[2] In Monte Carlo, Marc, a handsome card sharp, escapes American gangsters who have been ordered to kill him because he had an affair with the boss's wife.

The New York Times called the book "more conventional than usual" but said the story was "... well constructed and sharply twisted in the James M. Cain manner.

He had previously directed MGM's The Day and the Hour, another film featuring both American and French actors.

[4] MGM signed Alain Delon to a five-picture deal following the studio's successful collaboration with him on 1963's Any Number Can Win.

[10] She later recalled that Clément directed the film without a script: I didn't speak very good French then, and I never understood much of what was going on.

Fonda later alleged that Clément, 24 years her elder, tried to persuade her to sleep with him in preparation for a love scene in the film.