James Stewart credited this film with saving and redefining his career after a series of postwar flops threatened to seriously damage it.
At the time of filming, James Stewart was anxious to appear in more challenging roles, as he was worried that the general impression was of him as a limited actor. He found director Anthony Mann very helpful in breaking that perception.
The filmmakers did not have the budget to pay James Stewart his requested fee of $200,000, so he suggested they take the then-unusual step of paying him a cut of the profits instead. This deal, the first of its kind since the advent of talkies, would soon become the norm and change the studio-agent-actor relationship, leading to the demise of the long-term contract and the studio system. Stewart is believed to have made around $600,000 from this film.
James Stewart was named the winner of the third annual Reno Silver Spurs award as best Western actor of 1951 for his performance. The film was also named best Western film and Anthony Mann was named best Western director.
Authenticity was important to both James Stewart and Anthony Mann, so the actor began preparations well in advance of filming. Stewart had been known to research roles and practice for hours to look convincing in a character's physical task. As Mann later described, "[Stewart] was magnificent walking down a street with a Winchester rifle cradled in his arm. And he was great too actually firing the gun. He studied hard at it. His knuckles were raw with practising... It was those sorts of things that helped make the film look so authentic, gave it its sense of reality." An expert from the Winchester company, Herb Parsons, actually did the trick shooting required for the film, and assisted Stewart in his training.