John Huston is the only director to direct two members of his own family to win Academy Awards. The first was his father Walter Huston in The Treasure of the Sierra Madre (1948), who won Best Actor in a Supporting Role, then his daughter Anjelica Huston won Best Actress in Supporting Role for this movie.
The studio, expecting the film to perform poorly at the box office, pushed for a relatively quick release onto home video. However, the film was one of the "sleeper" hits of the season, thanks to terrific reviews and positive word of mouth, and had a lengthy stay in theatres, and was still in theatres, in fact, when it was released to video stores.
The yellow jacket that Jack Nicholson wears when he and Kathleen Turner are having a drink together was his own personal jacket. Anjelica Huston purchased the jacket for Nicholson.
After reading the script, Jack Nicholson initially turned down his role in this movie, because he thought it was too dark. He was told that the movie was a comedy and said "It's a comedy?", re-read the script, and took the part.