The screenplay by Gerald Ayres is based on the 1940 play Old Acquaintance by John Van Druten, previously adapted in 1943 by Vincent Sherman under its original title, starring Bette Davis and Miriam Hopkins.

Liz Hamilton, a young woman with literary ambitions, and Merry Noel Blake, an all-American blonde beauty from Atlanta, are close friends who met while they were freshmen at Smith College in the 1950s.

Soon after graduation, Liz writes a critically acclaimed book and drifts into unfulfilling relationships and one-night stands, including an empty encounter in an airplane lavatory, a fling with a teenaged hustler, and an affair with Chris Adams, a young reporter for Rolling Stone.

Robert Mulligan originally was slated to direct, but when members of the American Federation of Television and Radio Artists and the Screen Actors Guild went on strike four days after filming began, the production shut down.

Vincent Canby of The New York Times wrote "The movie can't make up its mind whether it's about a tumultuously difficult but rewarding friendship or whether it's a sendup of the contemporary literary scene.

"[4] Variety wrote "While not without its problems, Rich and Famous is an absorbing drama of some notable qualities, the greatest of which is a gutsy, fascinating and largely magnificent performance by Jacqueline Bisset...For a bright, sophisticated piece such as this, particularly one under the guidance of the irrepressibly elegant George Cukor, the somewhat harsh, murky visual style is surprising.

"[7] Time Out London wrote "Considering neither Bisset nor Bergen had ever shown the slightest acting ability before in movies, their performances in the Bette Davis/Miriam Hopkins roles in this loose reworking of Old Acquaintance are very capable...Of course much of the credit must go to Cukor, the veteran 'woman's director'; but the film disappoints in its unconfident handling of the secondary characters.