The name of the town, Chuckwalla, is the name of a type of lizard found in the southwestern United States. It's a Shoshone Indian word for a flat, dark lizard.
The wood paneled burgundy convertible driven by Paula in the film is a 1946 Chrysler New Yorker Town and Country. These cruisers weighed over two tons, and were 218 inches long, 15 inches longer than the longest sedans produced today. The Town & Country cars were virtually coachbuilt inside and out, and their prices reflected this slow method of production. Despite prices that rivaled Cadillac-a base of $2,725 in 1946, some 8,368 New Yorker Town & Country convertibles found willing buyers during those three years.
Lizabeth Scott walks down the main street of the town carrying a book, of which one can see the beginning of the title: "This Is". The book is "This Is My Best," an anthology by 93 writers of a short humorous work which they consider their best.
In later years the film has been praised as a seminal and unique Hollywood melodrama due to its bold overtones of homosexuality, not unlike Red River (1948). Film noir expert Eddie Muller wrote, "Desert Fury is the gayest movie ever produced in Hollywood's golden era. The film is saturated - with incredibly lush color, fast and furious dialogue dripping with innuendo, double entendres, dark secrets, outraged face-slappings, overwrought Miklos Rosza violins. How has this film escaped revival or cult status? It's Hollywood at its most gloriously berserk."