Patzer

When Howie listens to Willow singing while nude, he grabs a picture on the wall and leaves it hanging crooked. As he steps away, it is straight again. When Willow comes into his room the next morning, the picture is crooked again, and she straightens it.

As Sergeant Howie is crossing the causeway to the sweet shop, a person on a bike is cycling towards him. A few seconds later, the bike has vanished without enough time for the cyclist to get out of the way.

There is a cut when Rowan Morrison's coffin is exhumed, during which Sgt. Howie moves visibly closer to the gravedigger and the ropes around the coffin disappear.

As Sgt Howie sees the wicker man for the first time, a smeared stain to the chest/heart area not present before nor after, appears on the sacrificial robe he is wearing.

During the bedroom seduction, Woodward's character is seen in closeup pressing himself against the wall. A ring is seen on the fourth finger of his left hand. At all other times, the ring is on the fourth finger of his right hand, and there is no ring on his left hand.

The calendar in the Photographer's shop shows May Day to be a Tuesday; therefore, Sergeant Howie flew out on Sunday. Not only is this notably unlikely for a routine police investigation in the generally religious Scottish Highlands, The Director's Cut shows Howie receiving the letter on the same day. There were no Sunday postal deliveries at the time.

One of the chemicals in the chemist's shop is dimethylglyoxime. While that is a genuine chemical, its uses are highly specialized (analyzing nickel and palladium compounds, and in the production of some chemical weapons), and it would be unlikely to be found in an isolated chemist's shop.

A chemical being in a chemist's shop is not a Goof, regardless of the chemical's uses or the location of the shop. It might have been needed/wanted by someone many years ago, and the remainder is still in the shop. There would be no reason to remove it from stock.

When Sergeant Howie is in the pub for the first time, there is a closeup of the cash register, showing 3d in the window. The movie takes place in 1973, and decimal currency was completed two years earlier in 1971.

It's quite likely that a small pub in a remote location would not bother to replace a working cash register simply due to a currency change, at least not for a few years.

Most of the "naked" girls dancing in the stone circle and jumping over the fire are wearing flesh-colored body stockings. (The film was shot in autumn and not in spring as it was set, and thus was very cold.)

At one point during Willow's nude dance, she rears her head back and her face is slightly visible, just enough to see that it's Britt Ekland's double.

While Sgt Howie (dressed as Punch) is being chased by the women, there are autumn leaves on the grass, though the story is set on the first of May.

When Sgt Howie hits McGregor (who is dressed as Punch) with a candlestick, the blow from Howie is aimed into the padded section on the back of the Punch costume, rather than at the back of McGregor's head.

When the boys are dancing and singing round the Maypole, none of the children's lips are moving although they are heard singing on the soundtrack.

When Sgt. Neil Howie is captured, the quote: "There will be no traces. Bring him up, Oak" that has begun spoken by Lord Summerisle where he is nearly hidden on the left along with the rest of the cult villagers surrounding Howie, his lips do not move. The next cut image, however, sees him speak the rest of the line.

Despite being set in the Scottish Highlands and the Hebrides, many of the traditions alluded to are English, rather than Scottish.