The Betsy

Laurence Olivier is the multi-millionaire head of a family, who's rich due to the family business, making cars. Larry wants to make a new car whose engine would be environmentally safe. He needs Tommy Lee Jones' (a race car driver) assistance in creating the engine. And, that begins the present day plot. There are flashbacks that show just how and why things are the way they are today. The presence of Katharine Ross and Kathleen Beller make this feel like Dynasty. And, Robert Duvall is Larry's grandson who'll stop at nothing to stop the development of "The Betsy," which is what Larry named the engine. The movie is nothing like "The Oscar" in that it's not flashy or campy; and, it doesn't have any it's-so-bad-it's good value to it. Instead, you get the impression they tried to take themselves seriously and in doing so, only emphasized the fact these are not nice people and it gives the movie a kind of seedy, mean quality to it. Its love scenes add to its trashy feel to it and not entirely in a good way. The music is so understated, mellow, and refined, it sounds like some "Godfather" copy. All in all, once you've seen the ending, you may want to see it again, knowing what you know. But, it's not much to really write home about.

Imagine a 1970's TV mini-series with added scenes of nudity and adult language and a somewhat bigger budget and the result is "The Betsy". Based on one of the gazillion cookie-cutter novels of Harold Robbins, the film looks and sounds just like a mini-series that slipped by the censors. Olivier (in the midst of one of his WORST periods for hammy overacting which also includes "The Boys From Brazil" and "The Jazz Singer") is a mega-rich automobile tycoon who has been ousted from his company to live in sedate luxury, albeit in a wheelchair. He follows the racing career of Jones closely and, after a nasty accident, convinces him to come and work for him in creating the third international car (after the Model T Ford and the Volkswagen.) This one is to be called The Betsy after his great-granddaughter Beller. Unfortunately, his nefarious grandson Duvall runs the company and doesn't want something as bothersome as a car to interfere with his profits from diversification into such products as dishwashers. This sets up a heated rivalry between Jones and Duvall. While this contemporary story plays out, Olivier flashes back to the 1930's when he was at his peak of power and he had his way with various women. Here, he contends with wimpy son Rudd and Rudd's lovely wife Ross who will one day give birth to Duvall. The stories play out alternately until the end when various connections detail how one tale is directly related to the other. The cast is fairly stellar for the most part, though few of the actors make any great impact. Olivier speaks in an inane and unexplained accent and overemotes ridiculously throughout. Fortunately, he's still rather entertaining nonetheless as his character gets several amusing things to say in the film. Jones is appealing and considerably more low-key than Olivier (anyone would be!) His fans will be surprised to see him in this traditional leading man type of role (and sporting an impressively chiseled torso.) Duvall (who, for some reason, appears shorter in this film than at any other point in his career!) nibbles his own share of the scenery as he tries to stay afloat in the melodramatics. Alexander retains her dignity as his neglected wife and Ross looks about as good as she ever did as his mother in the flashback scenes. A welcome dose of glamorous bitchery comes in the form of opportunistic and promiscuous Down. Her various high fashion costumes also bring occasional titters. Beller (the same chipmunk who would eventually land on "Dynasty" for a while in the '80's) is an acquired taste. Her Kewpie face and waist-length hair can annoy, yet her bare-everything swimming pool scene has earned her a few fans. She has one particularly ugly canary yellow dress which assaults the senses as well. Many other familiar actors pop in along the way including Swenson, Robert Guillaume's old sparring partner from "Benson". The title car seems a little goofy (people are supposed to drive around in a compact car that has Betsy emblazoned on the side?) and some of the dramatics seem pretty pointless. Maybe it was the time the film was made. The whole thing is a trashed-up precursor to "Dallas" and "Dynasty". There's even a stilted and tentatively presented homosexual relationship thrown into the mix. The sets, budget, costuming and cast elevate it to some degree and there are many unintentional laughs along the way. It is more than a little disconcerting, however, to see "Wuthering Heights" Heathcliff banging a French maid on his bed while his wife is downstairs carrying out a wedding reception for their son!

One of the Star Trek sequels has Harold Robbins and Jacqueline Susann referred to as the "Old Masters." Personally, I'm betting that The Carpetbaggers or The Betsy will not be on a high school English class reading list in about 200 years.

The Betsy, by the way, refers to both Kathleen Beller's character and a newly designed car named for her by her great grandfather the patriarch of an automobile pioneer family. Said patriarch is played by none other than Sir Laurence Olivier, arguably the greatest actor the English speaking world has ever produced.

He was certainly thought of as that at the time The Betsy was made. He had nothing to prove as a player in 1978, but Olivier was concerned about leaving a nice sizable estate for his children. So he did take on projects like these that were guaranteed box office.

I have to say Olivier's Loren Hardiman was an offbeat part for him. Prominent in the Olivier bag of thespian tricks is a great ear for accents. Hard to believe that this is the same actor who gave us definitive film versions of Hamlet, Richard III, and Othello.

In filming one of Harold Robbins empire and scandal novels all you can do is ham it up. And following Lord Olivier's cue the rest of the cast hams it up big time. I'm surprised no one in television thought of this as a Dallas like series.

The Betsy has the usual business double dealing and sexual peccadilloes that saturate a Robbins epic. If that's your taste you'll love The Betsy.

An errant thought just struck me. What if someone had thought to hire Sir Laurence Olivier as Jock Ewing in Dallas. I think he'd have done it for the right price and he could have pulled it off.

This is not the kind of movie you can recommend, but if you are in the mood for trash with a lot of glitter, this is the one for you. There are not many good adaptations from Harold Robbins novels, and this is not one of them. The all-star cast helps immensely but they might have brought a bit of fun to the proceedings, so we could think this wasn't torture for them to make.

How can you make a bad movie with Olivier, Duvall, Tommy Lee, Katherine Ross, Jane Alexander, and plenty of other capable people?

Study this film to find out.

I felt awful for Olivier. First, let me say that I am a great fan of his, and have worn out my VCR watching him in Wuthering Heights, Rebecca, Spartacus, and other great performances. Having said that, I must now regretfully say that his performance in The Betsy ranks among the worst ever captured on film. He has no clue how to affect an American accent. Worse still, he plays himself in the flashbacks ... and he looks like an old guy on Miami Beach wearing youthful fashions and spray-on hair color. I had to turn away from it at times.

Oh, I wish I had never seen this movie at all.

If you have a choice between this and "Manos", plan on a Torgo evening.