kind it is spoilt by a poor ending.Winning of the rifle hence the title of the film is determined by excellent marksmanship from the cowboys yet at the end neither could hit a barn door when required with the result it requires an even stupider cause of action to resolve the situation.

This being my first classic western I have little in the way of frame of reference for talking about it. This said by my reckoning its great stuff.

It's 1876 Dodge City, Kansas. The Winchester '73 is "The gun that won the west".

I have no idea why shelly winters is in this film because she's not even window dressing ... duryea and mcnally play the heavies with the same enthusiasm they always do so there is nothing new ...

Director Anthony Mann teamed up with Jimmy Stewart in the first of many westerns they made together, and this is the best, as it tells the story of Lin McAdam(Jimmy Stewart) who wins a shooting contest where the prize is a much sought-after Winchester '73 rifle, which is stolen by evil Dutch Henry Brown(played by Stephen McNally) prompting an enraged Lin to pursue him across the west, as the rifle passes through many different hands, dooming all who possess it. Dan Duryea plays Waco Jimmy Dean, a gunfighter that Lin forces him to tell where Dutch has gone, and whom he will encounter later on.

It is said that when this film first came out there was some criticism of the casting of James Stewart in the leading role. Stewart was widely regarded as the "Mr Nice Guy" hero of romantic comedies like "The Philadelphia Story" or feelgood films like "It's a Wonderful Life".

When come to Western genre you cant beat Sergio Leone. for this movie the story was easy to follow.

I didn't really grow up with Westerns, but an early fascination with Clint Eastwood had me discovering them in a big way. I have always compared the genre of Westerns to Chocolate Chip Cookies (bare with me now on this analogy.

While everyone loves James Stewart, we all know he made some stinky movies in his career. I wasn't partial to Winchester '73, even though the cast drew me to it.