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DVD The Carpetbaggers
The Carpetbaggers is the kind of trash classic most people are too embarrassed to admit they actually enjoy. But this Harold Robbins adaptation is so cheerfully vulgar, it's hard not to have a good time--especially given the thinly veiled portrait of Howard Hughes at its center. George Peppard plays the heel-hero, who founds an airline company in the 1920s and buys a movie studio in the 1930s, crushing friends and mistresses along the way. The high cheese factor is aided by the good-time cast: Carroll Baker as Peppard's hot stepmom, Bob Cummings (quite funny) as a cynical agent, and Elizabeth Ashley, who married Peppard, in her debut--uncharacteristically, as a good girl. The sad note is Alan Ladd, looking and sounding very end-of-the-line in his final role, as a man's man cowboy star. Elmer Bernstein's swaggering score helps goose the action along, but the rest is thick melodrama indeed. --Robert Horton
"A man is judged by what's in his head, not in his bed."
Great-bad movies are fun because they're so inane; it's impossible to tell whether the filmmakers themselves realized they were creating trash--and decided to make it as beautifully sordid as trash can be--or if they truly thought they were turning out a serious picture, and were totally surprised when the audiences laughed in all the wrong places. Great-bad movies are entertaining because they're so bad, they're good; everything in them is so extreme, so hollow, so overdone that instead of just run-of-the-mill, respectably mediocre failures, they turn out to be in their own way, unforgettable--impressive in the extent of their awfulness. In the first half of the Sixties, one film towered above all others as the era's most enjoyably terrible film, and that was Joseph E. Levine's "The Carpetbaggers", one of the biggest moneymakers of 1964.
"The Carpetbaggers" emerged as a kind of off-color comic book for adults, with ugly undercurrents of drama that meant nothing and led nowhere. Worst of all was the decision to make Jonas Cord, the heel of a non-hero, repentant at the finale, as compared to the far more realistic and meaningful situation of the very believable Sixties heel, Hud Bannon, who appeared more alienated at the end at the end than at the beginning of that film. "The Carpetbaggers" delivered none of the scintillating between characters its heavy advertising campaign promised, but it did provide viewers with some astonished chuckles at the seriousness with which these ridiculous (but entertaining, if you were in the mood to go slumming) antics were carried on. The movie grossed millions because people paid to see if it was as smutty as the book by Harold Robbins. It wasn't. Carroll Baker, who portrays platinum blonde bombshell Rina Marlowe (in a dry run for her title role in the following year's mega-bomb "Harlow") manages the not-inconsiderable feat of coming across the screen as utterly sexless. George Peppard, who portrays the head heel, went on to better things; alas Alan Ladd (whose last movie this was) did not. [filmfactsman]
Love the music and the storyline.
I've been a fan of this version of the movie for years. I love the theme music, and the storyline. George Pappard is wonderful also. Definitely dated, a lot of sexist stuff, pre women's lib.
Better than the novel
I'm a huge fan of the harold robbins novel but i've got to say that the film is every bit as good and probably better. The only thing lacking id the back story about nevada smith but he has his own film as well so i recommend getting that one also. overall its a terrific story and in a day and age when its all about special effects this film stands alone as a story, and a bloody good one at that!
The Max Sand backstory in Harold Robbins's trashy The Carpetbaggers (an enjoyable wallow onscreen in 1964) made for a solid Western vehicle for Steve McQueen at his peak. Nevada Smith is a revenge movie, but closer in spirit to The Bravados than a Death Wish-style exercise in nihilism. Young Max, offspring of a white father and Indian mother, sets out to avenge their slaughter by three villains. His odyssey includes spiritual re-parenting at several stages, most notably by canny gun dealer Jonas Cord (a swell character part for Brian Keith). The supporting cast will have you saying, "He's in it, too!" at regular intervals (from costars Karl Malden and Arthur Kennedy down to such incidental interlopers as L.Q. Jones and Strother Martin).... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Steve McQueen - Karl Malden Director(s): Henry Hathaway DVD Release Date: Released the 22 April 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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The Blue Max is highly unusual among Hollywood films, not just for being a large-scale drama set during the generally overlooked World War I, but in concentrating on air combat as seen entirely from the German point of view. The story focuses on a lower-class officer, Bruno Stachel (George Peppard), and his obsessive quest to win a Blue Max, a medal awarded for shooting down 20 enemy aircraft. Around this are subplots concerning a propaganda campaign by James Mason's pragmatic general, rivalry with a fellow officer (Jeremy Kemp), and a love affair with a decadent countess (Ursula Andress).
As directed by John Guillermin (who later made The Battle of Britain in 1969), the film's main assets are epic production values, great flying scenes, and stunning dogfights.... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): George Peppard - James Mason - Ursula Andress Director(s): John Guillermin DVD Release Date: Released the 20 May 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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Despite the tumultuous events in this sleek, handsome 1970 adaptation of Harold Robbins' bestselling novel, The Adventurers is arresting entertainment from the constantly inventive director of the original Alfie, Lewis Gilbert. Smoldering Yugoslavian actor Bekim Fehmiu stars as Dax Xenos, son of a revolutionary hero in an unnamed South American nation. As a child (played by Loris Loddi), Dax witnessed the murder of his mother and sisters by government goons, and he helped insurgent leader Rojo (Alan Badel) execute those responsible. As Dax grows up, his destiny is inexorably tied to the fate of his country and the whims of an increasingly despotic Rojo. But before he realizes that, the hunky gadabout chases women and races in the streets of Rome, spends some time as a gigolo... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Charles Aznavour - Alan Badel - Candice Bergen Director(s): Lewis Gilbert (II) DVD Release Date: Released the 12 July 2005 Usually ships in 6 to 8 days
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This silky smooth film noir pits gruff police detective Dana Andrews, stiff and blunt in his street-bred manners, against a cultured columnist and acidic wit (Clifton Webb at his prissiest) in a battle of wits during a murder investigation. The cop is a romantic hiding under a hard-boiled exterior who falls in love with the beautiful victim through the portrait that hangs in her apartment. Gene Tierney, whose heart-shaped face mixes the exotic with the girl next door, brings the poise and calm of a model to her role as the object of every man's gaze and the target of a killer. Laura, handsomely shot in dreamy black and white, is the first and best of Otto Preminger's cool, controlled murder mysteries. In the gritty world of film noir it remains the most refined and elegant example... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Gene Tierney - Dana Andrews Director(s): Rouben Mamoulian - Otto Preminger DVD Release Date: Released the 15 March 2005 Usually ships in 24 hours
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From the Terrace is one of Paul Newman's lesser-known films, but it's a worthy showcase for the actor's developing screen persona. Like Butterfield 8, this is a slick, prestigious adaptation of a John O'Hara novel, about loose morals and forbidden love among the wealthy elite. Director Mark Robson lacks the mastery of melodrama that Douglas Sirk would've brought to this material, but he's still on target with O'Hara's tale of a prodigal son (Newman) who rejects his late father's steel mill in favor of big-business conquest, only to find his trophy wife (superbly played by Newman's off-screen wife, Joanne Woodward) straying into the arms of her former fiancé, while he falls in love with a socialite (Ina Balin) with whom he's much more compatible. A well-tuned drama of... More Info about this DVD Actor(s): Paul Newman - Joanne Woodward Director(s): Mark Robson DVD Release Date: Released the 20 May 2003 Usually ships in 24 hours
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