Big Jim McLain

Nancy Olson hated the script, but figured six weeks in Hawaii and a chance to work with an icon like John Wayne seemed like a good enough reason to accept. Besides, she thought the film would flop and nobody would see it. She was right, to a degree: it wasn't one of Wayne's more successful pictures, but she didn't count on the constant television exposure it has had, and says people stop her all the time to say they've seen her in the film. Olson, a staunch liberal Democrat, said she and Wayne would often have political arguments, but she would always let him have the last word.

Jim states that the USS Arizona "is still carried on Navy lists as a fighting ship of the line." The Arizona was actually officially struck from the Navy Vessel Register in December 1942.

Closing credits epilogue: The Incidents in this motion picture are based on the files of the Committee on Un-American Activities, House of Representatives, Congress of the United States. Names and places have been changed. We gratefully acknowledge the cooperation of this Committee.

The version released in Italy and some other European countries is retitled Marijuana and has John Wayne chasing drug smugglers instead of communists.

Featured in The John Wayne Anthology (1991)