Directed by Sam Wood, the film is based on the serial story Ambush by Luke Short in The Saturday Evening Post (25 December 1948 – 12 February 1949).

Principal photography was done on location at the Corriganville Ranch in Simi Valley, California, home of hundreds of western movies and television shows through the decades as well as such outdoor action films as The Adventures of Robin Hood (1938) and Jungle Jim (1948).

[4] In 1878, Ward Kinsman, an Indian scout turned prospector, has been persuaded by the US Cavalry to find Mary Carlyle, the daughter of a general, who has been taken by Apaches.

Returning to the cavalry fort with Tana, a captive who had refused to either fight or flee, preparations are made for a full-scale expedition to find Diablito and capture or destroy he and his renegades.

Ann concedes that Kinsman was right, and indeed many lives would be lost attempting to save just one; this opens the door for him to reverse himself and acknowledge that someone had to stop Diablito to end his rampaging ways, and Lorrison was willing to pay that price.