A pet project for Dustin Hoffman, he was originally due to direct himself. Denied final cut by the studio, he ended up suing Warner Brothers over their treatment of the film.
Michael Mann was one of three writers who worked on the script for this movie. Mann wrote the original draft with Edward Bunker, who was an ex-convict and served as the film's technical consultant. Mann worked with Bunker for three months, during which time he visited Folsom prison and interviewed several inmates who had known Bunker during his time there. Mann's draft of the script was written when Dustin Hoffman was slated to direct the film. When Ulu Grosbard took over directorial duties, he hired Alvin Sargent and Jeffrey Boam to re-write Mann's script. Sargent, Boam, and Bunker all received writing credits, but Mann did not.
Uncredited, Michael Mann worked on adapting the film's source novel "No Beast So Fierce" by Edward Bunker for the movie's script. The book later acted as a point of reference for Mann for the Neil McCauley character (Robert De Niro), when Mann made Heat (1995).
Quentin Tarantino had Robert De Niro watch this movie for Jackie Brown (1997) since De Niro's character is fresh out of jail.
Edward Bunker: Wrote the novel on which the film is based, after spending time in prison for armed robbery. He appears as "Mickey", at about the 1 hour mark.