Actor Wings Hauser, who plays the villain Ramrod, sings the vocal track on the song "Neon Slime" featured over the opening and closing titles.
Controversial in depiction of its subject matter, this movie obviously had its detractors regarding this and its content. However, Director Martin Scorsese, director of Taxi Driver (1976) and Mean Streets (1973), came out and defended this movie. Apparently, Dawn Steel and Scorsese were at a Paramount dinner function when a disagreement allegedly broke out between them. Scorsese apparently said that the Academy didn't have the guts to nominate the best movie of the year. That picture was this movie. About twenty-four years later, Scorsese won a Best Director Oscar for the crime drama The Departed (2006).
Season Hubley once said of her role in this movie that it was "the most emotionally harrowing experience of [her] career."
Gary Swanson once said of his role in this movie: "The world out there is vicious and cruel, and the film pulls no punches in bringing it all to life down to the finest detail . . . and I hope its gritty impact brings a new awareness to moviegoers."