User reviews

Laurence Olivier is the multi-millionaire head of a family, who's rich due to the family business, making cars. Larry wants to make a new car whose engine would be environmentally safe. He needs Tommy Lee Jones' (a race car driver) assistance in creating the engine. And, that begins the present day plot. There are flashbacks that show just how and why things are the way they are today. The presence of Katharine Ross and Kathleen Beller make this feel like Dynasty. And, Robert Duvall is Larry's grandson who'll stop at nothing to stop the development of "The Betsy," which is what Larry named the engine. The movie is nothing like "The Oscar" in that it's not flashy or campy; and, it doesn't have any it's-so-bad-it's good value to it. Instead, you get the impression they tried to take themselves seriously and in doing so, only emphasized the fact these are not nice people and it gives the movie a kind of seedy, mean quality to it. Its love scenes add to its trashy feel to it and not entirely in a good way. The music is so understated, mellow, and refined, it sounds like some "Godfather" copy. All in all, once you've seen the ending, you may want to see it again, knowing what you know. But, it's not much to really write home about.

One of the Star Trek sequels has Harold Robbins and Jacqueline Susann referred to as the "Old Masters." Personally, I'm betting that The Carpetbaggers or The Betsy will not be on a high school English class reading list in about 200 years.

The Betsy, by the way, refers to both Kathleen Beller's character and a newly designed car named for her by her great grandfather the patriarch of an automobile pioneer family. Said patriarch is played by none other than Sir Laurence Olivier, arguably the greatest actor the English speaking world has ever produced.

He was certainly thought of as that at the time The Betsy was made. He had nothing to prove as a player in 1978, but Olivier was concerned about leaving a nice sizable estate for his children. So he did take on projects like these that were guaranteed box office.

I have to say Olivier's Loren Hardiman was an offbeat part for him. Prominent in the Olivier bag of thespian tricks is a great ear for accents. Hard to believe that this is the same actor who gave us definitive film versions of Hamlet, Richard III, and Othello.

In filming one of Harold Robbins empire and scandal novels all you can do is ham it up. And following Lord Olivier's cue the rest of the cast hams it up big time. I'm surprised no one in television thought of this as a Dallas like series.

The Betsy has the usual business double dealing and sexual peccadilloes that saturate a Robbins epic. If that's your taste you'll love The Betsy.

An errant thought just struck me. What if someone had thought to hire Sir Laurence Olivier as Jock Ewing in Dallas. I think he'd have done it for the right price and he could have pulled it off.

