According to Richard Widmark, Jack Palance did his own stunt of climbing the boat rope after two stuntmen failed.
Richard Widmark on Jack Palance: "... the toughest guy I ever met. He was the only actor I've ever been physically afraid of."
In the scene where Blackie (Jack Palance) hits Reed (Richard Widmark) on the head with a gun, the actors rehearsed it with a rubber gun, but when the cameras rolled, Palance substituted a real gun. Widmark, who wasn't expecting it, was out for twenty minutes. According to Widmark: "Why did he switch? Who knows?" In a 1986 interview, Widmark also recalled how Palance got into the mood of his character by beating on Zero Mostel, who plays the flunky, off-screen. A black and blue Mostel had to go to the hospital after his first week on the movie. "They had to soak him in epsom pads."
Film debut of Emile Meyer. Whilst scouting locations in New Orleans, director Elia Kazan saw Meyer working on the street with a crew of laborers. He was struck by the brawny Meyer's rugged appearance and hired him for a role in the film.
The ship Blackie attempts to board at the end of the film is the S.S. Quiriqua, owned by the United Fruit Co. (now Chiquita Brands). Built in 1932 to transport fruit, passengers and mail between the U.S. and Central and South America, she was requisitioned for use in the Pacific during WWII as the U.S.S. Mizar (AF-12) and earned four battle stars. She returned to civilian service with United Fruit in 1946 and was scrapped in 1964.