After viewing the film for the first time, author John D. MacDonald wrote, "I was so convinced it would be utterly rotten, that I was pleased to find it only semi-rotten."
Robert Clouse was chosen to be the director of Enter the Dragon (1973) after Bruce Lee watched the choreographed fight scene turn into a real fight on screen between Rod Taylor and William Smith.
Was planned as the first of a series to be released every 18 months. Bad box office killed the idea.
Sam Elliott and Katherine Ross did a Television movie based on the McGee novel "The Empty Copper Sea" released in 1983, and there is a current production of "The Deep Blue Goodbye" to star Christian Bale in the works. Chronologically, this was the first of MacDonald's McGee novels; hopefully it will lead to a series.