Main Cast: Stacy Keach, Pia Zadora, Orson Welles, Lois Nettleton, Edward Albert
Release Year: 1981
Country: US
Run Time: 107 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Pia Zadora stars in an over-cooked melodramatic adaptation of the 1946 James M. Cain novel that is every bit as smutty and sleazy as Zadora's vampish character of Kady. The location of the novel has been switched from Appalachia to the barren lands of Arizona and Nevada in 1937. Stacy Keach plays Jess Tyler, a desert hermit who has spent years guarding an abandoned silver mine. Suddenly, Jesse is confronted by his very grown-up and sexy daughter, who, when she was a baby, had been taken away from him by his wife, Belle (Lois Nettleton). Kady, it so happens, hasn't come home for a family reunion -- she has just been dumped by a rich young man who is the father of her illegitimate child and whose family owns the very silver mine that Jess is guarding. Kady hopes to use her feminine wiles to seduce Jess and reopen the mine and extract the money from the earth that she feels is due her from the family. As if his seductive daughter walking around bare-breasted in front of him isn't enough, Jess must also deal with the sudden return of his older daughter, Janey (Ann Dane), who appears with Kady's son; Belle, who comes back to Jess dying of tuberculosis; and Moke Blue (James Franciscus), the man who stole Belle away from Jess years ago. Also squeezing his way into Jess's shack is Wash Gillespie (Edward Albert), the father of Kady's child, who now wants to marry her. Butterfly also features Orson Welles as Judge Rauch. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
James Franciscus - Moke Blue; Stuart Whitman - Reverend Rivers; Ed McMahon - Mr. Gillespie; June Lockhart - Mrs. Gillespie; Paul Hampton - Norton; Ann Dane - Janey; Greg Gault - Bridger; John O'Connor White - Billy Roy; Peter Jason - Allen; Leigh Christian - Saleslady; Kim Ptak - Deputy; Dr. Abraham Rudnick - Court Stenographer; George "Buck" Flower - Ed Lamey; John F. Goff - Truck Driver
Credit
Bob Mackie - Costume Designer, Sanford Hampton - First Assistant Director, Matt Cimber - Director, Brent Schoenfeld - Editor, Tino Barzie - Executive Producer, Ennio Morricone - Composer (Music Score), Matt Cimber - Producer, Matt Cimber - Screenwriter, John F. Goff - Screenwriter, James M. Cain - Book Author
In 1937, Jess Tyler is a desert hermit who has spent years guarding an abandoned silver mine in Goodsprings, Nevada. Suddenly, Jess is confronted by his very grown-up and sexy daughter who, when she was a baby, had been taken away from him by his wife, Belle. Kady, it so happens, has not come home for a family reunion - she has just been dumped by a rich young man who is the father of her illegitimate child and whose family owns the very silver mine that Jess is guarding.
Kady hopes to use her feminine wiles to seduce Jess and reopen the mine and extract the money from the earth that she feels is due her from the family. As if his seductive daughter walking around bare-breasted in front of him is not enough, Jess must also deal with the sudden return of his older daughter, Janey, who appears with Kady's son; Belle, who comes back to Jess dying of tuberculosis; and Moke Blue, the man who stole Belle away from Jess years ago. Also squeezing his way into Jess's shack is Wash Gillespie, the father of Kady's child, who now wants to marry her.
