Rayford Publishing

The movie was originally named Bull by the Tail. Years later, when Dickenson watched To Have and Have Not on television, she was stunned to realize she had repeated one of Lauren Bacall's lines in the film. Bacall's line, "It is better when you helped," had been changed to "It is better when two people are doing it."The sheriff's character was essentially written for John Wayne. Chris Nyby, who had directed Angie Dickinson for television, recommended her to Hawks.

Clementine's script was written based on the historical records of the period when Wyatt Earp (Henry Fonda) was the marshal of Tombstone and his brothers were his deputies. The darkness of Ford's vision in the postwar period is portrayed as Dallas, the prostitute with a heart of gold, turns to Chihuahua, wearing the pendant James purchased for his fiancée. The confrontation between the Earps and the violent, nomadic Clantons creates the tension which becomes central theme of