In its original release, this film was part of **** (1967), Andy Warhol's film that was approximately 25 hours long. After one showing, **** was cut down into different films, including this one, which was originally 85 minutes long.
Although Viva and Joe Dallesandro got some good reviews, the film was not considered one of Andy Warhol's best. The show-business trade paper "Variety" called it a "dull and rambling Andy Warhol comedy about a homosexual half-trying to go straight."
Most of the footage for this film was shot in the summer of 1967. After appearing as part of **** (1967), it was edited and shown at the New Andy Warhol Garrick Theatre in New York City's Greenwich Village on August 1, 1968.
This was the first film that both Viva and Joe Dallesandro made for Andy Warhol, although Bike Boy (1967) starring Viva has been released ten months before this film. Shooting was about to start on Flesh (1968) by the time it was released.
Joe Dallesandro started working at Andy Warhol's The Factory after shooting this film, whereas Ondine himself was eventually "banned" from the factory because of his terrible temper. Dallesandro told his biographer, Michael Ferguson, that Ondine was one of the people he was told not to allow into the Factory after he started working there.