The movie was a critical and commercial disaster upon its original theatrical release. The book 'Australian Film 1900-1977' stated that "box-office returns were poor" for the film. This was surprising at the time because star 'Jack Thompson''s two previous pictures, Petersen (1974) and Sunday Too Far Away (1975), had both been box-office hits.
One of Scobie Malone (Jack Thompson)'s lovers in the film, Jackie, played by Bunkie King, was one of the two women, who were both sisters (the other named Leona King), who Thompson was having a real-life personal relationship with at the time of the film for fifteen years into the 1980s.
Writer-producer Casey Robinson had been in retirement from Hollywood since 1962 and had emigrated to Sydney, Australia about three years prior to this film as his wife was an Australian. Robinson came out of retirement especially to write and produce this picture.
The film was made and released about five years after its source novel "Helga's Web" by Jon Cleary had been first published in 1970.