The Betsy (1978)The aging, retired founder of an auto giant comes out of retirement to try to develop a safe, fuel-efficient car. Director:Daniel Petrie |
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The Betsy (1978)The aging, retired founder of an auto giant comes out of retirement to try to develop a safe, fuel-efficient car. Director:Daniel Petrie |
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| Cast overview, first billed only: | |||
| Laurence Olivier | ... |
Loren Hardeman
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| Robert Duvall | ... |
Loren Hardeman III
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| Katharine Ross | ... |
Sally Hardeman
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| Tommy Lee Jones | ... |
Angelo Perino
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| Jane Alexander | ... |
Alicia Hardeman
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| Lesley-Anne Down | ... |
Lady Bobby Ayres
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| Joseph Wiseman | ... |
Jake Weinstein
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| Kathleen Beller | ... |
Betsy
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| Edward Herrmann | ... |
Dan Weyman
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Paul Rudd | ... |
Loren Hardeman Jr.
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Roy Poole | ... |
John Duncan
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Richard Venture | ... |
Mark Sampson
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Titos Vandis | ... |
Angelo Luigi Perino
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| Clifford David | ... |
Joe Warren
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| Inga Swenson | ... |
Mrs. Craddock
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The patriarch of a family-owned corporation hires a young race car driver to help him design a fuel efficient car in secrecy. They face resistance from the president of the company (the patriarch's grandson), who wishes to eliminate the motor car division because of bad blood between himself and his grandfather. During flashbacks, a parallel set of problems is revealed in the family's past, problems that persist into the present, and the race car driver gets deeper into the web of deception and corporate intrigue. Written by Ed Sutton <esutton@mindspring.com>
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.