Gene Hackman accepted the secondary role of "Mary Ann" because it was his first offer of work after being unemployed for nearly six months since the end of filming on The French Connection (1971).
Lee Marvin had a serious feud with director Michael Ritchie, because Ritchie wanted him to have love scenes with the too young actress Sissy Spacek. Marvin hated Ritchie for this lack of respect for Spacek.
Asked about her nude scenes, Sissy Spacek said, "For someone who'd started out singing solos in church, that was real mortifying. But it was a huge break for me, a movie with big stars and all. So I got real skinny and hoped nobody would notice that I wasn't wearing any clothes. Well, my mother noticed and she was appalled."
All of the "orphan girls" are named after flowers.