First cinema movie that Barbra Streisand made with her then new production company, First Artists, which she formed with Dustin Hoffman, Steve McQueen, Paul Newman, and Sidney Poitier.
Barbra Streisand is only heard singing in this movie briefly, in a comical duet with her daughter at bedtime. A song for this movie, "If I Close My Eyes," was released as a single, but was not used in the movie.
Director Irvin Kershner told Barbra Streisand biographer James Spada that he wasn't happy with the shooting script but was advised not to express his dissatisfaction to Streisand, who might walk off the movie. Several days into filming, Streisand went to Kershner and asked him why they were having so much trouble, and he told her they had started shooting with a weak script. Kershner said, "Your people warned me not to tell you," to which Streisand laughed, "That's ridiculous! If a script isn't good enough, let's work to improve it."
Barbra Streisand said of this movie around the time it was made and released: "This story interests me more than anything else I've ever done. It's a departure from the romances, slapstick comedies, and musicals I have worked on up till now."
This film and All Night Long (1981) are the lowest grossing movies starring Barbra Streisand, each grossing roughly $4 million in total. Despite the box office failure of this movie, it garnered some of her best personal reviews of her movie career up to that time, and is reportedly one of her favorite performances she's given on screen.