Trivia

Director William A. Wellman loved the novel "The Ox-Bow Incident" and had long wanted to make it into a film, but the rights-holders insisted that he cast Mae West in any adaptation, which Wellman thought was ridiculous. Finally, Wellman bought the rights himself, and proceeded to make the film "his" way.

Henry Fonda was generally unhappy with the quality of the films he had to do while under contract to 20th Century-Fox. This was one of only two films from that period that he was actually enthusiastic about starring in. The other was The Grapes of Wrath (1940).

The western street in this film is the same one used in The Gunfighter (1950).

Henry Fonda always regarded this as one of his favorite films.

This was the last movie ever nominated for the Academy Award for Best Picture which received no other Academy Award nominations.