Did You Know?

Several reasons have been put forward for the film being in black and white. John Ford once claimed it added to the tension, however others involved with production said Paramount was cutting costs and so they had to make the movie on sound stages at the studio. Without the budget restraints, Ford would have been in Monument Valley using Technicolor stock. It has also been suggested that since both John Wayne and James Stewart were playing characters thirty years younger than they actually were (Wayne was 54 when the movie was filmed in the autumn of 1961 and Stewart was 53), the movie needed to be in black and white because they would never have got away with it in color. The age difference was particularly noticeable in Stewart's case, since he was playing a young lawyer who had only just graduated from law school and had moved West without even practicing law back East.

Some of the earlier scenes in the movie, particularly in the restaurant, were apparently styled by John Ford as a mocking tribute to the films of his friend and fellow director, Howard Hawks.

First occasion of John Wayne calling someone "Pilgrim".

In the scene where Stoddard is carried into the "Peter's Place" kitchen wounded, Nora (Jeanette Nolan) gives him a cup of coffee laced with what she describes as "Akvavit, Swedish brandy" - the bottle is, in fact, a quite recognizable Akvavit bottle. The drink is found in all of Scandinavia but is largely considered to stem from Denmark.

The last time John Qualen plays a Scandinavian character alongside a John Wayne lead.

Final film of Stuart Holmes.

During the territorial convention, three of the actors (John Wayne, Andy Devine and John Carradine) had performed together previously in Stagecoach under the helm of the same director John Ford.

O.Z. Whitehead, playing a teenager, was actually fifty years old in real life.

Final film of Blackie Whiteford.

John Ford:  [cards]  Liberty Valance plays the Dead Man's Hand (Aces and Eights) before going out to duel Ransom Stoddard.

With the last poker hand Valance plays before he is shot, he won with Aces and Eights - Wild Bill Hickok's "Dead Man's Hand".