During the Pinochet dictatorship, which ran from 1973 to 1990, this picture was banned in Chile.
Ed Horman and Joyce Horman ("Beth" in the film) worked very closely with Costa-Gavras, Lemmon, and Spacek throughout the film's production. Costa-Gavras said that after Pinochet died (in December 2006), both he and Joyce Horman felt regret that the former Chilean dictator was not brought to justice.
About two days before filming requiring shots of tanks, the Mexican Army denied access to such military vehicles. The picture's Mexican art department then on the run designed and created mock-up dummy tanks for the film which were made of wood.
The film screened in competition at the Cannes Film Festival in 1982 where it won both the prestigious Palm d'Or and the Best Actor award with the latter going to Jack Lemmon.
According to Dennis Schwartz at Ozus' World Movie Reviews, "this one rattled the US government so much, that upon the film's release in 1982 the then-Secretary of State Alexander Haig, appointed by President Reagan, was forced to issue indisputable denials of the film's allegations".
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