During its filming, lead actor Richard Widmark was unhappy with director Robert Totten and arranged to have him replaced by Don Siegel.
[1] The original proposal was to credit the fictional "Al Smith", but the name was deemed too common and was already in use within the film industry.
[2] Critics praised the film and its "new" director, with The New York Times commenting that the film was "sharply directed by Allen Smithee who has an adroit facility for scanning faces and extracting sharp background detail,"[3] and Roger Ebert commenting, "Director Allen Smithee, a name I'm not familiar with, allows his story to unfold naturally.
[7] A persistent urban legend suggests that this particular spelling was chosen because it is an anagram of the phrase "the alias men", but this is apocryphal.
The film was directed by Arthur Hiller, who reported to the DGA that producer Joe Eszterhas had interfered with his creative control.
The film was a commercial and critical failure, released in only 19 theaters, grossing only $45,779 in the United States with a budget of about $10 million.
[9] The film was nominated for eight Golden Raspberry Awards at the following year's ceremony, and won five, including Worst Picture.