While shooting Red River (1948), there was a scene that director Howard Hawks unsuccessfully urged John Wayne to do. It involved his getting a finger mangled between a saddle horn and a rope, resulting in Walter Brennan's amputating it. Hawks reportedly told Wayne, "If you're not good enough, we won't do it", but Wayne wouldn't do it. According to Hawks biographer Todd McCarthy, Hawks did get Kirk Douglas to do that scene in this film, and it came off so funny that Wayne later declared to Hawks, "If you tell me a funeral is funny, I'll do a funeral."
Montgomery Clift was offered the role of "Boone Caudill", but turned it down. It was eventually given to Dewey Martin.
Howard Hawks recycled his protagonists singing "Whiskey Leave Me Alone" ten years later when he made Hatari! (1962) with John Wayne.
Elizabeth Threatt's only film. Threatt was an established model who was sought for the part because of her Native American ancestry. However, she learned to despise Hollywood, saying it was "full of fakes," and never acted again.