During most of the filming in the winter of 1983-84 the two leading stars, Robert Mitchum and Rock Hudson, reportedly did not get along with each other. A life-long alcoholic, Mitchum was said to have been frequently drunk on and off camera, and often verbally clashed with Hudson who was in poor health which held up production for days.
Robert Mitchum made this film because he had recently been accused of anti-Semitism and Holocaust denial.
Telly Savalas was originally signed on for the Frank Stevenson role but backed out at the last minute due to a scheduling conflict. Rock Hudson was brought on a week before shooting as his replacement.
Rock Hudson flew to Israel in late 1983 to begin shooting this film the day after he broke up with his lover for the past ten years, Tom Clarke. He had just met Marc Christian and was beginning to fall for him. When Hudson became sick with AIDS the following year in 1984, Clarke moved back into Hudson's mansion, nicknamed 'The Castle', and nursed him and took care of him until the day he died, Tuesday, October 2, 1985.