The trumpeter in the cantina was Raphaël Mendez, who in the 1950s was considered by many professional musicians to be one of the finest trumpet players in the world, if not the best.
The script is based on the memoirs of Frank Harris, chronicling his first trail drive as a greenhorn from Chicago.
Jack Lemmon was one of the actors considered for the role of Butch Cassidy in Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969), based on his performance in this film.
This film was later a central part of the plot of the Dennis the Menace (1959) episode Dennis Goes to the Movies (1959).
Lemmon confessed later that playing in this film with Glenn Ford helped him a lot in the acting business, as the tenderfoot character he plays learns the cowboy life.