Gregory Peck said this was the least favorite of his movies. He regarded it as a potboiler and a step backward for his career after starring in The Gunfighter (1950).
According to a biography Gregory Peck himself authorized, during filming he had an affair with Barbara Payton.
Gregory Peck was reluctant to make this film because of the actors and director. However, according to Michael Ansara, Peck remained very professional, asking for retakes when he thought a scene was not good.
Trooper Onstott is referred to as a "Reb from a prison camp" (also known as "galvanized Yankee"). This refers to captured Confederate soldiers in POW camps who took an oath of loyalty to the Union--mainly to get out of the camps--but were not to be sent against their former comrades; instead, they were sent west to fight Indians. This shows that the film takes place during the Civil War. Another film that used that same practice as part of its story line was Two Flags West (1950).