Final film of Betty Grable. Her first screen appearance in Let's Go Places (1930) had been released less than a month after Grable had turned 13 years old. This film marked the end of her 25-year movie career, although she did make a few appearances on television after this.
Several people, including Nunnally Johnson himself, noted that the essential plot (two witnesses to a gangland slaying hiding out with members of the opposite sex) was "borrowed" by Billy Wilder four years later for Some Like It Hot (1959).
The part of Curly was adapted by Nunnally Johnson for Marilyn Monroe, who was placed on suspension by Twentieth Century-Fox for refusing the assignment. During the next year Monroe would live in Manhattan, studying with Lee Strasberg at the Actors Studio. When she and Fox came to terms, she returned to Hollywood to star as fame-obsessed Cherie in Bus Stop (1956).
Unusually for the era, the dialogue mentions actual brand names, including Fritos and Hershey.