With its impeccable pedigree, before and behind the camera, this is generally regarded as one of the most underrated dramatic movies of the 1960s. Much of its critical and commercial rejection was laid at the feet of the book's author, James Leo Herlihy, who, with the subtlety of a sledgehammer, named his toxic lead character "Berry-Berry", after the tropical disease known for causing "inflammation of the nerves and heart failure." To make matters worse, the origin of the highly improbable name was never explained - even his mother addressed him by the use of it. Whereas Screenwriter William Inge could have either changed the moniker or, at the very least, minimized its use, his otherwise strong adaptation did just the opposite; indeed, the phrase "Berry-Berry" was voiced relentlessly over the course of the story, a whopping seventy-four times in all, which means it's mentioned once every 1.5 minutes of this movie's running time.
Echo O'Brien's car was a Packard Dual Cowl Phaeton from the early 1930s.
Screenwriter William Inge set up the rage, violence, and amorality of Berry-Berry Willart (Warren Beatty) before he's even seen, followed by two equally feral encounters with women (portrayed by Constance Ford and Barbara Baxley) to ensure audiences' trepidation when he finally meets the sheltered and uncorrupted Echo O'Brien (Eva Marie Saint).
This was one of the first movies to be computer-tinted during Ted Turner's colorization movement in the late 1980s. As this movie hadn't been screened for two decades prior to the conversion, many people were shocked to discover it was originally shot in black-and-white when MGM/UA Home Video finally issued it on videocassette in the mid-1990s.
As Echo (Eva Marie Saint) makes her first entrance driving down the street in her car, it's clear that the Willarts reside on MGM's famous "St. Louis Street", built for Meet Me in St. Louis (1944).