Imagine a 1970's TV mini-series with added scenes of nudity and adult language and a somewhat bigger budget and the result is "The Betsy". Based on one of the gazillion cookie-cutter novels of Harold Robbins, the film looks and sounds just like a mini-series that slipped by the censors. Olivier (in the midst of one of his WORST periods for hammy overacting which also includes "The Boys From Brazil" and "The Jazz Singer") is a mega-rich automobile tycoon who has been ousted from his company to live in sedate luxury, albeit in a wheelchair. He follows the racing career of Jones closely and, after a nasty accident, convinces him to come and work for him in creating the third international car (after the Model T Ford and the Volkswagen.) This one is to be called The Betsy after his great-granddaughter Beller. Unfortunately, his nefarious grandson Duvall runs the company and doesn't want something as bothersome as a car to interfere with his profits from diversification into such products as dishwashers. This sets up a heated rivalry between Jones and Duvall. While this contemporary story plays out, Olivier flashes back to the 1930's when he was at his peak of power and he had his way with various women. Here, he contends with wimpy son Rudd and Rudd's lovely wife Ross who will one day give birth to Duvall. The stories play out alternately until the end when various connections detail how one tale is directly related to the other. The cast is fairly stellar for the most part, though few of the actors make any great impact. Olivier speaks in an inane and unexplained accent and overemotes ridiculously throughout. Fortunately, he's still rather entertaining nonetheless as his character gets several amusing things to say in the film. Jones is appealing and considerably more low-key than Olivier (anyone would be!) His fans will be surprised to see him in this traditional leading man type of role (and sporting an impressively chiseled torso.) Duvall (who, for some reason, appears shorter in this film than at any other point in his career!) nibbles his own share of the scenery as he tries to stay afloat in the melodramatics. Alexander retains her dignity as his neglected wife and Ross looks about as good as she ever did as his mother in the flashback scenes. A welcome dose of glamorous bitchery comes in the form of opportunistic and promiscuous Down. Her various high fashion costumes also bring occasional titters. Beller (the same chipmunk who would eventually land on "Dynasty" for a while in the '80's) is an acquired taste. Her Kewpie face and waist-length hair can annoy, yet her bare-everything swimming pool scene has earned her a few fans. She has one particularly ugly canary yellow dress which assaults the senses as well. Many other familiar actors pop in along the way including Swenson, Robert Guillaume's old sparring partner from "Benson". The title car seems a little goofy (people are supposed to drive around in a compact car that has Betsy emblazoned on the side?) and some of the dramatics seem pretty pointless. Maybe it was the time the film was made. The whole thing is a trashed-up precursor to "Dallas" and "Dynasty". There's even a stilted and tentatively presented homosexual relationship thrown into the mix. The sets, budget, costuming and cast elevate it to some degree and there are many unintentional laughs along the way. It is more than a little disconcerting, however, to see "Wuthering Heights" Heathcliff banging a French maid on his bed while his wife is downstairs carrying out a wedding reception for their son!

When another reviewer here wrote 'There's only one reason to watch this film. It's not the quality of the acting or the strength - or otherwise - of the plot. Rather, it's a study in excess, and my favourite excess in this film would have to come under L for lust. Kathleen Beller is extremely photogenic and I absolutely love the swimming pool scene !' I felt a whole lot better as this is the ONLY reason to watch this awful film. Kathleen Beller is one of those incredibly beautiful women with an amazing screen presence, who never really made it in films, she is a good actress but doing dross like this probably didn't help much. Oliver is just awful, how he can be so highly rated when he cannot even carry off an American accent is beyond me, it has been said he hams it up, but if you ask me he is just a bad actor who just happened to be in some great films directed by great directors and written by great script writers. This film just shows him up for the ham actor he always was. Just why Robert Duval ( who really is an excellent actor ) did this film is a mystery. Tommy Lee Jones just doesn't fit the role and didn't really become much of an actor until he was much older. This film is one of those that is so bad you watch it because you cannot quite believe how bad it is, but the Katleeen Beller pool scene will make any normal guys pulse race I can assure you of that!

I once read an interview in which Harold Robbins, the dirty old man of (so called) literature, revealed that his books were written to a strict formula of one sex scene every six pages and one business scene every twelve (or something like that). Well, this adaptation of one of his later (and lesser) novels seems to stick fairly rigidly to that formula, with hot-shot racing driver Tommy Lee Jones and crusty old car manufacturer Laurence Olivier taking turns to work their way through the female members of the cast – which is probably why Robert Duvall looks so out of sorts throughout the film as Larry's bitter grandson. Yes, this is that infamous film which has Sir Larry – clearly only in it for the money – with his trousers around his ankles as he tests out the suspension on a random hotel maid's chassis.

To be fair to the old thesp, he's by far the best thing about this trashy, but curiously compelling and enjoyable, soap. He seems to have watched every Frank Morgan film he could lay his hands on before revealing his convincing American accent to the camera, and it's a strange experience to see such a respected actor slumming it this way. A young Tommy Lee Jones was still trying to establish himself in movies when he landed this part, so you can't really blame him for accepting the lead role. Other names in the cast (Katharine Ross, Lesley Anne-Down, etc) were always second-rankers who were probably grateful for the exposure, but Robert Duvall is the real casting oddity in a role that is bland and one-dimensional.

