 According to Sergio Leone (I) (qv), Sam Peckinpah (qv) agreed to  direct this film after Peter Bogdanovich (qv) left the set, but  for financial reasons was turned down by United Artists. Leones  collaborators (especially writers Sergio Donati (qv) and  Luciano Vincenzoni (qv)), noting the directors frequent  embellishment of the facts concerning his films, claim that  Peckinpah did not even consider it 