Although fictionalized, the novel and movie are based on the life story of author Thomas Wolfe. His fictionalized autobiographic first novel, "Look Homeward, Angel" is mentioned in Quentin Judd's speech in as an example of great work that did not win a Pulitzer Prize.
This film was originally going to be shot in color. However, budget cuts made by Warner Brothers necessitated its being shot in black-and-white.
Geneviève Page had requested an English diction coach for her role because her accent was so thick and she feared that she would be hard to understand. For some unexplained reason, she was never given one and her character thus has a French accent. To cover up this discrepancy, there is one instance where she speaks French to someone on the phone, making it clear that she's a native French-speaker.
Although "Youngblood Hawke" appears to be Mary Astor's penultimate film, it was in fact her last. Com a Maldade na Alma (1964) is listed on Astor filmographies as her final film; it was produced before "Hawke" but released to theatres seven weeks after "Hawke" had already opened.
Gore Vidal often claimed this as one of his favorite movies, because he found it so (unintentionally) funny. He said he had seen it four times, although he had been unable to read Herman Wouk's original novel.