Watch The Betsy For Free

hyped garbage

Admirable film.

Blistering performances.

It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

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. ****

I vaguely remembered seeing this film somewhere years ago. I had really remembered Kathleen Beller's gratuitous nude scene, included when such scenes were quite rare in a major theatrical release. When I found the DVD in the remainder bin, I grabbed the last copy left in the pile.I can't say that I enjoyed the plot, given that the plot was very thin underfoot. Other comments have noted the parallels to some of the trashy night time TV soap operas of that period. Really, this film could have been a pilot episode for a big-budget TV soap opera. If only they hadn't prematurely rolled up a lot of the potential plot themes.No, this was a nostalgia trip back to the excesses of the '70s. I got to see all those non-stellar styling exercises Detroit was foisting off on the American public, in the face of their increasing buying resistance. Here indeed was an early stage in the downfall of Detroit.Then we had that ridiculously disguised Mercedes limousine wearing an outlandish grille to conceal its origin. I don't think a New Orleans pimp would feel comfortable driving such a monstrosity.The real high point was the ridiculously hammy performance of Lawrence Olivier. He really got to let loose in a role that set no limit on how outlandish and trashy his portrayal would get. What unknown director would have the nerve to tell Sir Larry he was chewing too much on the scenery? That scene showing Olivier on top of the maid was a real hoot, a high point in a stellar career! On further viewing of this film, it became apparent to me that a stand-in for Olivier actually was filming this scene.Then there was a brash young Texan Tommy Lee Jones trying to pass himself off as a third-generation Italian-American. Tommy, somehow I can't see you growing up Italian.Then there was a much thinner Edward Herrman. He is now best known for flogging Dodge trucks and cars and voice overs on public TV nature programs. Oh well, a guy has to make a living.I believe the film did tone down some of the original plot in the novel. As I recall Loren Hardeman not only had an incestuous relationship with his daughter-in-law, but fathered her child. So he was not the boy's grandfather, but actually his father.Well, I am glad I have the DVD in the collection. It is a great antidote for pretentious films that take themselves too seriously. It made me want to look up Kathleen Beller on the IMDb and maybe catch some of her other efforts.

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!

All star cast cannot save this lurid adaptation of typical Harold Robbins novel with Olivier, faking an American accent, as a patriarch of a whining and feuding family. Duvall bitches and moans through his role, while the rest of the cast overacts or bores to death.