The film is set wholly in Hampshire, England, using the cathedral city of Winchester and the port city of Southampton.
George C. Scott originally announced to star opposite James Mason and Geraldine Chaplin, presumably in a radically recast role played by Bobby Darin.
A washed-up alcoholic lawyer who redeems himself had been the theme of Anatomy of a Murder (1959) and was used again in The Verdict (1982).
It flopped. It cost $665,000 and earned $255,000, and there was a reported loss of $795,000 - that's more than it cost.