Producer Stanley Kramer was the first to hire Dmytryk as a director after his encounters with the House Un-American Activities Committee (HUAC) and testifying in 1951.

For first refusing to testify, Dmytryk was named as one of the "Hollywood Ten", barred from work in the film industry and jailed for contempt of Congress.

Critic Bosley Crowther of The New York Times gave the drama a mixed review when it opened, writing: "Therefore, The Sniper develops, as it casually gets along, into nothing more forceful or impressive than a moderately fascinating "chase."

The kick-off murder of a sultry saloon singer, whom Marie Windsor plays, is ticklishly enacted, and the dragnet thrown out by the police, headed by a clean-shaved Adolphe Menjou, is interesting to observe.

Frank Faylen, Gerald Mohr and Richard Kiley also contribute to the pace as assorted police factotums and the real San Francisco building and streets used for locales of the picture give it authority.