Trivia / City Heat

• Alan Smithee: Blake Edwards is credited for this movie's writing under the pseudonym of "Sam O. Brown", something he apparently requested after leaving this movie during pre-production. This nom de plume's initials are "S.O.B.", which perhaps suggested Edwards' feeling about his involvement on this movie. These initials also form the title of S.O.B..
• Box Office Bomb: The pairing of Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds was expected to be a major box-office hit, but the film earned a disappointing $38.3 million against a $25 million budget.
• Creative Differences: Blake Edwards was the original writer and director on the project. He stepped aside as director after creative differences with Clint Eastwood.
• Dueling-Stars Movie: Features two of the biggest stars of the day: Clint Eastwood and Burt Reynolds.
• On-Set Injury: Burt Reynolds had his jaw broken when he was hit in the face with a metal chair while filming a fight scene. He was restricted to a liquid diet and lost over thirty pounds by the time this movie wrapped. This led to an addiction to painkillers and his gaunt appearance let to rumours that he had AIDS.
• Wag the Director: According to Burt Reynolds in his memoir, Clint Eastwood actually orchestrated the removal of Blake Edwards by goading him into quitting, in favor of Richard Benjamin, a less intense and less expensive director.
  If you could just release the announcement for City Heat and not have to look at the film, it'd be the most successful picture I'd ever been in. Blake laid out his way for Clint to play his part. To me, it was clearly apparent that Blake's way was in no way how Clint saw the part. Clint didn't say anything except his Gary Cooper comments like "Yup" and "Nope." Clint and I went home in his truck, and he still didn't say anything until we were halfway there. Finally he said "I guess this won't be the film we do together." I said "I didn't think so." Warner Bros. really wanted to make the film. I think they thought like I did that it would be one of those pictures which would look great in the catalogue...Clint likes a director he gets along with, which makes a lot of sense to me...Blake's dismissal hurt him badly. I don't think he's ever gotten over it.
• What Could Have Been:
  • John Travolta was originally considered for Mike Murphy.
  • Charles Durning was originally considered for Lt. Speer.
  • Julie Andrews was originally considered for Addie.
  • Kim Basinger was considered for Caroline Howley.
  • Burt Reynolds had initially suggested Richard Kiel for the part as the villainous thug Troy Roker. But Clint Eastwood refused because he had the intention to use Kiel in his next movie, Pale Rider.
• Working Title: Kansas City Jazz and Kansas City Heart.

---