$10,000 of the $75,000 budget was spent on the salaries for the horse wranglers, who along with the cast, were the only union elements in the movie.
No US distributor expressed any interest in the film. Nicholson sold the foreign rights to a French producer, but the producer went bankrupt and the print remained in bond at the Paris airport for almost two years. After "considerable legal maneuvering", Monte Hellman and Jack Nicholson were able to get the rights reverted to them. In 1968 Hellman managed to get the film theatrical showings in Paris, albeit without a distributor. According to him, the film was a sizable art-house hit and played for over a year in Paris.
Shot in three weeks.