Anthony Franciosa was nominated for a Tony Award for his performance as Polo in the original Broadway production. He was nominated for an Academy Award® for reprising the role in this film. Features Franciosa's only Oscar®-nominated performance.
The original Broadway stage production opened on Nov. 9, 1955 at the Lyceum Theatre in New York and ran for 398 performances. The original Broadway cast also included the two leads: Ben Gazzara as Johnny, Shelley Winters as Celia; and the two carryovers to the screen production,Henry Silva as Mother and Anthony Franciosa as Polo.
Twentieth Century-Fox bought the rights to Michael V. Gazzo's play shortly after it opened on Broadway. At that time, the PCA forbade the production of any film dealing with narcotics. In December 1956, in partial response to the controversy surrounding Otto Preminger's El hombre del brazo de oro (1955), the Production Code was revised to allow narcotics as an acceptable subject for film. Un sombrero lleno de lluvia (1957) was the first of three films produced under the revised Code.
Michael V. Gazzo, co-writer of the screenplay and writer of the original stage play, would go on to receive an Academy Award® nomination, not in a writing category, but rather as Best Supporting Actor for his role as Frankie Pentangeli in El padrino parte II (1974).