[2] The film stars Frank Alesia, Aldo Ray, Mimsy Farmer, Michael Evans, Anna Strasberg, Laurie Mock, Gene Kirkwood, Tim Rooney, and features musical appearances by The Standells and The Chocolate Watch Band.

The film attempts to capture the essence of the period around the Sunset Strip riot, and also adds a subplot that revolves around a young girl's troubled relationship with her divorced parents.

Her dosage with LSD by a would-be seducer, the subsequent 'acid trip' she experiences, and her later discovery by a police sergeant as the victim of gang rape, are among the movie's peak moments.

"Riot on Sunset Strip", a classic song in the genre of garage punk, was written for the film by Tony Valentino and John Fleck of the Standells.

The film was made for MGM but they could not move fast enough to release it so Katzman sold it to American International Pictures.