Director Sam Peckinpah allowed actor and long-time associate James Coburn to work on the movie as a second-unit director to get his DGA card. Rumor has it that Coburn actually directed some scenes when Peckinpah was "unwell."
The film was a hit in the Soviet Union, showing a working-class rebellion against a corrupt government.
Whilst the film was a hit, Sam Peckinpah's behavior onset made him uninsurable. It would be five years before he directed another film.
The duck on the hood of Rubber Duck's Mack truck was later used in Death Proof (2007), as the hood ornament on Stuntman Mike's hotrod. It was created by John Billings, who received a thanks credit from Quentin Tarantino.
The famous scene where the tanker truck goes off a bridge and explodes was filmed in Needles, CA, on a one-way bridge over the Colorado River between Arizona and Needles. The Needles City Fire Department provided fire protection during this scene. The bridge was soon removed, as a new span connected the two sides of the river.
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