John Wayne insisted that the role of the weak, insipid Governor be called "Cuthbert H. Humphrey", with the intention that he be seen as a parody of liberal Senator Hubert H. Humphrey, whom Wayne intensely disliked.
Although Stefanie Powers claims that John Ford came to the set to direct the movie for a week, Andrew V. McLaglen the director says that it never happened. He says he was there for the entire shoot of the movie.
Although often seen as simply a knockabout comedy, John Wayne also intended the film to be a statement of his own conservative political views.
In the scene where the Comanches are being outfitted with rifles it's easy to see that they're Krag Jorgensen carbines, meaning that this film takes place in at least 1896, as the Krag didn't service as a military arm until 1894.
Promotional events were postponed for a week following the assassination of John F. Kennedy.
The "mudhole" in which the famous brawl took place wasn't actually made of mud. It was made of a material called bentonite, which is used in the drilling of oil wells and has the consistency of chocolate syrup. According to actor Leo Gordon (the first one to be knocked down it), that scene took a week to shoot.
The inspiration for this raucous John Wayne comedy was none other than William Shakespeare's "Taming of the Shrew", which producer Michael Wayne and director Andrew V. McLaglen thought would have even more of a comedic kick if it were set in the Old West.