Frankie Darro, a former circus performer, did his own backflips at the end of the film.
Alan Hale Jr. (later known as The Skipper on Gilligan's Island) was originally cast in the film, but in the final version he appears only as the child whose photograph the judge looks at fondly after pardoning the three youths.
A different ending for the film was originally shot. In this ending, the judge does not relent: Sally and Tommy are sent to juvenile hall, while Eddie is sent to juvenile prison. Wellman preferred this ending as a more realistic one, but the studio insisted on a more uplifting alternative, in which the judge changes his mind and gives all three youths a second chance - several movie reviewers at the time described the happy ending as a facile cop-out.
Film debut of Alan Hale Jr.
In the original story both Sally and her aunt were prostitutes, and Sally hanged herself after being ravaged by the brakeman, who was thrown to his death by the boys after trying him in a kangaroo court.
Mary Wiggins and Harvey Parry doubled Dorothy Coonan and Frankie Darro.
Reportedly both John Ford and William Wyler were interested in the project before it was assigned to Wellman.
Shortly after the film 'Dorothy Coonan' married director William A. Wellman.
The movie shown in the movie theater scene (about an hour into the film) is another Warner Bros. release, Footlight Parade.