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

Writers:

Harold Robbins (novel), William Bast (screenplay)

Stars:

Laurence Olivier, Robert Duvall, Katharine Ross

2 nominations.

Cast

Cast overview, first billed only:
Laurence Olivier	...	Loren Hardeman Sr. I
Robert Duvall	...	Loren III / Loren Hardeman Sr.'s grandson
Katharine Ross	...	Sally / Loren II's wife
Tommy Lee Jones	...	Angelo / Car racer
Jane Alexander	...	Alicia / Loren III's wife
Lesley-Anne Down	...	Roberta(Bobby) / Loren III's mistress-Family friend
Joseph Wiseman	...	Jake / Angelo's uncle
Kathleen Beller	...	Betsy / Loren III's daughter
Edward Herrmann	...	Dan Weyman / Head of Finances
Paul Rudd	...	Loren Hardeman II / Sally's husband
Roy Poole	...	John Duncan / Head of production
Richard Venture	...	Mark
Titos Vandis	...	Angelo Luigi Perino
Clifford David	...	Joe / Manager-Loren II's gay lover
Inga Swenson	...	Mrs. Craddock

Storyline

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.

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Plot Keywords:

assassination attempt | bare breasts | large breasts | sex with a maid | breast feeding | 

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Taglines:

The Harold Robbins people. What you dream...they do!

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Genres:

Drama

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Certificate:

R

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Release Date:

9 February 1978 (USA)

Also Known As:

Harold Robbins' The Betsy

Filming Locations:

Detroit, Michigan, USA

Box Office

Gross USA:

$17,685,000

Company Credits

Production Co:

Harold Robbins International Company

Technical Specs

Runtime:

125 min

Sound Mix:

Mono

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Did You Know?

Trivia

First of only two movies produced by Robert R. Weston.

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Quotes

Angelo Perino: I gather you didn't enjoy being a racer's wife.
Lady Bobby Ayres: Well, let's just say I was a widow long before my husband died.

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Connections

Referenced in American Masters: Woody Allen: A Documentary (2011)

User Reviews

plenty of rewinding and fast-forwarding...

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.