The film is the brainchild of director-producer Larry Lansburgh, who wrote the original story on which Dick Spencer III's screenplay was based. Lansburgh was an expert on nature films, having won Oscars®; for the live-action short "The Wetback Hound" (1957) and the feature documentary The Horse with the Flying Tail (1960), both Disney productions. He started his association with Disney with the short "Stormy, the Thoroughbred" (1954) after making shorts for Warner Bros. His talent for directing animals is put to the test by scenes of Hacksaw courting Twinkletoes and even facing off with a grizzly bear. Lansburgh would continue working with Disney for two more television movies, before retiring from directing after making Runaway on Rogue River (1974). In 1998, he was named a Disney Legend.
Hunter was at a low point in his career when he made Hacksaw. In fact, he had taken ads in the trade papers just a year earlier in an effort to attract work. Although he had been one of Hollywood's top stars in the '50s at 36, an age when most big-screen leading men are coming into their own, he was unjustly labeled a has-been in the tabloids. After a stay on his horse ranch in Oregon and a trip to Europe to make films, he found new management and things started to pick up. While showing his horses, he had become friendly with fellow horse enthusiast Lansburgh, who cast him in the lead. The film gave him a chance to show his worth as a Western hero and romantic lead.
The spectacular location work was done near Radium Hot Springs in the Canadian Rockies along the Simpson River. Horses for the film were supplied by the region's legendary mountain guide and outfitter Albert Cooper, who not only trained them for the film but also appeared in a cameo as a shopkeeper.
Leading lady Connie Bracken is the daughter of Golden Age star Eddie Bracken, with whom worked in a summer stock production of Robert Anderson's You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running. She would only make one other movie, the visually distinctive low-budget horror film Don't Hang Up (1974), but continued acting on stage with her father in plays like Never Too Late and Don't Drink the Water. The supporting cast includes some notable character actors. Hunter's Native business partner is played by Victor Millan, best known for playing Sal Mineo's father in George Stevens' Giant (1956) and the chief murder suspect in Orson Welles' Touch of Evil (1958). Ray Teal, who plays the aging rancher who helps train Hacksaw for the chuck wagon races, played the crooked sheriff in Billy Wilder's Ace in the Hole (1951), the town sheriff on Bonanza and a judge in Judgment at Nuremberg (1961). Hacksaw also offers a chance to see George Barrows, as Bracken's father, with his own face. He was most famous for his stunt work, particularly playing gorillas (he owned his own suit) in everything from Tarzan and His Mate (1934), his film debut, to the 3D classic Gorilla at Large (1954). For his most famous role, he topped his gorilla suit with a diving helmet to play the title role in what has been considered one of the worst movies ever made, Robot Monster (1953).
By Frank Miller
Director: Larry Lansburgh
Producer: Lansburgh
Screenplay: Dick Spencer III
From a story by Lansburgh
Cast: Tab Hunter (Tim Andrews), Susan Bracken (Sue Curtis), Victor Millan (Cascade Joe), Ray Teal (The Rancher), Russ McCubbin (Dusty Trent), George Barrows (Olney Curtis), Christine Austin (Leona), Albert Cooper (Shopkeeper)
