The film version of Ninety-Two in the Shade, released by United Artists in 1975, was scripted and directed by McGuane himself. Starring Peter Fonda, Margot Kidder, and Warren Oates, it was fairly well received by both reviewers and audiences, in part for its notable lack of Hollywood slickness and in part for the excellence of its acting, particularly by Oates in the role of Nichol Dance. It should remain of special interest to connoisseurs of the auteur theory, because it is an exceedingly rare instance of a novelist controlling both the script and visual realization of his work, and because McGuane made drastic alterations of the novel for the film version, shooting two alternative endings.

Ninety-Two in the Shade was the second McGuane work to appear on the screen: The Sporting Club became an Avco Embassy Pictures release in 1971, scripted by Lorenzo Semple, Jr., and directed by Larry Peerce...