This movie was originally titled "Wet Stuff", but was changed because the producers were hoping with the re-teaming of
Elliott Gould and
Donald Sutherland they could tie it to the success of
M*A*S*H (1970). This change was something that bothered Director
Irvin Kershner. In an interview about this movie, Kershner said "I started to make a film that was a little black comedy, and I emphasized that it had no relationship to
Robert Altman's MASH (1970), in which, of course, they'd been teamed so brilliantly. The original title was 'Wet Stuff', meaning blood, and the studio promised that there would be no attempt to compare it to MASH (1970) in the publicity. Because it wasn't like that. It wasn't that kind of freewheeling film. There was no time, nor the budget to do that sort of film anyway." Kershner also pointed out that this movie had much success in countries that hadn't seen MASH (1970), and comparisons weren't being made. "Now, there were many places where they hadn't seen MASH (1970), like parts of South America, Scandinavia, or Germany. In those areas they loved 'S*P*Y*S'. Actually, the film made a lot of money, and it got some great reviews in countries where it wasn't compared to MASH (1970)."
