The Carpetbaggers (1964)

It's an amazing and heartbreaking story.

A movie that not only functions as a solid scarefest but a razor-sharp satire.

It’s not bad or unwatchable but despite the amplitude of the spectacle, the end result is underwhelming.

There's no way I can possibly love it entirely but I just think its ridiculously bad, but enjoyable at the same time.

Don't let the length of this epic film version of one of the most popular trashy novels scare you away from it. This grabs at the viewer's hormones and sinful desires of lust, power and greed and doesn't let go. Cinema never looked so pornographic as it did with the screen adaption of Harold Robbins' best seller, even dirtier than the same year's "Where Love Has Gone", also by Robbins. I've seen this listed on compilations of "worst" for years; worst film of 1964, worst actress (Carroll Baker) among them. Baker was so panned by critics after a few successes that in 1965, she was listed for at least three films. While not as wretched as all that, she does have the habit of braying most of her lines, making both Natalie Wood and Elizabeth Taylor seem subtle in comparison.The focus of the story is George Peppard's Jonas Cord, a carefree and rebellious young man whose tirade against his father leads the old man to his grave. That leaves the sultry baker a wealthy widow and free to try to get Peppard into her bed. As Nevada Smith, Alan Ladd has pretty much been a father figure to Peppard, equally a rebel, if now a tired one. Ladd goes onto silent western stardom, ironically marrying the much younger Baker who goes onto becoming a Jean Harlow type star, tying this in both with Baker's next film (where she did play Harlow) and a prequel, "Nevada Smith", with Steve McQueen as the younger Ladd. With all his new wealth and power, Peppard sets off to become the most powerful man in the country (if not the world), leading to the revelation of a truly miserable life before, and certainly much more miserable going forward. The obviousness of who Jonas Cord is becomes fairly obvious early on, with various references to the real life people utilized as well. This covers big business, the movie business, and in keeping true to the title, the obvious analogy that everything that Cord gets involved in is through infiltration, just like the northerners did in the south decades before. This is at its best when it deals with decadence and showing off the fun of sinful lives which usually brings on great unhappiness years later. It definitely makes great use out of its epic feel, never shirking on the overabundance of too much living and too little sense to really be able to handle it all. You'll enjoy the lengthy cast list that appears in the sky writing credits with Baker getting special billing. Such veteran actors as Lew Ayres and Robert Cummings also have major roles, with the young Elizabeth Ashley standing out as the flirtatious daughter of a business associate of Peppard's who ends up in a miserable marriage to him. Martin Balsam is excellent as a movie producer who pushes Peppard into the movie business, further complicating his life. Martha Hyer is the actress whom Jonas fires, infuriating Balsam. Why does this not all come together? It's just really a bit too much, in retrospect an analogy of the characters and perhaps why this was panned. Peppard is completely unsympathetic, and often, the other characters are "types", not real people. If Robbins is trying to expose the hypocrisy of Hollywood, he succeeds somewhat, but "Sunset Blvd." this isn't. Written and filmed long before the creation of the TV mini-series, something tells me that this would have been better that way rather than a huge novel edited down to a still long movie that never the less feels choppy.

This is the most successful of all the Harold Robbins adaptations (Though for my money "The Adventurers" is the most fun). Made at at a time when the movie industry was trying to shake off the strictures of the production code, "The Carpetbaggers" has an odd feel to it as director Demytryk and screenwriter Hayes struggle to bring some of Robbins sexed-up material to the screen. Thus we are subject to scenes where the lead characters walk off screen while we get to stare at an empty set as they cavort verbally.What makes this film work is the casting and the performances. Carol Baker drawls out her Jean Harlow-like lines spilling out of Edith Head gowns and looking great. Elizabeth Ashley is a standout as the one "good" character in the piece - the long suffering wife of the Howard Hughes surrogate Jonas Cord.As Jonas Cord, George Peppard starts out a little weakly, but as the film goes on and he becomes more and more soulless the performance starts to work - with his malevolent yet dead stare making an impact. Martha Hyer, Bob Cummings and a very tired-looking Alan Ladd are also fine in their roles.This is a great example of a 1960's best-seller adaptation. The direction, though stolid moves the story along and the great set design,photography and costumes are evocative of the period of the story (pre WWII). The one element that I found unforgivable was the rather abrupt happy ending which is true to neither the spirit of the Harold Robbins novel nor the 149 minutes of film which came before it.

This is an extremely long story about a Howard Hughes-type mogul, and what the filmmakers think made/makes him tick: which, I'm guessing, is that he had a horrible "Rosebud"-feeling about the death of his brother. Mr. Hughes was alive when this movie came out, so I hope he got a good laugh out of "The Carpetbaggers".It looks like a ton of money was wasted on this production. The most interesting subplot was the story of washed-up silent movie actor suffering through the introduction of "talkies". The main problem is that I don't care about these characters. I didn't get the madness fear until a couple of hours of watching. This was, at times, mildly interesting. I will never sit thru this movie again and I feel very good with that knowledge.I read this movie was advertised as "For Adults Only". It appears to be aimed at movie audiences who desire lurid sexual situations, but consider themselves above actual "adult entertainment". Interestingly, this reflects one aspect of Mr. Peppard's character. Maybe, in the mid-1960s, non-adults would have a curiosity about this film, but you won't have to worry about children bothering to sit through this one today. ***** The Carpetbaggers (1964) Edward Dmytryk ~ George Peppard, Carroll Baker, Alan Ladd

Why anyone would bother to tell the Howard Hughes story and change all the names is anyone's guess, but here it is. THE CARPETBAGGERS is way over the top entertainment that somehow manages to skirt campiness despite casting George Peppard in the lead role. Never the most imaginative actor, Peppard is in virtually every scene and your tolerance for him will dictate how much fun you have watching this potboiler. The A-list supporting cast includes Lew Ayres, Alan Ladd, Martha Hyer, Elizabeth Ashley, and Martin Balsam. Carroll Baker appears briefly as Peppard's insanely too young stepmother and Bob Cummings is great as a shifty PR man. B-movie legend Audrey Totter has a great bit as a hooker who sets Peppard on the right road after a booze soaked binge. THE CARPETBAGGERS is directed by the hack Edward Dmytryk from the novel by Harold Robbins --- a match made in schlock heaven if ever there was one!