The Carpetbaggers (1964)

Fantastic!

The film was still a fun one that will make you laugh and have you leaving the theater feeling like you just stole something valuable and got away with it.

I am only giving this movie a 1 for the great cast, though I can't imagine what any of them were thinking. This movie was horrible

It's simply great fun, a winsome film and an occasionally over-the-top luxury fantasy that never flags.

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.

I remember watching this film back in 1964 and ignoring every film with George Peppard and Caroll Baker after that. Now, watching it again in 2014, it's not as bad as I thought for 1964, but it seems outdated now. What this film tried to do was cash in on the sexual revolution taking place in the mid-1960s. And it did, turning a tremendous profit for the time. But I'm not sure the film works as well 50 years later. After the first half hour, I was going to call it tawdry potboiler, but I stuck with it, and it got better.First off, George Peppard's character comes on way too strong and way too fast at the beginning of the picture. Totally unrealistic to go from a playboy one minute to a wise businessman the next (and when I say in minutes, I literally mean that).Similarly, Caroll Baker's character (a gold digger) is too slutty too much of the time. It begins to wear like an adult cartoon character.But, once we get a bit beyond the opening scenes, the director's testosterone seems to have calmed down and the script evens out. I think they made a mistake not playing up the angle of what happened to Peppard's brother during their childhood. It becomes paramount at the end of the picture, yet it was passed over fairly quickly early in the film.George Peppard was very good here. The problems I mentioned about the beginning of the film seem like a directorial issue, not so much an acting issue. I may need to reexamine my previous feelings about Peppard as an actor.Alan Ladd probably has the best role in the picture. He died before the film was released, but, at age 50, he was maturing well as an actor.This film did not convince me about Carroll Baker as an actress. I was much more impressed with her in "Bridge To The Sun".Earlier in his career, Robert Cummings turned in some wonderful performances...particularly in films such as the comedy "The Devil And Miss Jones" and the drama "Saboteur" (directed by Hitchcock). Here I was disappointed in his role as an agent. He seemed a bit too flip for the part.Martha Hyer was, in my view, an underrated actress, although I was not particularly impressed here. Much better in "Some Came Running".I've seen Elizabeth Ashley in films and on stage, and this is not her best role, although she does better with it later in the film.Lew Ayres is very good here as a lawyer. Martin Balsam good, as always, as a studio head. Ralph Taeger awful as a pilot. Interesting to see boxer Archie Moore as a man servant. Leif Erickson's role was minor, and in my view not very impressive.And so, I give this a rather mixed review. I'm glad I saw it again, as opposed to when I was a kid, but I wouldn't want to watch it a third time.

The previous reviewers who noticed a resemblance between Jonas and Howard are correct. In fact when the novel came out, Hughes tried to buy the rights so as to bury them. When the movie was being filmed, Hughes had the daily Rushes screened so as to either veto them or accept them. Those which he vetoed were re-shot. He wanted Jonas different from himself. Hughes was an only child. Hughes was, from all accounts, a tea-totaler. He never smoked. He married Ella Rice (Rice University, Texas) and divorced her. He married Jean Peters and divorced her. He married Terrie Moore and died. He never went back to any of his old flames, unlike the movie. Whether or not the old actors like William S Hart were like Nevada Smith is up to you. He would have met the real Wyatt Earp during movie making although it is never reported. He did pal around with Cary Grant, and never did get over Katherine Hepburn. Some where among all the young starlets, he is rumored to have contracted Syphilis but to my knowledge, it was never confirmed officially in the autopsy. Hughes is to be admired for his genius and achievements and to be pitied for his self-imposed asylum confinement in hotel suites. His money did make Los Vegas casinos respectable. His money did fund Hughes Medical Institute which still does medical research. He saw the coming of cable TV, although his underlings torpedoed his investment in that. Personally, I think that he did meet Melvin Dumar on a dark road in Nevada. Associates must have "done him wrong" early on because he never seems to trust anyone but himself. Had he trusted any of his wives, and he may have been salvaged instead of savaged. The movie is sheer entertainment.

This has got to be one of the finest fictionalized biographies ever presented. Obviously names and places may change, but the image of Howard Hughes shines through in the presentation of Jonas Cord, and the other characters included, or created for the development of this character. Obviously this speaks well of the writing of Harold Robbins, but it took the talents of George Peppard & co. to breathe into it the vibrant life that jumps off the screen into the consciousness of the viewer.Definitely not a movie to be missed by anyone who is a fan of Harold Robbins!