Sally Field's heartfelt Oscar acceptance speech for this film has often been misquoted over the years. Here it is verbatim: "This means so much more to me this time, I don't know why. I think the first time I hardly felt it because it was all too new. But I want to 'thank you' to you. I haven't had an orthodox career. And I've wanted more than anything to have your respect. The first time I didn't feel it. But this time I feel it. And I can't deny the fact that you like me... right now... you like me. Thank you."
Although they first met years earlier, actors Ed Harris and Amy Madigan got married after working together on this film.
The director and screenwriter, Robert Benton, set the film in his birthplace of Waxahachie, Texas in 1935, three years after he was born there.