the film was kramer's last major success, and his subsequent films were not profitable, although many had mixed reviews. among those films were "the secret of santa vittoria" (1968), "r. p. m." (1970), "bless the beasts and children" (1971), "oklahoma crude" (1973), "the domino principle" (1977), and "the runner stumbles" (1979). "oklahoma crude" was entered into the 8th moscow international film festival where kramer won the golden prize for direction. at the time of his retirement, he was attempting to bring a script entitled "three solitary drinkers" to the screen, a film about a trio of alcoholics that he hoped would be played by sidney poitier, jack lemmon, and walter matthau.