Considering the part of Ethan Edwards to be the best character that he ever portrayed on-screen and The Searchers (1956) to be his favorite film role, John Wayne named his youngest son Ethan Wayne in homage.

The eccentric character of Mose Harper, played by Hank Worden, is loosely based on an actual historical personage called Mad Mose, a legendary half-crazy Indian fighter of the American southwest with a fondness for rocking chairs.

Beulah Archuletta (Look) was found crying in one of the tipis by John Wayne in between shooting scenes. When Wayne asked her why she was crying, she responded that she was going to miss her son's wedding because she was filming her scenes at the time. Wayne stopped production of the film for a few days and flew her to California so that she could attend the wedding.

During filming, a Navajo child became seriously ill with pneumonia and needed urgent medical attention. John Wayne had his own airplane on location and had his pilot take the little girl to a hospital. For his deed, the Navajos named him "The Man With The Big Eagle".

Natalie Wood was still a student in high school when this film was being made, and, on several occasions, John Wayne and Jeffrey Hunter had to pick her up at school. This caused a good deal of excitement among Wood's female classmates.

Continuity

The horses Ethan and Marty ride are not in sequence. When Marty rides his horse to death and is seen carrying his saddle, he was riding his buckskin (which is the horse that supposedly died). When he rides out with Ethan to look for the two girls, he is again on the same buckskin horse. Also, when Marty leaves and goes after Ethan, Laurie gives him her blaze-faced sorrel 'Sweet Face'. When Ethan and Marty are riding together after Marty buys 'Look', they are both riding dark-faced dark horses and not leading any other horses. Later, Marty is once again on 'Sweet Face'.

When Ethan and Martin are left by 'Look', the day dawns bright and clear, and they are lightly dressed (with Martin with his shirt open), but in the letter Martin sent to Laurie describing that day (shown in a quick cut), he says it "snowed that day". The next cut shows them riding through a snow-covered landscape, which can only mean that a warm, sunny day when they woke up to find 'Look' gone, very suddenly turned into winter.

As Ethan and Marty approach the Jorgenson ranch while Mrs. Jorgenson is standing outside the front door, the position of the sun changes from shot to shot. In the first, her back is in direct sunlight with her shadow in front of her; in the next shot, it is the front of her body that is in sunlight and her shadow is behind her; in the subsequent shot, the position of the sun has reverted back to the first position it was in.

In the opening shot of the funeral scene, Reverend Captain Clayton has only Ethan and Martin near him. In the subsequent shot, a man appears just behind Ethan.

When Aaron Edwards is looking around outside to spot Indians, it is dusk. A quick cut away shows a bright blue sky when he spots something and then there is a cut back to dusk.



Factual errors

Ethan's medal, which he gives to Debbie, is a prop combining features of French and Mexican medals. The white and blue Maltese cross is similar to the white and red cross on the Mexican Order of Guadalupe and the red and green ribbon appears on the French Order of Merite Agricole.

As Ethan and the Rev stand together shooting across the river, the Rev (Ward Bond) fires his pistol prematurely, before it is lowered. Ethan and the Rev seemingly fire simultaneously, but that is when the Rev fires high and continues to lower his gun into an aiming position. Then the camera cuts to a close up of Ethan, aiming his Winchester. It is evident the actor is just pulling the trigger with nothing to aim at.



Incorrectly regarded as goofs

When crossing the river with the Indians in pursuit, Rev. /Capt. Clayton appears to fall off his horse, gets up, and walks right into another one. While this might seem improbable, it is possible, especially if there are many horses in the river.

When Ethan tosses his gun to the reverend, the reverend accidentally pulls the trigger and the gun fires when he is stuffing his empty gun in his waistband. This is a plausible, if somewhat unlikely, scenario. It's filmed as written and directed and is not a Goof.

Crossing the river, Rev. Capt. Samuel Johnston Clayton's horse stumbles and Clayton falls off. The responses by Ethan Edwards and Martin Pawley seem genuine to the incident. On exiting the water, the horse is limping. Horses can get injured while being ridden, and riders sometimes fall off. This is a plausible scenario and does not constitute a Goof.



Revealing mistakes

The "dead" Indian under the rock, when the rock is removed, is clearly breathing.

Debbie's head is visible at the top of a distant sand dune as she awaits her cue to run over the hill to join Ethan and Martin.

The outdoor scenes set at night (those not shot in a studio) are clearly filmed during daytime. Highlights and hard shadows are an easy giveaway. By underexposing the film, it is then made to look dark.

