<P> Just before shooting began, an indecisive Tracy tried to back out of the picture . Schary made clear that he was willing to sue the actor if he quit the film . According to Robert Osborne of the television network Turner Classic Movies, in the introduction to the film's airing on its weekly segment The Essentials, Tracy, weighed down by his growing alcoholism, refused to give MGM an answer . In order to close the deal, according to Osborne, an MGM executive contacted Tracy shortly before filming was to begin and said, "Don't worry, Mr. Tracy, a copy of the script has been sent to Alan Ladd and he has agreed to do the picture ." The next day, Tracy committed to Bad Day at Black Rock . Ladd, however, apparently never even saw the script . It turned out to be Tracy's last film for MGM, with the exception of How the West Was Won (1962), for which Tracy supplied the narration . </P> <P> Preview audiences reacted negatively to the film's original opening sequence . A revised one, showing the speeding train rushing at the camera, replaced it . The shot was taken from a helicopter as it flew away from the moving train . The film was run in reverse to create the opening shot . </P> <P> Bad Day at Black Rock was filmed in Lone Pine, California and the nearby Alabama Hills, one of hundreds of movies that have been filmed in the area since 1920 . The "town" of Black Rock was built for the film . Today nothing remains of the set, erected one mile north (36 ° 38 ′ 2.84" N 118 ° 2 ′ 23.74" W ﻿ / ﻿ 36.6341222 ° N 118.0399278 ° W ﻿ / 36.6341222; - 118.0399278 Coordinates: 36 ° 38 ′ 2.84" N 118 ° 2 ′ 23.74" W ﻿ / ﻿ 36.6341222 ° N 118.0399278 ° W ﻿ / 36.6341222; - 118.0399278) of the Lone Pine station, a stop on the Southern Pacific Railroad's Jawbone Branch, which served the northern Mojave Desert and Owens Valley . </P> <P> According to MGM records the film earned $1,966,000 in the US and Canada and $1,822,000 elsewhere, making the studio a profit of $947,000 . </P>

Where did they film bad day at black rock