The film was intended to be a straight drama, but during production Paramount Pictures executives demanded that Richard Pryor do comedic scenes as well.
The December 14, 1981 edition of "New York Magazine" reported that executives at Paramount Pictures had deleted during the movie's post-production a large amount of the interracial love scenes between Richard Pryor and Margot Kidder regardless of the complaints made by both Kidder and director Michael Pressman.
Some movie posters for the film featured a long blurb that read: "The Army is doing it to him in the daytime. His wife isn't doing it to him at night. And his girlfriend charges him by the hour. Richard Pryor keeps getting caught with his pants down."