"Big Deal on Madonna Street" was the inspiration for the 1986 Broadway Musical "Big Deal" by Bob Fosse. Bob Fosse was inspired by other classic Italian films for his musical repertoire including Fellini's "Nights of Cabiria" and "8 1/2," the basis for "Sweet Charity" and "Nine" respectively.
At the beginning of the project, Producer Grimaldi didn't want Vittorio Gassman to play his role because he was considered too beautiful and elegant to act like a loser boxer. Gassman acted with very strong make up, included a fake nose, to fill Grimaldi's requests.
Mario Monicelli wanted to call its movie "Le Madame", and only in a second moment changed it into "I Soliti Ignoti" (Usual Unknowns). Le Madame is an Italian slang for Policemen.
Premiere voted this movie as one of "The 50 Greatest Comedies Of All Time" in 2006.