The film was originally denied a seal from the Production Code Administration. Geoffrey Shurlock told producer Howard W. Koch that it contained "sadism and excessive gruesomeness". To get a seal, Koch reduced the number of killings from 24 to 10. Removed were scenes where a man is spread-eagled and torn apart by horses; an arrow impaling a hand to wood; and a scene depicting the bodies of hanged Indians, swaying from tree limbs.