The imitation glass eye that James Stewart wore throughout the movie caused sufficient discomfort to force him to work for no more than twenty minutes at a time. Once it was in place, filming had to begin immediately in order to maximize productivity.
The last feature film James Stewart would make before making his television series and going into semi-retirement.
The bank that is the setting of much of the film's action was a real bank, only four blocks away from the front gate of the West Virginia State Penitentiary from which the heroes are seen emerging at the beginning of the movie. The Grave Creek Indian Mound, a two thousand-year-old Adena burial site, lies directly between them.
Robert Donner, George Kennedy, Strother Martin co-starred in Cool Hand Luke.