When Laurie is reading the letter from Marty she throws it into the fire in disgust. It's obviously supposed to catch fire, but it doesn't. Her father, Lars, quickly kneels down and can be seen setting light to the paper before dropping it on the hearth and stamping on it to put the flames out.

Despite living with the Comanche for five years, Debbie has lipstick, fine clothing, and perfectly coiffed hair.



Anachronisms

As the cavalry approaches and begins to cross the snow-covered river to the left, an automobile appears and drives to the right-hand corner of the shot and stops just beyond a tree.

During the snowy creek crossing, a woman on horseback can be seen wearing sunglasses.

Cartridge belts are worn by several members of Clayton's posse. The movie is set in 1868; cartridge bullets for pistols were not available - ball and cap black powder pistols were used at that time.

When the posse rides up to the American fort, a flag is seen flying that has 48 stars on it. In 1868, there were 37 stars on the American flag.

The Winchester model 1866 was nicknamed the "Yellow Boy" due to the brass receiver. The Winchesters used in the film were actually from 1873. Since 3 years after the war was only 1868, Ethan and the others couldn't have had those model 1873 Winchesters.



Audio/visual unsynchronized

When the Comanche ride down on Ethan and Marty from the sand dune, one Comanche can be seen and heard firing his rifle. However, when he fires his rifle a second time, no gunshot sound effect can be heard.

When Martin runs toward Ethan and yells, "No Ethan, No!", his mouth does not move. Several other scenes throughout the movie also have some visibly dubbed/mismatching pieces of dialogue.

During the shootout with the Indians at the river, Rev. Capt. Clayton's gun is emptied, and Ethan throws him a loaded gun. Clayton then throws his hat and hits Ethan. Ethan is moving his lips and saying something but, there is no sound.



Crew or equipment visible

After Ethan stokes the campfire and Martin turns in for the night, the camera tilts up to Futterman on a rock. The angle is so high that the top of the studio backdrop and a studio light are visible when the film is projected or seen in 1.33:1 aspect ratio.

In the long tracking shot of the cavalry riding through the Comanche village near the end of the film, dust kicked up by the dolly riding on its track is visible at the bottom right corner of the screen.

In the cabin where the cavalry is holding the deranged woman and the two teenage girls, a filming light is visible in the ceiling after the deranged woman screams and grabs the doll. The light is partially hidden behind a horizontal stove pipe, and the glare is clearly visible for most of the scene.

In the buffalo stampede, where Ethan and Martin are supposed to be alone, there are horsemen (wranglers?) riding in the background of the third and fourth shot after the first buffalo falls.

When Laurie and Martin are talking in front of the fireplace, Laurie sits with the back to the camera. A fill light casts the distinct shadow of the lens hood across her back.



Errors in geography

The Native Americans were supposed to be Comanche, but virtually everything about them was Navajo or generic "Hollywood Indian"--nothing distinctly Comanche. They speak Navajo throughout the film (a common word is "yatahey"; i.e., "hello").

At the beginning of the film, when the Rangers discover the prize bull and decide that it is a "murder raid", Martin rides off in the same direction as those going to the Jorgensen ranch (west) instead of heading south, towards his family's place.

The opening scene, stating that it is in Texas, was filmed in Monument Valley, which is in Utah and Arizona. Texas never extended west of the Rio Grande River, which splits New Mexico in half and runs north through Colorado and up into Wyoming.



Plot holes

Ethan and Mose are on horseback and pass Martin who is on foot during the return to Aaron's ranch. Martin arrives at the burning ranch only seconds behind Ethan and Mose, but should have been hours behind.



Character error

When the posse lifts the rock slab from the shallow grave, the actor playing the dead, elderly Indian takes one deep breath.

Right after he takes the loaded gun from Ethan and throws his hat at him, Clayton's gun goes off unintentionally before he takes his first shot.

Mamacita is using an aluminum pot to cook Frijoles.

When Rev. Capt. Clayton is swearing in Martin and Aaron as Deputy Texas Rangers he is continually interrupted. One interruption occurs immediately after he says, "...and you will faithfully discharge..." After the interruption he asks young Debbie where he was, and she replies, "You will faithfully fulfill." When he restarts the oath, Clayton again says, "You will faithfully discharge..."

Natalie Wood, who plays older Debbie, has brown eyes. Her sister, Lana Wood, who plays younger Debbie, has blue eyes.