This was the last movie Humphrey Bogart made where he did not receive top billing. The studio thought that Ida Lupino should have top billing because she had been such a big hit in They Drive by Night (1940) (which also featured Bogart), and so her name ended above Bogart's on the title card. Bogart was reportedly unhappy about receiving second billing.
In addition to Hal B. Wallis, Humphrey Bogart also sent several telegrams to studio head Jack L. Warner, begging to be cast as Roy Earle. After Paul Muni left Warner Bros. in a contract dispute and George Raft turned down the role, Warner called Bogart and told him the part was his . . . on the condition that Bogart stop sending him telegrams.
There is a popular but unsubstantiated story that "Pard" played by Zero the Dog was Humphrey Bogart's dog in real life.
When Pa first meets Roy at the gas station, Pa says, referring to an accident he almost had, "A jackrabbit jumped in front of the car and I kinda lost my head." Director Raoul Walsh lost an eye a dozen years earlier when a jackrabbit jumped through the windshield of the car he was driving.
John Huston would later remark on Humphrey Bogart's unique appeal in the role of Roy Earle: "Bogie was a medium-sized man, not particularly impressive off-screen, but something happened when he was playing the right part. Those lights and shadows composed themselves into another, nobler personality: heroic, as in 'High Sierra'. I swear the camera has a way of looking into a person and perceiving things that the naked eye doesn't register."