The first movie from the Disney company (produced/released under their "Touchstone" company) to receive an "R" rating from the MPAA.
Since this film is a remake of Boudu Saved from Drowning (1932), (Boudu sauvé des eaux), which translates as "Boudu Saved From Drowning", the working title of the project was "Jerry Saved From Drowning", with Jerry Baskin (Nick Nolte) being the equivalent character to Priape Boudu (Michel Simon) in the original French film.
Nick Nolte's character remarks that he became a bum in part because he was "pretty active politically in the '60s. Sold some draft cards." In real life, Nolte received five years' probation for selling fake draft cards in the 1960s.
One of a mid-late 1980s mini-cycle of movie comedies which starred Bette Midler that were all produced by the then new adult Walt Disney brand of Touchstone Pictures. The films include Big Business (1988), Ruthless People (1986), Outrageous Fortune (1987) and Down and Out in Beverly Hills (1986).