Beyond and Back

Promotion

Since Beyond and Back never received a traditional wide release, it was able to largely avoid scrutiny from the national media. Sunn Classic Pictures mostly screened its films in smaller towns and non-urban areas. It was also popular at drive-in movie theaters. This approach "avoided the audiences and the critical media in Los Angeles and New York... if the film failed in any single market, negative word of mouth did not spread to the next locale."

Wasser's assertion has, however, been disputed: "Wow, I saw it when I was 6. Saw it in Brooklyn".

Born-again Christian background and content

Filmed entirely on location in Utah, Beyond and Back was produced by Charles E. Sellier Jr. At the time of the film's release, Sellier noted that he:

"Believe(s) God wants me to do the films I do, otherwise He wouldn't have made me a success."

Critical and box office reception

The New York Times' film critic Janet Maslin criticized the film for its inability to answer the many questions it raised, adding:

"Do you know real malarkey when you hear it? What would you consider a fair price for the Brooklyn Bridge?".

In his January 1979 Chicago Sun-Times review, Roger Ebert gave the film one star, noting that it:

"Gives turkeys a bad name. It exists on about the same cinematic level as an Army training film or one of those junior high chemistry movies in which the experiments never quite worked."

The film appears on rogerebert.com, "Ebert's Most Hated" list, as well as in his 2000 book, I Hated, Hated, Hated This Movie.

Produced very inexpensively, the film was a major commercial success. It earned nearly $24 million in U.S. box office receipts and was one of the top 30 top-earning films in the U.S. for 1978.