FILM · 1984 · USA
Against All Odds
39 archived facts 4 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
All facts (39)
- #001
Against All Odds was shot in Mexico while Rachel Ward was on her honeymoon. She had great chemistry with co-star Jeff Bridges, and the film featured quite steamy sex scenes. "It was a particularly strange shoot for us. Luckily her husband Bryan Brown is also a great actor and a very understanding actor!" Bridges said.
- #002
James Woods and Jeff Bridges loved working with Richard Widmark and fondly remembered the late actor's love of crepes. During a scene, a plate of crepes would be waiting for him, and Woods and Bridges often hid it. Widmark refused to return to filming until the crepes were rescued.
- #003
Director Taylor Hackford approached Phil Collins to record a song for the film. Collins had written "Against All Odds" (originally titled "How Can You Just Sit There?") for his first solo album, "Face Value" (released in 1981), and it was one of several songs on the album about his first wife, who had left him. Collins had cut the song from the album because he felt "Face Value" already had enough ballads, and he had not included it on his second solo album, "Hello, I Must Be Going," either. At Hackford's request for a song, he decided to return to it and recorded it in two days, one day in New York and one day in Los Angeles, with the help of legendary record producer Arif Mardin.
- #004
Among the spectacular Mexican locations in Yucatan and Quintana Roo were the colorful resort island of Cozumel; a fishing village on the picturesque island of Isla Mujeres off the coast of Cancun; Tulum, the Maya-Toltec ruins overlooking the Caribbean; and the famous ruins of Chichen Itza in the Yucatan jungle. This was the first film the Mexican Government allowed to use these sacred ruins for a motion picture.
- #005
Jeff Bridges was originally director Taylor Hackford's first choice for the lead in An Officer and a Gentleman (1982), but Bridges had a busy schedule that year (he appeared in three major films) and had to turn it down. Hackford kept Bridges in mind when creating the character of Terry Brogan for this film.
- #006
In the DVD commentary, actors Jeff Bridges and James Woods remark on how many viewers went back to watch the film several times for the brief but highly effective opening car chase scene.
- #007
Coincidentally, Jeff Bridges is reunited with Jane Greer once more, 33 years after he played her young son in The Company She Keeps (1951).
- #008
Some scenes were shot on a hilltop overlooking Brentwood and West Los Angeles, where a large construction project was about to be built. That site is now the Getty Center museum, built thirteen years later. Ironically, the characters in the film boasted about moving hundreds of truckloads of earth, but the Getty Center was designed to reuse all the soil on site so that no trucks would disturb local residents.
- #009
According to the film's production notes, director Taylor Hackford's biggest problem was finding an actress who could play the role of Jessie Wyler. Hackford said: "The quality I was looking for isn't found much these days… that compelling force that makes two very strong men, who normally wouldn't be made fools of by any woman, lose their balance. It's not just beauty or sexiness. For me the extra thing is mystery… that unpredictability that throws men off balance, wondering what will happen next."
- #010
The car chase took place on Sunset Boulevard in the western part of Los Angeles County. Specifically, the area covered West Sunset Boulevard between Roxbury Drive and South Beverly Glen Boulevard and along Holmby Hills. For the filming of the thrilling car race involving two sports cars, production closed this section of the boulevard at fifteen-minute intervals.
- #011
Apparently this picture was one of the first films for which Columbia Pictures allowed music to play over the studio lady with the torch logo at the beginning of the film.
- #012
Producer-director Taylor Hackford said of the film's Mexican locations: "There are millions of dollars of production value on screen that could never be created in Hollywood. It's exciting to think that many moviegoers will see these fantastic locations for the first time. Formally, I wanted to contrast these rough, old Mexican textures with the cold, modern surfaces of Los Angeles. L.A. has often been used in films as a kind of lotus land… people wake up in the morning and say, 'God, I can't believe these palm trees.' But people in Los Angeles, especially those who hold power, don't feel or act that way; they've simply made peace with the city and are busy with their work. Both Jeff Bridges and Rachel Ward are escaping the corrupting power and manipulation of Los Angeles. The Yucatan provides an environment for them to find something that could never be possible in Los Angeles because of their emotional baggage and class differences."
- #013
Jeff Bridges's image, likeness and appearance in this film were used as visual effects reference to create a thirty-five-year-old version of Bridges for the characters CLU and Kevin Flynn in the 2010 sequel Tron: Legacy (2010). Bridges was about thirty-four years old when he appeared in Against All Odds (1984).
- #014
The helmets and uniforms used by Jeff Bridges's football team belonged to the now-defunct USFL team the LA Express.
- #015
According to the website The 80s Movies Rewind, "the black Ferrari 308 and the red Porsche in the film's famous chase scene were specially modified vehicles by Customs By Eddie Paul in El Segundo, California (USA). The cars were modified for high-speed driving with special built-in camera mounts."
- #016
Rachel Ward receives top billing but does not appear for nearly 35 minutes.
