Rod Steiger would portray Benito Mussolini again, this time in the 1980 film Lion of the Desert.
The reconstruction of the shooting of Mussolini and Petacci is based on the official version that was provided at the time by the Italian Communist Party, of which their alleged executioner Walter Audisio was a member. Since then, there have been multiple competing theories as to exactly when and where the executions occurred.
On April 30, 1974, as screening of the film in Savona was bombed by the neo-fascist terrorist group Ordine Nero (Black Order), the first in a series of bombing that lasted until May 1975.