The libertine lifestyle of the infamous 18th-century Marquis (Keir Dullea, fresh from 2001: A Space Odyssey) got a Swinging ’60s treatment, with Cy Endfield leaving the picture midstream and others completing it; de Sade recounts his scandalous history to John Huston, including tangling with doyenne Lilli Palmer over her daughters Senta Berger and Anna Massey. Maverick indie studio AIP leaned into the X rating, advance-hyping the movie with a Playboy feature.