Upon seeing it for the first time, Ernest Hemingway walked out after the first 25 minutes. He criticized most aspects of the film heavily, and said the only good thing about the film was Errol Flynn's performance.
If Hemingway walked out after 25 minutes claiming Flynn's performance was the only good thing, he couldn't have seen it as Errol didn't appear until 54 minutes in.
Howard Hawks was the first to option the film rights in the early 1950s and proposed Ann Harding, Montgomery Clift and Margaret Sheridan as the stars. He eventually sold the rights to Darryl F. Zanuck.
Filmed in Mexico.
As detailed in his autobiography, "The Kid Stays in the Picture", both cast and crew, Ernest Hemingway, Tyrone Power, and Ava Gardner included, attempted to have Robert Evans fired during production. Producer Darryl F. Zanuck refused, saying, "The kid stays in the picture," thus leading to both Evans' long career as a producer and the title of his book.