Main Cast: Laurence Olivier, Robert Duvall, Katharine Ross, Tommy Lee Jones, Jane Alexander
Release Year: 1978
Country: US
Run Time: 132 minutes
MPAA Rating: R
Plot
Based on the novel by Harold Robbins, this is the story of Loren Hardeman, Sr., a Midwestern automobile manufacturer (Lord Olivier) who pins his future on The Betsy, a "wonder car" named after his daughter (Kathleen Beller). The Betsy is designed to last practically forever, which doesn't rest well with the "planned obscolence" mindset of the auto industry. Flashbacks cover his career from his 40s to the present, when he is in his 90s. Hardeman, Sr. has a weak-willed son, Hardeman, Jr., (Robert Duvall) who is forced into taking charge of the family business. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide
Lesley-Anne Down - Lady Bobby Ayres; Joseph Wiseman - Jake Weinstein; Kathleen Beller - Betsy Hardeman; Edward Herrmann - Dan Weyman; Paul Rudd - Loren Hardeman, Jr.; Roy Poole - John Duncan; Richard Venture - Mark Sampson; Titos Vandis - Angelo Luigi Perino; Clifford David - Joe Warren; Inga Swenson - Mrs. Craddock; Carol Williard - Roxanne; Charlie Fields - Loren III as a Boy; Whitney Blake - Elizabeth Hardeman; William Cain - Butler; Fred Carney - Boardmember #2; Maury Cooper - Boardmember #3; Norman Palmer - Boardmember #1; William Roerick - Secretary of Commerce; Reed Morgan - Donald; Mary Petrie - Nurse; Russell Porter - Boardmember #4
Credit
Jack Grossberg - Associate Producer, Dorothy Jeakins - Costume Designer, Wolfgang Glattes - First Assistant Director, Daniel Petrie - Director, Rita Roland - Editor, John Barry - Composer (Music Score), Herman A. Blumenthal - Production Designer, Mario Tosi - Cinematographer, Jack Grossberg - Producer, Harold Robbins - Producer, Robert Weston - Producer, James W. Payne - Set Designer, Lee Alexander - Sound/Sound Designer, William Bast - Screenwriter, Walter Bernstein - Screenwriter, Harold Robbins - Book Author
The Betsy is a 1978 film made by the Harold Robbins International Company and released by Allied Artists. It was directed by Daniel Petrie and produced by Robert R. Weston and Emanuel L. Wolf with Jack Grossberg as associate producer. The screenplay was by William Bast and Walter Bernstein, adapted from the novel of the same title by Harold Robbins. The novelist considered The Betsy as the "best movie adaptation of any of his works."[1]
The plot involves a fading family-owned automobile manufacturer and its owners who pin their hopes for a return to profitability on a new model named for the granddaughter of the firm's founder. The story is centered on corporate secrets and family betrayal. Several of the characters are based on members of the Ford family of Detroit; the most obvious parallel is between the character player by Olivier and that of Henry Ford.
