Douglas Sirk often cited this film as the favorite of his own films since he always wanted to make a Western.
Jeff Chandler was only 34 when he played the elderly, dying Cochise. He was seven years older than Rock Hudson who played his son.
Although famed Apache war chief Cochise did indeed have a son named Taza, this biopic is a highly fictionalized account of his life. For example, Taza had a son named Nino Cochise (born Ciyo Cochise, who later in his life became an actor and had parts in several early westerns). This film doesn't even mention him.
Rock Hudson later said, "If you're cast in crap like Taza, Son of Cochise, it doesn't matter if you experiment with a scene and it goes wrong. Who's gonna notice? But if it works, you can use it in a better film. Like Giant, perhaps."
Jeff Chandler played Cochise in this film and also in Broken Arrow (1950) and The Battle at Apache Pass (1952).