John Wayne partially financed this film himself. During shooting, the film was delayed due to various production problems. Wayne was under so much pressure, he smoked cigarettes almost non-stop when not acting.
John Wayne originally intended Richard Widmark should play Davy Crockett, while Wayne himself would have taken the small role of Sam Houston so he could focus his energy on directing the picture. However, Wayne was only able to obtain financial backing if he played one of the main parts, so he decided to play Crockett and cast Widmark as Jim Bowie.
Despite being a top-ten money maker for 1960, and its popularity in Europe and Japan, the film could not recoup its massive budget in its initial release. John Wayne assumed huge personal debt to get the film finished after United Artists refused to pay for cost overruns during production. It wasn't until the television rights sale in 1971 that Wayne's personal debts were finally paid off. It premiered on NBC in September 1971.
John Wayne formed a close friendship with Laurence Harvey during filming. According to Michael Munn's 2003 biography "John Wayne: The Man Behind the Myth", Wayne said Harvey should have received an Academy Award nomination for Best Supporting Actor instead of Chill Wills. However the accuracy of Munn's book has been called into question, along with his other celebrity biographies.
Banned in Mexico.