Wissenswertes

There was a controversy surrounding Pia Zadora's win of the Golden Globe for "Best New Star of the Year". 1982 was the only year the event included such a category with both men and women competing for it in the year. Previously, the Golden Globes had a gender delineation between New Star of the Year in a Motion Picture - Female and New Star of the Year in a Motion Picture - Male. This movie and her expensive advertising campaign for the award were financed by then husband Meshulam Riklis, who invited several members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to an expensive trip to Las Vegas to enjoy Riklis hotels, casino and the spectacular live shows. 1983 was the last year the New Star category was used, just like in its original format, and later on was discontinued.

This movie was made and released about thirty-five years after its source novel "The Butterfly" by James M. Cain was first published in 1947. This movie adaptation dropped the word "the" from the book's title.

Pia Zadora was the first actress to win back-to-back consecutive Razzie Awards winning first for Worst Actress for this film then won the same award the next year for The Lonely Lady (1983).

The setting of the source James M. Cain novel was changed from Appalachia to Nevada and Arizona for this movie. According to actor Stacy Keach, screenwriter John Goff and writer-producer-director Matt Cimber changed the book's setting of Appalachia to Nevada in order to further expose the passions and motivations of the characters.

The picture was financed by Meshulam Riklis who was at the time the husband of the film's lead star Pia Zadora.

John F. Goff: The movie's co-screenwriter, billed as John Goff, as a truck driver.