<Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This section does not cite any sources . Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (March 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> </Table> <Tr> <Td> </Td> <Td> This section does not cite any sources . Please help improve this section by adding citations to reliable sources . Unsourced material may be challenged and removed . (March 2017) (Learn how and when to remove this template message) </Td> </Tr> <P> Charles Bronson turned down the lead role of Sam Clayton before Gene Hackman was eventually cast . The movie was filmed on location in New Mexico and Nevada and begins in a church in the small town of La Puente, New Mexico . There are numerous scenes of steam locomotives at work, shot along the Cumbres and Toltec Scenic Railroad narrow gauge railway between Chama, New Mexico, and Antonito, Colorado . Other scenes were filmed at the Carson National Forest, New Mexico; Taos, New Mexico; White Sands National Monument, New Mexico; Lake Mead, Nevada; Valley of Fire State Park, Nevada . The film's title comes from the creation of an improvised cap made from a hollowed bullet, which is used to relieve the toothache of one of the participants in the horse race . </P> <P> While the film's race is set in 1906, producer / writer / director Richard Brooks detailed that he was inspired by an actual $2,500 ($68,100 today), 700 - mile (1,100 km) race, in 1908, created by the Denver Post (Western Post in the film), from Wyoming to Denver, Colorado . </P>

Where was the movie bite the bullet filmed