screenshots / Distant Drums / 1951 Melange Pictures LLC.

Starring Gary Cooper, this "Florida Western" was filmed in the state's Everglades National Park. Other Florida locations include Silver Springs, Ocala, and the historic Castillo de San Marcos in St. Augustine.

The film is notable for being the source of the "Wilhelm Scream", a stock sound effect used in many movies and TV shows. (Believed to have been voiced by actor Sheb Wooley, it is used during the alligator attacks in the film.)

Local snake experts were hired to clear rattlers and water moccasins out of swamp areas each day that the location was being used for filming.

Set during the Second Seminole War in the 1840s, the film is considered to be historically inaccurate

Actor Larry Carper is uncredited in the role of Chief Ocala, who is based on the real life Seminole leader Osceola.