While the film is a fictional story, the title character was based on an actual person. The boy described in original song was José Arthur Machado, known as Petit. He was a young surfer from Rio de Janeiro area, famous for his good looks, his surfing abilities and a dragon tattoo on his left shoulder - at a time when tattoos weren't so common. Caetano Veloso wrote the song in 1979, after seeing one of Petit's performances as he was a known attraction surfing at the beaches of Ipanema, even appearing in the short film O Sereno Desespero (1973). André de Biase's characterization was modeled after Machado. Sadly, the real 'boy from Rio' died in 1989, committing suicide, nearly two years after suffering a motorcycle accident that left him partially paralyzed in 1987, depending on painkillers and no longer allowing him to get back to surfing.
The film had a sequel called Garota Dourada (1983). A song with such title features prominently in this film.
The film's title was inspired by the song "Menino do Rio", composed by the Brazilian songwriter Caetano Veloso and sung by the Brazilian singer Baby Consuelo (currently Baby do Brasil).
Final film of Célia Azevedo.
Cissa Guimarães's debut.