(1990, Movieline) Alan J. Pakula remarked on his casting of Matthew Modine that, at first, "there was 1 in 20 chances of his getting the role," largely because Modine had shown only the more innocent side of his range so far on screen. But, "when Modine came in to discuss the film, he had a shaved head and was very tall, so he looked intimidating, and he made me laugh a lot. I saw colors that were not in the other roles he'd done."
The term "dead-end kid" is spoken 29 times throughout the movie (24 by Harold and 5 by Trent).