A liberated woman tempts a local police officer into a romantic entanglement with tragic consequences.

Carmen, Baby, according to one reviewer, was the beginning of Metzger's successful style in his later films: that is, adapting "a literary classic in a gorgeous European locale with high polish and a goodly helping of sophisticated sex and seduction.

[5] In the case of Rabe v. Washington, 405 U.S. 313 (1972), the Supreme Court of the United States decided that the manager of a drive-in movie theater could not be charged with obscenity for showing the film which was not wholly determined to be obscene, but only parts were, holding that the citizens of Washington State had no notice under the Sixth Amendment that the place where a film was shown was an element of the offense.

[6] According to Steve Gallagher of Filmmaker, Radley Metzger's films, including those made during the Golden Age of Porn (1969–1984), are noted for their "lavish design, witty screenplays, and a penchant for the unusual camera angle".

[8] Film and audio works by Metzger have been added to the permanent collection of the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York City.