The film is based on the 1957 novel Company of Cowards by Jack Schaefer, whose inspiration was an article by William Chamberlain, published in the Saturday Evening Post in 1956.

Chamberlain recounts the apocryphal Civil War stories of "Company Q" (19th century army slang for the sick list), a unit composed of coward soldiers who are given a second chance to prove their bravery.

However, the novel had none of the comedic elements of the film which retained only the basic idea of a unit formed out of men who had been court-martialed for cowardice and sent out west as well as some character names.

When the unit is sent to escort an important gold shipment, the soldiers are captured by Thin Elk, an Indian chief in league with Confederate agent Hugo Zattig.

The score was composed by Randy Sparks, with songs sung by The New Christy Minstrels and orchestral music arranged and conducted by Hugo Montenegro.