Before Dustin Hoffman auditioned for this film, he knew that the all-American image that he carried after "The Graduate" could easily cost him the job. To prove that he could play Rizzo, he asked the auditioning film executive to meet him on a street corner in Manhattan. He dressed in filthy rags. The executive arrived at the appointed corner and waited, barely noticing the "beggar" not 10 feet away who was accosting people for spare change. The beggar finally walked up to him and revealed his true identity.
Jon Voight was paid "scale", or the Screen Actors Guild minimum wage, for his portrayal of Joe Buck, a concession he willingly made to obtain the part.
The film was rated "X" (no one under 17 admitted) by the MPAA upon its original release in 1969, but the unrestricted use of that rating by pornographic filmmakers caused the rating to quickly become associated with hardcore sex films. Because of the stigma that developed around the "X" rating in the ratings system's early years, many theaters refused to run X-rated films, and many newspapers would not run ads for them. The film was then given the MPAA's R-rating (children under 17 must be accompanied by a parent or legal guardian) rating in 1971, without having anything changed or removed. It remains the only MPAA X-rated film to win the Oscar for Best Picture, be shown on network television (although the "R" reclassification had taken place by then), or be screened by a sitting U.S. President, Richard Nixon.
Bob Dylan wrote the song "Lay Lady Lay" for the film, but didn't complete it in time to be included in the soundtrack.
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