Part of the controversy surrounding this movie was because it included use of the words "bitch", "contraceptive", "panties", "penetration", "rape", "slut", and "sperm".

Otto Preminger sued "Columbia Pictures" and its TV subsidiary "Screen Gems" when it sold this film in a package of 60 films to television for $10 million. In New York, ABC interrupted the 160-minute film 13 times with 36 commercials. Preminger was furious that his film was being mutilated and took them to court in a highly publicized case. He lost.

James Stewart's father was so offended by the film, which he deemed "a dirty picture", that he took out an ad in his local newspaper telling people not to see it.

The interior of Barney Quill's bar is not a movie set. It's the interior of the Thunder Bay Inn Tavern in Big Bay, MI. It is approximately 325 yards down the road from the Lumberjack Tavern, where the actual murder -- on which the novel and film are based -- took place in 1952.

The "law library" in the courthouse was actually filmed in the Carnegie Public Library in Ishpeming, MI. The door that was opened in the courthouse, which is in Marquette, was the door to the men's restroom. The movie was filmed on location in Marquette County, MI.