The story pits him against Olivier and Jones as they attempt to design an economic production-line car that will transform the industry. Bob's more interested in selling dish washers and men's clothing to Filipinos, so he launches an undercover espionage plot that has a fairly predictable conclusion. There are few dramatic moments, and you could probably wander off for ten minutes to make a cup of tea and smoke a fag without losing the thread of the plot. Anyway, the story is secondary to the depiction of life amongst the ridiculously rich, and the ready availability of incredibly gorgeous women who disrobe for the flimsiest of reasons. It panders to that desire that lives within all of us to some degree to have the finest things in life, but also makes it clear (probably without meaning to) that such lives are essentially empty and meaningless, thus leaving us feeling just a little bit better about our modest lot in life.

As decadently bad as the book and premise of this movie is, there was something somewhat entertaining in this mawkish soap-opera put to film,which is why I bought this film once(that's right!). Maybe it was the sex scenes-Ms.Down and Mr.Jones' love scene was particularly well done and seductive-or the full body shot of Ms.Beller(I'm guessing full body shots,pubes and all,were somewhat rare in mainstream cinema in 1978),but the plotlines of conflict inside and outside of the Hardemann family over three generations were at least nominally interesting. Still,I found the pacing dreadfully slow and ,hence,the subject line of my review. I imagine why Sir Larry took this roll,as well as many others in the late 70s and early 80s(I'm surprised the guy from Cincinnati who reviewed the film didn't mention "Clash of the Titans"!)was because not too many dignified leading man roles were being afforded to stately older English theatre-trained actors at the time and he had to take what he could get. Five out of ten stars.

Vice nicely photographed, with some 360 degree shots in the mix, and acted out by a cast of competent performers, this film is satisfactory viewing overall, despite its excesses of sex and nudity. Also on the down side, the dialogue is often lame, it is often overly sentimental, has poor music choices, and the flashbacks are not fitted in with the rest of the story as best as is possible. However, some aspects of the plot are of mild interest, and the cast is reasonably good, in particular, Kathleen Beller. Still, it is mostly the wonderful work of the director of photography that keeps it worth watching. Even if quite flawed, it is worth the look: not really a great film, but one that is okay for light amusement.

I have always been curious as to how so many big name stars came to agree to appear in "The Betsy". Was Harold Robbins' name alone enough for them to believe they were starring in a hit? Perhaps they all were paid handsomely. I hope it's the latter. As you might expect with Harold Robbins' name on the title "The Betsy" is about sex and greed and sex and power and sex and murder and sex. This is pure trash all the way but if you don't take it seriously and catch yourself in a goofy mood then you might enjoy it.

The story is simple. A family headed by patriarch Laurence Olivier manufacture cars and become wealthy and powerful. That's all you really need to know. This family is one sick group. Take for example one scene early on in the movie. A boy (who would grow up to be Robert Duvall) witnesses his father committing suicide. He runs upstairs to be with his mom (Katherine Ross) only to find her in bed shagging grandpa Olivier. All in a matter of moments for this poor kid. And yet he still grows up and goes to work for Olivier. You can't take the story seriously for a second.

Also on hand are Tommy Lee Jones as a stud race car driver and the beautiful Lesley-Anne Down as his mistress who happens to be Duvall's wife. She is sexy and alluring and almost worth the price of admission. And then there is Duvall's granddaughter who seduces Jones on her 18th birthday. The Carrington family from "Dynasty" almost seem normal next to this clan.

Trash movie lovers unite. This is a film for you. It's somewhat of a guilty pleasure for me but I still sit there and shake my head at many scenes more then just enjoying the garbage being presented.

Serious cineasts, GO AWAY! Watch this film for the pure pleasure of getting down and dirty in a potboiler. Lust! Greed! Passion! Murder! Seduction! Even MAFIA!

And see Laurence Olivier ham it up like crazy with the goofiest accent you'll ever hear!

Oh, yeah. I forgot ... Hate! Fear! Wealth! Decadence!

