The film's eventual release in the 1980s by Secretary of the Army Clifford Alexander, Jr. occurred after his friend Jack Valenti worked to have the ban lifted. The film was screened in the "Un Certain Regard" section at the 1981 Cannes Film Festival. The copy of the film that was released was of poor quality, with a garbled sound track that "made it almost impossible to understand the whispers and mumbles of soldiers in some scenes."