Some scenes were so noisy during filming that the crew could not hear Steven Spielberg yell "Cut". He had to fire a prop machine gun in the air to get the action to stop.
Often regarded as Steven Spielberg's first failure. It was actually a moderate box-office success, earning $92 million worldwide on a budget of $35 million. But when compared to his early hits Jaws (1975) and Close Encounters of the Third Kind (1977), it didn't meet expectations.
The extras cast as the Japanese submarine crew were hired because they were Asian. Most were typical laid-back Southern Californians, and none had any acting training. Toshirô Mifune (an actual Japanese World War II veteran) was so outraged at their attitudes, that he asked Steven Spielberg if he could deal with them. He then started yelling at them to get in line, and slapped one of them, saying "This is how Japanese men are trained!" Mifune worked with them from that point on.
The scene where Captain "Wild Bill" Kelso (John Belushi) slips and tumbles off of the wing of his airplane as he is about to take off, was a real accident. Belushi slipped as he was climbing into the plane. It was kept in the movie, because it fit his character.
After this failed to ignite the box office, John Belushi was spotted around Los Angeles wearing a t-shirt upon which was emblazoned "Steven Spielberg 1946-1941".
John Landis: Played the dirt-covered soldier Sergeant Mizerany, whose motorcycle is stolen in front of the Hollywood Strand cinema by Captain "Wild Bill" Kelso.
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