Roscoe Lee Browne was urged by his friends not to work with the right-wing John Wayne. He ignored them and the two actors refrained from discussing politics during filming.
Despite their political and social opinion differences, John Wayne and Roscoe Lee Browne shared a love of poetry. They sometimes quoted their favorite verses between takes.
When asked if he was intimidated by working with John Wayne, Bruce Dern replied, "I might have been. But right at the start, he says to me, 'I want you to do us a favor.' He was including himself, [director] Mark Rydell, and the scriptwriters. He said, 'From now on, consider me to be somebody you can publicly kick the shit out of 24 hours a day on the set. Because I want these little kids [playing the cowboys of the title] to be absolutely terrified of you.' He gave me carte blanche to just treat him like a turd. So I was on him, talking back to him and stuff, for the few days I was there. And he would do things like call out: 'Hey, Mr. Dern, would you get over here?' I thought, hey, John Wayne gives you a 'mister' status. My first day, he's calling me mister. How about that? That's pretty cool."
Clay O'Brien (Hardy), now Clay O'Brien Cooper, went on to become an eight-time world champion team roper competing in the Professional Rodeo Cowboys Association. He is still among the all time top money winners in the PRCA.
Roscoe Lee Browne later said, "Some critics complained that I spoke too well to be believable. When a critic makes that remark, I think, if I had said, 'Yassuh, boss' to John Wayne., then the critic would have taken a shine to me."