I bought this film because I LOVE Robert Duvall and Tommy Lee Jones, and it was packed with other great names. The movie misses its mark at every chance. It fails to bring you into caring about the characters, the passion, the evil, etc. I don't know how it could miss with the people involved, but it does. Just the description of the movie was gripping, but the viewing failed to deliver. The era was fascinating. The sets were beautiful. The music was blah. The drama was off center. You should see the chemistry of Jones and Duvall in "Lonesome Dove" to see what is missing in this film. I'm glad I have this chance to comment, as I was dying to tell someone who cares.

As everyone said, this is strictly mindless entertainment, since Harold Robbins is no F. Scott Fitzgerald. So don't expect anything high-brow. Howver, if you're just looking to kill a couple of hours you could do worse ... Though not much.

Now I know I'm going out on a limb here, but Katherine Beller must be one of the ugliest, most unattractive women I have ever seen. Her face is blah and she has the body of a Smurf. And that hair! However, not all is lost as there is the stunning Lesley-Anne Down to compensate.

Yes, I am one of those materialistic, frivolous people who likes to see good-looking men and women on the screen. If I want to see ordinary people I look in the mirror, thank you very much.

"The Besty" is a reasonably entertaining soap opera-like movie from writer Harold Robbins' novel. However, it loses a few points because the producers chose to go with a big-name actor in one of the leads...even though he was completely wrong for the part. In this case, it's Laurence Olivier playing an American car tycoon...and he does an amazingly poor job at it. While he's often thought of as a great actor, no actor can handle all parts...and at this point in his career, Olivier was willing to make ANYTHING for the money and it just seems like he didn't care if he was right for the part or not.

The 'Betsy' in the title refers to a new economy car that the patriarch of a Ford-type family wants to be made even though the current CEO of the company, his grandson (Robert Duvall) is dead set against it. So, working with a race car driver (Tommy Lee Jones...who is also wrong for this role), the old man hopes to regain control of the company.

Like any Harold Robbins story, this one is chock full of sex and nudity. It also deals with such taboos as incest and homosexuality...heady topics in the 1970s. It also features lots of pretty people...rich people.

So why do I only give it a 5? Well, if Olivier (and to a lesser extent) and Jones had been right for their parts, I probably would have given the film a 7. But Olivier sounds like a British actor TRYING to sound American (and failing) and Jones just isn't charismatic enough for his role. Why would women want this character? I dunno...but they did! Overall, a film which should have been better and is nothing more than a sleazy time-passer.

By the way, the picture received some Golden Raspberry nominations. While it's not good...I don't think it's THAT bad.

This trashy adaptation of the Harold Robbins novel looks at the life and times of an automobile tycoon and his dysfunctional family. It plays like a feature film version of such 1970s shows as "Dallas" and "Dynasty," apparently meant to be so bad that it's good. The only problem is that it's so bad, it's bad. The pacing is too lethargic and the story is not particularly interesting. There's no guilty pleasure to be had here. It wastes a good cast, but one has to wonder what the actors were thinking in signing up for this potboiler. It is especially embarrassing to see Olivier hamming it up. The plot is ludicrous, the dialog is laughably bad, and the direction is pedestrian.

This is one of my two favorite Bad Movies I Love, the other one being "Trapped by the Mormons." I watch this after seeing nothing but Italian Neorealism and French tragedies for a couple weeks, to remind myself of what really bad films look like, and how wonderful they can be when life has gotten too serious.

Think of this film as being "Dynasty" with a bigger budget. The basic concept is American Excess At Its Finest. If it had been shown during the Communist era in Russia, I'm sure it would have been great propaganda for the evils of capitalism.

"The Betsy" involves cars instead of oil (as in "Dynasty"). Olivier has the Blake Carrington part, except that John Forsythe is much better in the role. (I read Olivier's bio, and in it he does indeed state that when he got older and had to support one current and two former wives, that doing things for the money was a fine thing.) Leslie Anne Down has the Joan Collins role. Katherine Ross has the Linda Evans role. I don't know whose role Tommy Lee Jones has, but it's the General Stud Muffin Deluxe part, and yes, in his youth, he could pull it off.

