Goofs

In the final scene, in the bowling room, Eli Sunday downs one of three drinks and sips on the second. He gets up, but in the next shot there are two empty glasses instead of one.

In the ending scene with Daniel and Eli, Daniel starts yelling at Eli as Eli is running down the bowling alley. As Daniel is throwing bowling balls at Eli, the first ball is thrown down the left lane, hits Eli in the foot and ends up in the right lane - no pins have fallen. The second ball is thrown down the left lane and is a gutter ball - again no pins have fallen. The third ball is thrown into the right lane, hits a bucket and presumably hits no pins. However, as Daniel is chasing Eli behind the bowling alley you can see that the left lane now shows only 2 pins still standing.

In the bowling alley scene, Eli is clearly visible placing Daniel's refused drink above the central panel on the paneled divider. After the cut-away to Daniel, the drink is not above the central panel, but above the panel adjacent to the central one.

When Daniel digs grave to bury Henry, water is seen in grave but soil which is removed is not wet.

When Daniel and young H.W. are heading to the Sunday ranch for the first time, a large white camping roll can be seen strapped to Daniel's backpack. When we cut to the shot of them from behind, walking to the ranch, the large white camping roll is strapped to a bag Daniel is carrying in his right hand.

While laying the pipeline toward the ocean, the pipe is being joined so that the female end flows into the male end. The male end should flow into the female end.

After H.W. starts the ceremonial first drilling of the new well, the "walking arm" of this cable-tool rig begins to plunge the bit up and down. The walking arm of a cable-tool rig cannot be used to start a well, as the rigid "tool string" can be forty feet long or more and the derrick tower must be used to drive the bit for about the first sixty feet. Only then can the walking arm be mated to the tool string's cable to continue the bore.

When the well blows out and catches fire, it is shown being put out with dynamite, which is accurate. However the well would continue to flow oil without a blowout preventer in place (which would not be invented for several years).

The climactic sequence takes place in 1927 according to the onscreen title. When the preacher refers to not being informed of the recent economic downturn by God, he is referring to the Crash of October 1929.

Actually, Eli says, "...recent panic in our economy." He's likely just referring to the anticipation of the crash.

At the end of the scene when Paul Sunday shows Daniel Plainview the location of the Sunday Ranch on the map, Paul picks up a hat that is quite clearly his own and not Daniel's - Daniel's hat is a dun brown "boss of the plains", while Paul's is grey and more like a wide-brimmed fedora.

In the opening scene, many of the CGI sparks are visible before the miner's pick ever hits the rock.

When Daniel and H.W. are hunting, their shotguns produce no recoil.

In the early scenes where the two miners are hauling buckets up the wells, a modern "bow" shackle is used to hold the bucket to the rope.

When Eli Sunday lists the towns he will be visiting on his mission, he includes Taft, which would have been named Moron until the 1920s.

A fireside scene reveals Plainview's boot to have a waffle sole. The waffle sole was not invented nor used until the early-mid-'70s.

A bright modern warning light is visible under the dash of one of the cars when a door is opened early in the movie. Several vehicles also display number-plates incorrect for the period.

The engineer of the train that takes HW away to school is wearing a baseball cap.

Although the time in the film is stated as being in 1911, Daniel is driving a 1915 Ford Model T Runabout.

In the "bastard from a basket" scene, H.W. and the interpreter leave after the latter says "I thank God I have none of you in me". It is clear by his lip movement that what the actor originally said was "none of me in you."

During the tracking shot from the train tracks that follows the car of Daniel Plainview, you can see the dolly track for a moment when the camera pulls back, just before the camera pans to the right.