- #017
The film's cast includes one Oscar winner, Jeff Bridges, and two Oscar nominees, James Woods and Richard Widmark.
- #018
The film featured an eclectic mix of music, including a score written by Michel Colombier and Larry Carlton, a title song by Phil Collins, then a well-known solo artist and also the lead singer of the popular English rock band Genesis, and additional music by Genesis guitarist Mike Rutherford, former Genesis lead singer Peter Gabriel, the Scottish rock band Big Country, and Stevie Nicks of Fleetwood Mac and Kid Creole and The Coconuts.
- #019
Actor Jeff Bridges modeled the character of Terry Brogan on Hall of Fame wide receiver Bob Chandler, who played for the Buffalo Bills from 1971 to 1979 and then played wide receiver for the Oakland Raiders from 1980 to 1982.
- #020
In an interview, actress Rachel Ward described how surreal and unreal it was to see her own image on the giant billboards that were put up all over Los Angeles when the photo was published.
- #021
Actress Rachel Ward was cast in the lead female role of this 1980s film noir mystery-thriller-drama, having recently appeared in two films connected to the Hollywood genre: the Burt Reynolds urban police thriller Sharky's Machine (1981), in which Ward played a femme fatale, and the film noir police story Dead Men Don't Wear Plaid (1982). Because of the film's passionate story elements, Ward had recently appeared in the romantic-drama TV series The Thorn Birds (1983) about a priest's forbidden love.
- #022
Against All Odds (1984) is one of two 1984 films starring actor Jeff Bridges. Both came from the Columbia Pictures stable. The other was John Carpenter's Starman (1984).
- #023
This Columbia Pictures film featured a large movie poster showing Rachel Ward above Jeff Bridges in a love scene on the beach. The same studio had also produced From Here to Eternity (1953), whose beach love scene became very famous. In that film, Deborah Kerr and Burt Lancaster embraced and kissed passionately on a beach pounded by ocean waves. The love beach shot for the Against All Odds (1984) poster also became very famous, though unlike From Here to Eternity (1953) it did not involve seawater.
- #024
Many of the film's posters carried a long prose prologue: "She was a beautiful fugitive. Fleeing from corruption. From power. From a man who wanted to use her. He was a professional athlete past his prime. He was hired to find her. But instead he began to love her. Love turned to obsession. Obsession turned to murder. And now the price of freedom might be nothing less than their lives."
- #025
Director Taylor Hackford initially wanted Dire Straits guitarist and singer Mark Knopfler to score the film. The job ultimately went to another respected guitarist, Larry Carlton.
- #026
Rachel Ward received first billing, Jeff Bridges received second billing, and James Woods received third billing.
- #027
The football practice facility scenes take place at El Segundo middle school. At the time, the Los Angeles Raiders had a lease contract there and conducted their practices at the site.
- #028
It was the third feature film directed by Taylor Hackford, who had previously directed The Idolmaker (1980) and An Officer and a Gentleman (1982).
- #029
The nightclub run and owned by Jake Wise (James Woods) was called "Jake's Palace." Similarly, the new license plate on his sports car read "JPALACE."
- #030
It was screenwriter Eric Hughes's third original screenplay, but the first of his scripts to be filmed and produced.
- #031
Terry drives a 1983 Porsche 911 SC Cabriolet. The base MSRP was $34,450 (about $116,000 in 2026). An example of this car in excellent condition could be worth around $78,000 in 2026.
- #032
Against All Odds (1984) is one of two 1984 films starring actor James Woods; the other is Once Upon a Time in America (1984).
- #033
It was Adriana Kaegi's debut.
- #034
James Woods and Allen Williams had previously appeared together in The Onion Field (1979).
- #035
Jake drives a 1983 Ferrari 308 QV GTSi. The base MSRP was about $61,000 (about $205,000 in 2026). An example of this car in excellent condition could be worth around $140,000 in 2026.
- #036
Terry is depicted arriving in Cozumel aboard Mexicana Airlines' 1980 Boeing 727 registered XA-MEQ. In 1996 it was bought by DHL and converted to cargo operations, after passing through other owners. It flew cargo in Europe and Central and South America until it was scrapped in 2013.
- #037
The helicopter that takes off from the practice field with Jane Greer aboard is a 1982 Bell 206L-3 LongRanger registered N3174Y. It was purchased by another private owner in 2013 and re-registered as N206WX. As of 2026, it is still listed as airworthy by the FAA.
- #038
The odd-looking three-engine propeller plane is a 1976 Britten-Norman Trislander. Only 80 were built between 1970 and 1982. This aircraft belonged to AeroCozumel with the registration XA-LIZ. It was later registered in the US as N143TR in 2004 and was destroyed by Hurricane Katrina in 2005.
- #039
The wooden ferry seen in the film was the "Sultana del Mar." Built in 1964, it was the primary lifeline between the Mexican mainland port of Puerto Juarez (Cancún) and the island of Isla Mujeres. It continued in service for more than 22 years before being retired and dismantled in 2006.
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