Spetters was heavily criticized in the Netherlands. Many critics accused the movie of being anti-women, anti-gay, anti-invalid, and anti-Christian. They also called it devoid of morals and needlessly decadent. This criticism was one of the contributing factors in director Paul Verhoeven's decision to begin making movies in America rather than his native land. In fact, on the movie's commentary track, Verhoeven has stated that the reason he was not fazed by the negative criticism of Showgirls (1995) was because he'd already been through it with Spetters - Knallhart und romantisch (1980). He also pointed out that he also moved to America because it grew difficult to get funding. "All Dutch movies were fifty to sixty percent subsidized by the government. I was denied government funding because my movies were considered to be decadent, perverted, and antigovernment. That's when I had to leave. The problem was the leftists -- they are so fucking dogmatic. At that time in Holland, they were often more fascistic than the right."
In the beginning of the 1980s, Paul Verhoeven's Dutch movies had come to the attention of Kathleen Kennedy, who showed them to her business partner Steven Spielberg. Spielberg was hugely impressed with Der Soldat von Oranien (1977) and even considered recommending Verhoeven to his friend George Lucas as a potential director for Star Wars: Episode VI - Die Rückkehr der Jedi-Ritter (1983). However, he changed his mind after seeing this sexually explicit movie.
The first version of the screenplay was rejected by a Dutch movie foundation for being too vulgar. The script was re-written and funding was obtained, but in reality, Paul Verhoeven simply used the original screenplay as the shooting script.
The title comes from a now-disused Dutch slang term meaning "hot shot" or "hunk". Allegedly, director Paul Verhoeven's wife, Martine, came up with the word for its slang meaning. Another meaning of the word is splashes, as in oil/grease splashes, as seen at the concession stand in the film.
In the barfight scene, you can see a glass of beer is thrown at the back of the head of Eef (Toon Achterberg). It was director Paul Verhoeven throwing it at him, and Agterberg was injured and needed stitches after this scene was done.
Paul Verhoeven: [religious imagery] In one scene, a character is shot from a low angle, with a light bulb creating a halo around his head (c.f. Flesh & Blood (1985)).