The film was seen as so offensive in Chile and Argentina that Molotov cocktails were reportedly thrown at the screen in some cinemas.
Film critic Steven Scheuer said, "everyone connected with this film deserves censure."
One of the films included in "The Fifty Worst Films of All Time (and how they got that way)" by Harry Medved and Randy Lowell.
A 20th Century Fox press release at the time stated;"none of the various texts written on Che Guevara, nor his published diary penned by the revolutionary during the Bolivian episode, was utilized in the final treatment from which the screenplay was adapted." This was presumably so as not to offend any of the parties featured in the film, which was made only 2 years after Guevara's death.
Right wing groups prevented Che! (1969) from opening as planned on Memorial Day by threatening to picket any theaters showing the film.