According to Richard Dreyfuss, he believed his performance in this film was so bad that his career would be over when it was released. This fear caused him to aggressively pursue the role of Matt Hooper in Jaws (1975).
In the opening scene, the school cadets march behind a Union Flag which dates the story at prior to 1965 [when the Maple Leaf replaced the British flag].
When Richard Dreyfuss was offered the role of Matt Hooper in [[Jaws]], he turned Steven Spielberg down flat because he thought the offers would come flooding in after this film's release. When Dreyfuss saw himself up on the big screen as 'Duddy Kravitz', he was convinced his film career was finished. He then telephoned Spielberg and begged him to cast him as Hooper. Jaws was released in the summer of 1975 and became the first summer blockbuster, making over $100 million.
Won the Golden Bear award at the 24th Berlin International Film Festival. Reportedly, judges felt the film There is No 13 (1974) should have won instead. But during the screening, there were people protesting American films by shouting and turning the light in the auditorium on and off. A judge told William Sachs, who wrote and directed No 13, later that his film didn't win because the jury was worried about the public reaction to the film being so controversial. They gave it to The Apprenticeship of Duddy Kravitz, a Canadian film, instead.
The film cast includes one Oscar winner: Richard Dreyfuss; and three Oscar nominees: Randy Quaid, Jack Warden and Denholm Elliott.