Stella Stevens was a strong contender for the role of Jenny Denton but the producers decided on Martha Hyer who at near 40 was a little old for the part but had greater name recognition and an Academy Award nomination under her belt.
Alan Ladd's last movie.
Average Shot Length (ASL) = 10 seconds
On Larry King Live in 1999, Angie Dickinson said that the one role she regretted turning down was the one eventually played by Carroll Baker in this film.
Once considered so racy it was advertised as being "for adults only", this film was recently restored for its DVD release, and resubmitted to the MPAA for a rating. Indicating how much standards have changed in four decades, it was given a PG.
One of the actresses tested for the lead role was Katharine Ross, who was working in a theater group in San Francisco at the time and was brought down to Los Angeles to test. She didn't get the part, but executives at Universal Pictures saw her test, liked it and signed her to a long-term contract.
One of the appeals of the Harold Robbins novel on which this was based was guessing which real life figures the main characters were based on: Rina Marlowe is obviously based on Jean Harlow, Nevada Smith seems to be Tom Mix, Jonas Cord is generally believed to be a thinly-disguised Howard Hughes, and Jennie Denton may based on Joan Crawford.
Paramount's highest-grossing film of 1964.
The early life of Alan Ladd's character that was told in the novel was made into the Steve McQueen film Nevada Smith.
This film is listed among The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book THE OFFICIAL RAZZIE® MOVIE GUIDE.