The scene on the railroad tracks is a reference to the final adventure in Mexico of beatnik figure
Neal Cassady,
Jack Kerouac's inspiration for Dean Moriarty in "On the Road". Author
Robert Stone had traveled with Cassady and
Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters. Furthermore,
Nick Nolte was in the midst of extensive research on Cassady for his portrayal in the film
Heart Beat (1980).
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