The Carpetbaggers (1964)

User Rating:

6.3/10   

Director:

Edward Dmytryk

Writers:

Harold Robbins (novel)
John Michael Hayes (writer)

Release Date:

9 April 1964 (USA)

Genre:

Drama

Tagline:

This is adult entertainment!

Plot:

Jonas Cord is a disagreeable rich young tycoon on the corporate make, with some subplots about booze, broads and Hollywood in the 1930's.

Plot Keywords:

1930s | 1920s | Actress | Fashion Model | Bachelor

Awards:

Nominated for Golden Globe. Another 4 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

George Peppard	...	Jonas Cord
Alan Ladd	...	Nevada Smith
Robert Cummings	...	Dan Pierce (as Bob Cummings)
Martha Hyer	...	Jennie Denton
Elizabeth Ashley	...	Monica Winthrop
Lew Ayres	...	'Mac' McAllister
Martin Balsam	...	Bernard B. Norman
Ralph Taeger	...	Buzz Dalton
Archie Moore	...	Jedediah
Leif Erickson	...	Jonas Cord Sr.
Carroll Baker	...	Rina Marlowe Cord
Arthur Franz	...	Morrissey
Tom Tully	...	Amos Winthrop
Audrey Totter	...	Prostitute
Anthony Warde	...	Moroni

Runtime:

150 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.20 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (35 mm optical prints) (Westrex Recording System) | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) (Westrex Recording System) | Mono (35 mm optical prints) | 70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints)

Certification:

Canada:PG (Ontario) | West Germany:12 (re-rated) | West Germany:18 (original rating) | Finland:K-16 | Norway:15 | Portugal:17 (censored version) | Sweden:15 | USA:PG (re-rating) (1972) | USA:Approved (original rating)

Company:

Embassy Pictures Corporation

Trivia:

This film is listed among The 100 Most Enjoyably Bad Movies Ever Made in Golden Raspberry Award founder John Wilson's book THE OFFICIAL RAZZIE® MOVIE GUIDE.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: As Dan and Rina Marlowe drive from the train station, circa 1927, there are a couple of 1940s cars parked in driveways in the background.

Quotes:

Rina Marlowe Cord: I'll give you a geography lesson some time.
Dan Pierce: [looking her over] I think I've just had one.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "What's My Line?: (1964-06-14)" (1964)

Exposé of Hollywood is one of the tawdriest--but also one of the most entertaining

Adaptation of Harold Robbins' bestseller, about an egomaniacal Howard Hughes-like tycoon into airplanes, making movies and womanizing, comes to the screen without too much timidity; however, this "adult entertainment" is full of grown-ups acting like spoiled children (it isn't so much a Tinsel Town wallow as it is a bubbling cauldron of reckless immaturity), resulting in a camp melodrama that you can't tear yourself away from. George Peppard is the stony-faced tyrant who runs (and sometimes ruins) the lives of everyone in his path, and his plastic-formula panic is nearly funny; Elizabeth Ashley is the good girl he marries; Alan Ladd (in his final bow) is a faded cowboy star; Carroll Baker and Martha Hyer are lookalike starlets; Robert Cummings is a smarmy agent; Martin Balsam is a studio mogul on his way out. The whole tatty enterprise smacks of artificiality, with ugly sets and ridiculous character brawls, and yet one watches nearly hypnotized by the scandal sheet-styled, B-movie glamor. **1/2 from ****