Argentinean director Hector Babenco said of this picture: "It is a movie that tries to embrace the territories of love, and it's also about the courage and beauty of people we don't usually think of as having deep and complex emotions."
For the streetcar scenes, one block of new track was laid and the streetcar itself was borrowed from the Branford Trolley Museum.
Jack Nicholson's contract included a clause which allowed him to leave the shooting location to attend all Los Angeles Lakers basketball games.
In the trolley car scene, mounted members of the New York National Guard were played by members of the New York State Police Mounted Unit, since disbanded.