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Gish was an Expert Shot, Murphy was Enraged During Filming, Natalie Wood


Before filming began, director John Huston and star Burt Lancaster took actress Lillian Gish out to the desert to teach her how to shoot, which she would have to do in the film. However, Huston was astounded to discover that Gish could shoot more accurately, and faster, than both he and Lancaster, who thought themselves expert marksmen. It turned out that early in her career Gish was taught how to shoot by notorious western outlaw and gunfighter Al J. Jennings, who had become an actor after his release from a long prison sentence for train robbery and was in the cast of one of her films. She found that she liked shooting and over the years had developed into an expert shot.


According to Audie Murphy's biographer Don Graham, the script called for Burt Lancaster to slap him. That enraged the war hero to such a degree that witnesses thought that Murphy, who carried a gun, might have killed Lancaster under different circumstances. John Huston eventually defused the situation.

Kirk Douglas, Robert Mitchum ,Tony Curtis Bette Davis, were considered for roles in the Film.

Natalie Wood was considered for the role of Rachel Zachary.

Richard Burton was originally cast in the Audie Murphy role but declined it due to his strong superstitious beliefs. A fortune teller had predicted he would die at 33, so he did not do any film work at all in 1959. He also rejected $350k to play Christ in Nick Ray's " King of Kings " in Spain for the same reason.

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