John Wayne suggested Lee Marvin for the role of Valance after working with him in Les comancheros (1961).
Several reasons have been put forward for the film being in black and white. John Ford once claimed it added to the tension, but others involved with the production said Paramount was cutting costs, which was why the film was shot on sound stages at the studio. Without the budget restraints, Ford would have been in Monument Valley using Technicolor stock. It has also been suggested that since both John Wayne and James Stewart were playing characters 30 years younger than their actual age (Wayne was 54 when the movie was filmed in the autumn of 1961 and Stewart was 53), the movie needed to be in black and white because they would never have gotten away with it in color. The age difference was particularly noticeable in Stewart's case, since he was playing a young lawyer who had only just graduated from law school and had moved west without even practicing law back east. Cinematographer William H Clothier said, "There was one reason and one reason only ... Paramount was cutting costs. Otherwise, we would have been in Monument Valley or Brackettville and we would have had color stock. Ford had to accept those terms or not make the film."
John Ford: [cards] Liberty Valance plays the "dead man's hand" (Aces and Eights) before going out to duel Ransom Stoddard.