Anyhow, this is the perfect film to see when you've had a bad week and need pure, stupid escapist fare -- sort of like why we all were addicted to "Dynasty" and "Dallas" for years!

There's only one reason to watch this film. It's not the quality of the acting or the strength - or otherwise - of the plot. Rather, it's a study in excess, and my favourite excess in this film would have to come under L for lust. Kathleen Beller is extremely photogenic and I absolutely love the swimming pool scene !

Among all the novels written by Harold Robbins, this is my favorite. Following the book is much easier and if I must say so, a lot more seductive. Comparing the book to the movie, I can only appreciate the film is quicker to entice me to stay interested. The novel is superior, yet the cast in the film is much more believable. Directed by Daniel Petrie, " The BETSY " relates the story of Angelo Perino (Tommy Lee Jones) a professional race car driver and third generation Italian with Mafia connections. Nearly killed in a race, he is summoned to the Hardeman mansion where Loren Hardeman (Laurence Oliver), the patriarch of the family dynasty, purposes to him a secret plan to design a new car, called the BETSY. Although intrigued by the offer, Perino at first refuses, until he is promised a great deal of money and special options to purchase stock in the family run corporation. He must also run the gauntlet of family members out to prevent the secret plan. Among the more powerful is Loren Hardeman III (Robert Duvall) who has definite motives for preventing the building of the new car. Katharine Ross, Jane Alexander and Lesley-Anne Down as Lady Bobby Ayres play the powerful women of the Hardeman family, each, it is discovered have their own reasons for the success or failure of the venture. Betsy Hardeman (Kathlee Beller) is the lynch pin on which Perino and his ambitions will fail or not. Joseph Wiseman and Edward Herrmann are two key players which provide the inner mechanisms of and for the Betsy's future. The over all movie is split into both past and present happenings of how and why family members gravitate towards Perino's project. Steamy scenes and dark family secrets provide the novel's interest and were it not for the powerful performances of Laurence Oliver, Tommy Lee Jones and Robert Duvall, the film, would have tanked. Instead it is now accepted as a film Classic and one representative of the times. ****

How can you make a bad movie with Olivier, Duvall, Tommy Lee, Katherine Ross, Jane Alexander, and plenty of other capable people?

Study this film to find out.

I felt awful for Olivier. First, let me say that I am a great fan of his, and have worn out my VCR watching him in Wuthering Heights, Rebecca, Spartacus, and other great performances. Having said that, I must now regretfully say that his performance in The Betsy ranks among the worst ever captured on film. He has no clue how to affect an American accent. Worse still, he plays himself in the flashbacks ... and he looks like an old guy on Miami Beach wearing youthful fashions and spray-on hair color. I had to turn away from it at times.

Oh, I wish I had never seen this movie at all.

If you have a choice between this and "Manos", plan on a Torgo evening.

Allied Artists was a small studio in Hollywood with a 3 acre lot not suitable for major filming in fact Allied used to rent space at Paramount down the street. Allied over the years produced some quality films such as Billy Wilder's Love in the Afternoon with Audrey Hepburn, El Cid with Charlton Heston and Sophia Loren, Soldier in the Rain with Steve McQueen, Tickle Me a Elvis Presley movie (in those days Elvis movies with the only sure thing that would make money and Allied needed an Elvis movie.) Allied was able to produce two extraordinary hits Cabaret with Liza Minelli and Papillion with Steve McQueen. It tried to stay in business but was found it difficult it had no television arm such as MGM and Columbia through its Screen Gems division or Universal TV or Warner Bros. TV. There was a successful television studio Desilu which not only had successful television shows such as Mission impossible and Star Trek and Lucy but also three Desilu studios collecting rent from various shows.

Allied produced this soap opera movie The Betsy with Lawrence Olivier and Tommy Lee Jones. I saw this movie in the theaters when it was released it was a good movie and audience favorite and Kathleen Beller was stunning in this film and surprised that she never made the industry.