The film has been designated and preserved as a "masterwork" by the Audio-Visual Preservation Trust of Canada.
In both 1984 and 1993, the picture was listed in "Canada's Top Ten Films of All Time" by the Toronto International Film Festival.
Harry Dean Stanton was originally set to portray Bill Miner which in the end was cast with Richard Farnsworth. Farnsworth and Stanton would later play brothers in The Straight Story (1999).
In real life, Richard Farnsworth is nineteen years older than Jackie Burroughs, who portrays his love interest.