 The film was neither a commercial nor critical success when it was originally released, and was disowned by both the staff of "Mad" magazine and actor Ron Leibman (who, despite his sizable role, had his name completely removed from the credits and promotional material).Besides paying Warner Bros. $30,000 to remove all references to "Mad" from the film when it was released on home video, "Mad"s publisher William Gaines issued personal handwritten apologies to every person that wrote the magazine to complain.However, the film developed a small cult following.