Trivia / Panic in the Streets

• Box Office Bomb: According to studio executive Daryl Zanuck, the movie was this, which Zanuck blamed on the fact Elia Kazan insisted on shooting the movie on location instead of studio sets.
• Enforced Method Acting: In the scene where Blackie hits Reed on the head with a gun, while Jack Palance had used a fake gun in rehearsals, when filming, he used a real gun, and Richard Widmark said he was knocked out for twenty minutes as a result.
• Playing Against Type: Richard Widmark deliberately took the role of Reed to avoid being typecast as a villain because of parts he had played in such movies as Kiss of Death.