This film was very successful at the box office, earning MGM a profit of $742,000 ($10.2M in 2023) according to studio records. This was the most profitable of all the Spencer Tracy-Katharine Hepburn MGM films.
In his autobiography, Elia Kazan said of this film: "It's the only picture I've ever made that I'm ashamed of. Don't see it."
Director Elia Kazan initially was excited by the prospect of filming on location in the Great Plains but to save money, the producers decided that most of the film would be shot in the studio using rear-screen projections and MGM's vast stock of process footage.
When Chamberlain is questioning Col. Brewton about how much land he controls, he asks if it's a million acres, or he's heard it's 100 square miles. There is quite a difference between the two - 1,000,000 acres equals 1,562.5 square miles, while 100 square miles is only 64,000 acres.