The name of Sonny Steele's horse in the film is "Rising Star". The star steed was played by a 5-year-old bay thoroughbred called "Let's Merge" after a 6-month equine talent search. Robert Redford bought the horse after production was complete and owned him for 18 years before the horse passed away.

Robert Redford did all of his own riding stunts in the film.

Most of the location shooting was done in Utah, USA near actor Robert Redford's home. This provided a tax break for him and also made things convenient for him as he had been living in seclusion in Utah for a few years.

This movie marked the first lead role in a movie after a 3-year hiatus for star Robert Redford who had put himself into semi-retirement and reclusive retreat at his mountaintop Utah ranch; his return to the big screen in this film was much-publicized.

Debut as an actor in a film for Willie Nelson. Nelson also sang five songs for the film's soundtrack.

Continuity

The video footage shown on television of Sonny Steele's speech about the horse doesn't match what Alice would have actually shot. The camera movement, lighting and direction of where Steele was facing while talking is completely different.

Sonny tends to Rising Star's problem front right leg throughout the movie. However, as Alice and Sonny are leading Rising Star through the mountains, there's one shot of them walking and the bandage is clearly visible on his front left leg; the next shot shows it back on his front right leg.

The white splotch on Rising Star's face reverses itself in subsequent shots when Sonny releases him near the end of the movie: it moves from his right eye to his left eye, then back again.

Sonny breaks off the heels of Hallie's high-heeled boots, yet at the end the heels are back on.



Factual errors

Sonny tells Hallie she's standing in poison sumac, but it only grows in swampy areas, not west of Texas.

Throughout the film, they repeatedly talk about the horse being a stallion. However, the horse they used is a gelding.



Revealing mistakes

During the chase scene, one of the Liberty Police officers speaks into his radio. The shot is reversed, likely to comport with the direction of the chase shown in the previous shot, making it look like he is driving a right hand drive vehicle. The text on his shoulder patch is backwards.



Errors in geography

When Sonny rides the horse out of Caesars Palace and up the Las Vegas strip past neighboring hotels, he passes at least one casino (famous Vegas Vic cowboy sign outside of Pioneer Club) that is miles away in downtown Las Vegas.

When Hallie is trying to get information from Leroy, Leroy tells her that Gus lives in Mesquite, "about 30 miles up the road". Mesquite is actually almost 90 miles from Las Vegas, near the Utah border.



Plot holes

After Hallie Martin tapes a statement by Sonny Steele in the great outdoors, she drives back to town, sees that it's crawling with cops and returns to warn Steele that he can't go back to town because it's crawling with cops. So what do they do? Ditch her car, get in the camper, and drive right into town.



Character error

When Sonny asks Hallie if she has ever heard of "The Madison Square Garden," she replies in the negative although anyone who works in New York City would have heard of it, and she had no reason to deceive Sonny.