Danny Glover admitted to doing this film purely for the money.

John Candy and Rick Moranis were originally attached to the lead roles. But Candy died, and Moranis retired shortly after talks began.

An accident during filming killed stuntwoman Janet Wilder and injured her husband, stuntman Scott Wilder, and his father, stuntman Glenn R. Wilder. A boat was supposed to go over a ramp, fly over a mangrove hedge, land between two other boats, and stop in the water. Instead, the boat slid off the side of the ramp, flipped over, and landed in a crowd of crew and extras.

John G. Avildsen was the film's original director. He was fired after two weeks, paid his $2 million salary, and replaced by Christopher Cain. Cain had actually previously replaced Avildsen as a director on The Next Karate Kid (1994).

Danny Glover's and Joe Pesci's only film collaboration outside of the Lethal Weapon (1987) franchise.

Continuity

When Mad Maggie bites the suitcase, some sticks and debris appear on her head. A few seconds later, they disappear without any movement of her head.

When the girls show up at the Rod and Gun Club, Joe and Gus are seated with wine on the table. When they stand up to greet the girls, the wine disappears. It reappears after they sit again.

When Joe and Gus are at the entrance to the cave they are using an led penlight style flashlight... After they enter the cave it switches to a full sized standard flashlight.

When the two girls drive up to Joe and Gus as they are pushing their boat with trailer on the highway, the girls' El Camino has no trailer hitch. A short time later, they are towing the boat on its trailer.



Factual errors

In the final scene, Joe and Gus are back in New Jersey and encounter the same alligator that they did in Florida. This is not likely because North Carolina is as far north as alligators live.



Crew or equipment visible

One of the final scenes shows a "media frenzy." A lens enters from the left of frame, but instead of being a prop TV camera, it's a Panavision Primo lens from a 35mm film camera used to shoot the movie.

When the knife falls of the boat (at 0:44:10 to 0:44:19), it has a wire visible dangling it from to the boat.



Character error

When Gus and Joe find the treasure map in the back of the Barracuda, Gus says "Just like he said," while talking about the reward. But it's not a he, it is the lady from This Country's Criminals.