Because of Chief Dan George's age, he would have trouble remembering his lines, so during takes, Clint Eastwood would begin to mouth his lines without realizing it and had to be told to stop because it would ruin the take. In a featurette on the DVD about making this movie, Eastwood says he'd have people drill Dan George on his lines, but when it came time to shoot the scene, he'd say "Chief, just forget about the lines, tell me the story about the man who rode over the hill." And Dan George, who was apparently a natural storyteller, would then tell the story perfectly.
According to famed music producer David Geffen, Clint Eastwood's tough reputation is well-deserved. When Geffen was a young executive at Warner Brothers, one of his assignments was to give notes on a screening of this movie. All of the other Warner Brothers executives were unanimous in their praise for this movie. Geffen liked this movie, but told Eastwood that perhaps this movie could be shortened by a half-hour. Eastwood calmly told Geffen that if he (Geffen) wanted the picture shortened by that much time, then he could do it himself. Geffen then asked Eastwood where he would be . . . to which Eastwood replied: "I'll be across the street at Paramount cutting a new deal." Geffen was never asked to sit in on any other Eastwood movie after that encounter.
Philip Kaufman started to direct this movie, but was replaced by Clint Eastwood on October 24, 1975, which was a controversial move that prompted the Directors' Guild of America (D.G.A.) to institute a ban on any current cast or crew member replacing the director on a movie: a rule which has ever since been titled the "Eastwood rule." Part of the acrimony between Eastwood and Kaufman was a result of both men asking female lead Sondra Locke (who was still married to Gordon Anderson) out to dinner on the same night. Several members of the cast and crew were unhappy with Eastwood, and felt that Kaufman had done a lot of the work for which Eastwood later took credit. According to them, it was Kaufman who had chosen the locations, the costumes, and who had cast Chief Dan George, after seeing him in Pequeño gran hombre (1970).
This movie received high praise among Native American viewers for its non-stereotypical portrayal of Native Americans.