John Wayne, a producer on the film, gave the female lead to Gail Russell, his co-star from Angel and the Badman (1947) and Wake of the Red Witch (1948), despite being warned that she looked 20 years too old to play a character in her mid-20s. Russell had not made a film in five years and had a serious drinking problem which would later end her life at age 36.
Both Budd Boetticher and writer Burt Kennedy hated the title song and lobbied to have it eliminated when the film was restored, but Batjac and UCLA insisted the film be shown in its original form.
John Wayne's company, Batjac, produced this film and he had planned to play the lead. He didn't because after pre-production had already started, John Ford contacted the Duke with a new project called The Searchers (1956), which Wayne opted to star in instead. Since money was already being spent to make this film, it could not be stopped without losing that money. John Wayne asked Randolph Scott to play the lead in his place.
Fred Sherman, who played the prospector that Randolph Scott called "old timer", was 7 years younger than Scott.
This film was the beginning of a collaboration between Randolph Scott and the director, Budd Boetticher, that revived Scott's career. They made six more films together until 1960. Scott himself credited the film with reviving his dead career.