Elmore Leonard hated the original movie adaptation of his novel, The Big Bounce (1969). He did not like this version either.
The film's initial cut received an NC-17 rating, the second cut was R-rated. However, the studio decided to go for a PG-13 rating, which required drastic cutting of multiple scenes, and was done against the wishes of director George Armitage. Armitage quit the project during the editing stage, and has never seen the theatrical cut.
Harry Dean Stanton (Bob, Sr.) plays Charlie Sheen's (Bob, Jr.'s) father, just as he did in Red Dawn (1984).
The original novel is set in windswept Michigan. For this adaptation, George Armitage shifted the location to the more amenable Hawaii.