A skydiving team called the Gypsy Moths visits a small town in Kansas (Benton) to put on a show for the Fourth of July weekend.

Malcolm falls for local student Annie Burke, a boarder in the Brandon house, while Joe takes an interest in a topless dancer.

During the next skydiving exhibition, Mike performs a spectacular "cape jump" stunt but fails to pull the ripcord, intentionally falling to his death.

[9] The aerial sequences in The Gypsy Moths were filmed at locations in and around Benton, Kansas, with a Howard DGA-15 (N22418) used as the jump ship, flown by David Llorente and Larry Perkins.

Carl Boenish and Jay Gifford were responsible for the aerial photography, including photographing the jumps with a 35 mm camera mounted on their helmets, while they jumped with the stunt doubles, a team of a half dozen skydivers; Mike Milts, Garth Taggart, Russ Benefiel, Dave Thompson, Bill Ledbetter and Jerry Rouillard.

Frankenheimer was depressed and felt that a recent management change at Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer resulted in the film only being partially re-edited "so it could debut at family-friendly Radio City Music Hall, where it promptly bombed.

Most of the footage of these affairs must be on a cutting room floor, because as they stand, their brevity is ludicrous....When Deborah Kerr, who plays opposite Lancaster, meets the three men she says, 'I think you are all subtle, but in a direct sort of way.'

"[15] The Albany Times-Union review began by citing the Kerr-Lancaster parallel from From Here to Eternity: "Now, 15 years later, [the two] have another love scene but this one is compatible with the new freedom as the audience is introduced to the actors free of their swim suits.

In 'The Gypsy Moths' her explicit nude scene takes her a step further, even to the brink of being the most mature (almost said oldest) featured actress to disrobe for the cameras....of the two sequences, the earlier was far more successful.

Two highly disciplined persons...abandon their stations for a brief fling, and their embrace on the beach says it all....It was brief and it told the story without any need for nudity or more explicit action.

[18] The Gypsy Moths was widely seen in Australia, with a local skydiving fraternity quick to seize the opportunity to promote their sport, showing a 16 mm print at many club meetings.