First-time director James William Guercio wanted Conrad L. Hall to photograph this film, but Hall's salary was more than was budgeted for a cinematographer. Guercio reduced his own salary to $1.00 so he could secure Hall as the cinematographer.
According to James William Guercio's DVD commentary, the majority of the movie was filmed without government permits because the Arizona State Police did not want to co-operate with the production of the film.
Peter Cetera, bassist and lead vocalist for the group Chicago, plays a character named "Bob Zemko". A character named "The Beard" is played by an actor whose real name is Bob Zemko. The real Zemko was a Chicago truck driver who became famous in that city in 1969 when he saved a teenage girl from an attacker and later prevented a gang of thugs from murdering a man in the street. He died a year after making this film, which was his only movie role.
This 1973 movie and the previous year's Dirty Little Billy (1972) represent the first ever on-screen appearances (both uncredited) of Nick Nolte. According to director James William Guercio on the DVD, he wanted to give Nolte a speaking part , but the production had run out money.
United Artists executives visited the set and complained that director James William Guercio was ten days behind in the shooting schedule. To resolve this problem, Guercio ripped out ten pages of the script, dropping the whole romantic subplot between Zemko and the hippie girl character played by Melissa Greene. Reportedly, Guercio then told the UA execs words to the effect of: "There we are. Now we are on schedule!".