The Greek Tycoon is supposed to be loosely based on the romance of Jackie Kennedy and Ari Onassis, but it's a pretty shameless copy on the surface. Jaqueline Bisset plays Liz, a high-class, prim and proper wife of James Franciscus, who plays an ambitious politician named Jack Cassidy. The soon-to-be president has an equally ambitious brother, Johnny, played by Robin Clarke, who soon gets promoted to Attorney General. I'm not kidding. They meet The Greek Tycoon, who has silver hair and dark glasses, named Theo Tomasis. I'm still not kidding.
No one in Hollywood knows what happened behind closed doors between Jackie and Ari, so beyond that, the movie is probably largely fiction. I hope the movie is largely fictitious, because neither lead is even remotely likable. "Theo" is an open womanizer who tells his new bride on his wedding night that he's going to sleep with his mistress the next day. He has a temper, and unlike most Anthony Quinn roles, he's not warm or tender underneath the roughness. "Liz" is cold and callous, giving an unbelievably heartless speech after her husband's assassination. She also has a temper, and she vacillates between boredom and anger, with no reason for either. Also, the so-called romance between the two is pretty ridiculous. She's married to a "Cassidy" and she's bored? She's married to a "Cassidy" and she is immediately drawn to the crude "Theo" even during her marriage? There's no reason for her hormones to take over when he's around, but screenwriter Mort Fine thought the audience didn't need a reason. Tony does a Greek dance and all of a sudden she can't control herself.
Jaqueline Bisset could have poured herself into the role, but either she chose not to or she wasn't able to, because I wasn't able to find any real acting on display. Anthony Quinn doesn't even do a good job! He gets in arguments with Jaqueline, loses his temper, throws a punch at his son Edward Albert, and sleeps around with various women. That's about it. The music is like a bad '70s tv movie, as is the very trite script. The only thing the movie manages to do is cast two actors are infinitely more attractive than the real people they're portraying.
DLM Warning: If you suffer from vertigo or dizzy spells, like my mom does, this movie might not your friend. The movie contains lots of shaky helicopter shots, and that might make you sick. In other words, "Don't Look, Mom!"
