James Jones: in the background chatting with hostesses and other soldiers over Ernest Borgnine's shoulder as Fatso (Borgnine) plays the piano at the New Congress Club.
A false rumor has been circulating for years that George Reeves, who played Sgt. Maylon Stark, had his role drastically edited after preview audiences recognized him as TV's Adventures of Superman. According to director Fred Zinnemann, screenwriter Daniel Taradash and assistant director Earl Bellamy, the rumor is false. Every scene written for Reeves' character was filmed, and each of those scenes is still present in its entirety in the film as released. This rumor is nonetheless repeated as truth in Hollywoodland, a movie about the investigation into Reeves' death.
A nationwide search of Army surplus stores yielded pre-Pearl Harbor style Springfield rifles, canvas leggings, campaign hats and flat steel helmets. The extras - who were all real soldiers - were all drilled to learn how to use all this outdated equipment.
An urban myth regarding the casting of Frank Sinatra was that the Mafia made Columbia Pictures an offer they couldn't refuse. This of course was fictionalized in Mario Puzo's novel The Godfather and its subsequent film adaptation. The real reason for Sinatra's casting was mainly his then-wife Ava Gardner, who was shooting a film for Columbia head Harry Cohn and suggested to him that he use Sinatra. Although initially reluctant, Cohn eventually saw this as being a good idea, as Sinatra's stock was so low at the time that he would sign for a very low salary. Sinatra had been lobbying hard for the role,even suggesting he would do it for nothing, but he was eventually hired for the token amount of $8,000.
As scripted, Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster's classic clinch on the beach was to be filmed standing up. It was Lancaster's idea to do it horizontally in the surf. The scene was filmed at Halona Cove on the eastern side of Oahu, near Koko Head Crater and Sandy Beach, and the location became a major tourist attraction for years after.
At the first meeting at the beach, Warden makes a comment about Karen "... acting like Lady Nancy Astor's horse...". This is a variant of "Mrs Astor's Pet Horse" and refers to someone who is either overly dressed-up or made-up, or full of self-importance ("Dictionary of American Regional English").
Broke box office records during its run at the Capitol Theatre in New York City, where the film had its U.S. premiere.
Dubbed "Cohn's Folly" because many thought the novel was too long and too adult to be filmed. Harry Cohn paid $82,000 for the rights.
Film debut of Claude Akins.
Future screenwriter Alvin Sargent has a bit part in the film. He was paid $400 for a week's work in Hawaii. Sargent would later go on to win an Oscar for Julia, also directed by Fred Zinnemann.
If Columbia head Harry Cohn had gotten his way, the film would have starred Aldo Ray as Prewitt, Edmond O'Brien as Warden, Rita Hayworth as Karen, Julie Harris as Lorene and Eli Wallach as Maggio.
In 1966, a pilot of a TV series was shot, with 'Roger Davis (II)_ cast as Robert E. Lee Prewitt, but it was not picked up.
In the scene where Burt Lancaster and Montgomery Clift play drunk sitting on the street, Clift actually was drunk, but Lancaster was not.
Maggio's comments about Gimbels basement refer to the famous New York City department store that was on 34th Street at Herald Square.
Original novelist James Jones was not happy with the film, as he considered it to be too sanitized.
Shot in a mere 41 days and for only $1 million.
The censors demanded that Deborah Kerr's swimsuit should feature a skirt in its design so as to not be too sexually provocative.
The film helped to popularize Aloha shirts.
The film went on to gross $18 million, the tenth highest grossing film of the 1950s.
The last Academy Award Best Picture winner to receive nominations in all of the four acting categories.