"Some Came Running" is taken from the Gospel of St. Mark (Chapter 10:17), which author James Jones used as an epigraph before the beginning of the novel. It reads: "And when he was gone forth into the way, there came one running, and kneeled to him, and asked him, Good Master, what shall I do that I may inherit eternal life?" Jones also used the image of running to begin the novel's prologue, as Dave Hirsh remembers German soldiers attacking during the Battle of the Bulge; "They came running through the fog across the snow, lumbering, the long rifles held up awkwardly high..."
Joanne Woodward was offered the role of Ginny Moorehead but turned it down because she didn't want to work with Frank Sinatra. The role eventually went to Shirley MacLaine.
Average Shot Length (ASL) = 15 seconds
It was during the making of this film that Shirley MacLaine found herself welcomed into what would later be called the "Rat Pack" fraternity that included Frank Sinatra and Dean Martin, her co-stars in this film. Shirley MacLaine says the group known as the "Rat Pack" was actually called "The Clan" by the members while "Rat Pack" was a term given in the 1950s to Humphrey Bogart and his pals.
Originally, Ginny was not supposed to jump in front of the bullet. Frank Sinatra made the comment, "Let the kid take the bullet; maybe she'll get an Oscar." The script was changed, and Shirley MacLaine received her first Oscar nomination.
The movie occasionally still plays at the Ohio Theatre in Madison, Indiana. The theatre and the building next to it appear in some of the final scenes of the movie.
This movie was rated number one of the hundred best movies of all time by the German magazine "Der Spiegel".