Lamon accompanied Lincoln to Washington and served as the President's main bodyguard during the war, thwarting several assassination attempts while holding the post of US Marshal.

The film was shot on a green screen stage, using the CineCollage technique invented by the director Salvador Litvak to create interior and exterior locations.

Actors, extras, furniture, and props were filmed and combined with period photographs via the CineCollage process, which relied on off-the-shelf visual effects tools.

The end result was a stylized look that reflects the movie's narrative structure, which involves Lamon's personal recollections of his friend.

Lamon was a tall, boisterous Southerner who liked to drink whiskey, tell jokes and stories, play the banjo, and wrestle.