Kirk Douglas was originally cast as Sergeant Stryker.
John Wayne almost turned the film down at first, since at 42 he was rather old for the part and because he felt the American public had had enough of war films.
John Wayne received his first ever Academy Award nomination for this movie. He wouldn't be nominated again for 20 years for True Grit, for which he would win the Best Actor Oscar (he did receive a producer's Best Picture nomination for The Alamo).
A colorized version of this movie has been made.
A made-for-television documentary about the making of this movie was made forty-four years after this movie was made, entitled The Making of 'Sands of Iwo Jima'. It featured interviews with still living cast members.
A number of actual military personnel portrayed themselves. These included retired Lt. Gen. Holland M. Smith, who was the 5th Amphibious Corps commander and who also acted as a technical advisor; Col. David M. Shoup, USMC, who received the Congressional Medal of Honor; Capt. Harold G. Schrier, USMC, who commanded the Marines on the Suribachi slopes; Lt. Col. H.P. Crowe, USMC, who was a battalion commander on Tarawa; Pfc. Rene A. Gagnon; Pfc. Ira H. Hayes; and PM 3/c John H. Bradley.
According to the book 'New Zealand Film' by Helen Martin and Sam Edwards, "During the early sections of the film, the R&R camp at Paekakariki in the lower half of the North Island of New Zealand was the setting for the meeting and bonding sequences prior to departing for battle. The same camp is the focus of the reminiscences of one of the women who contributed to Gaylene Preston's documentary 'War Stories' See: War Stories.
Actual combat scenes taken during fighting on Tarawa and Iwo Jima were used in this film.
Apparently, this movie has the first ever recorded use of the phrase "lock and load", said by John Wayne. "Lock and load" is a military command meaning to apply a weapon's safety catch, and then load it with ammunition. The expression was used once in this film for this meaning and once as a metaphor to get drunk, as in get loaded.
Due to the assistance of the US Marines, producer Edmund Grainger and director Allan Dwan were able to keep the production budget for this movie to around the US $1 million mark.
Following the success of the movie, John Wayne was invited to place his footprints in cement outside Grauman's Chinese Theater. As part of the event, actual black sand from Iwo Jima was flown to Hollywood and mixed into the cement in which The Duke left his footprints and "fist print".
he New York Times reported that location filming was at Camp Del March, El Toro Marine Air Station and Marine Corps Base Camp Pendleton, all in southern California.
In one scene, combat veteran Sgt. Stryker (John Wayne) instructs bumbling recruit Pvt. Choynski (Hal Baylor) on the correct way to march and hold a rifle. In real life Baylor was an ex-Marine who fought in the battles of Saipan and Tinian in WW II; Wayne had never served in the military.
Mostly unnoticed is the homage this film pays to a real Marine, "Manila" John Basilone. Basilone was a Sergeant and hero on Guadacanal, winning the Medal of Honor. He was sent home for war bond drives but requested to be returned to combat. He did so and died on Iwo Jima. There is a famous (to history buffs, anyway)photo of his body on Iwo Jima, face down and with his name visible, that is almost exactly the same pose that Wayne is in at his death on film. Also, "Jonathan M" Stryker has more than a passing resemblance to "Manila (or M) John".
Special effects work on this movie included lampblack and oil covered sand to look like the volcanic ash of a Pacific island as well as gun emplacements, palm trees, and pillboxes all made of plaster.
The New York Times reported on 5 February 1950 that Republic Pictures was developing a sequel to this movie entitled "Devil Birds", again to star John Wayne, but nothing came of it.
The term "lock And load" was first used by Lt Baker in the Amtrack on the approach to Tarawa, then again by Sgt Striker on the Iwo Jima approach.
The title "Sands of Iwo Jima" was once seen by this movie's producer Edmund Grainger in a newspaper story. Alas, Grainger thought of the famous American flag raising at Mount Suribachi. He then went off and wrote a treatment with this title and an ending being the famous flag raising scene. Grainger wished the movie would be successful at the box-office as well as accurate representation of the US Marine Corps' valour on celluloid. He also wanted the movie to have an influence on the public's attitude towards the US Marines as at the time the Marines were in fight for survival and needed more financing.
The US Marine Corps was given script approval by Republic Pictures.
This film recreates the famous Raising the Flag on Iwo Jima scene as known famously from an historic photograph which was taken on the 23rd February, 1945, by Joe Rosenthal. The three surviving flag raisers make a cameo appearance during this scene in the film. These three men who were part of the flag raising (made famous by the photograph Joe Rosenthal had taken) and survived the battle for Iwo Jima, appear in this scene only. Rene A. Gagnon, Ira H. Hayes and John H. Bradley are seen with with John Wayne as he instructs them to hoist the flag (Wayne gives the folded flag to Gagnon). The flag used to recreate the incident is the actual flag that was raised on Mount Suribachi on February 23, 1945. It was loaned to the movie by the US Marine Corps Museum in Quantico, Virginia. (Other films which would later depict the flag-raising on Iwo Jima include The Outsider and Flags of Our Fathers.)