The Betsy

Infobox_Film
name = The Betsy


director = Daniel Petrie
writer = William Bast
Walter Bernstein
Harold Robbins (novel)
starring = Laurence Olivier
Tommy Lee Jones
Robert Duvall
producer = Robert R. Weston
distributor = Allied Artists
released = 1978
runtime = 125 m
language = English
budget =
imdb_id = 0077228

"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." [cite web | title = William Bast recalls the making of "The Betsy"
publisher = American Legends
date = undated
url = http://www.americanlegends.com/Interviews/bill_bast_interview.html
accessdate = 2008-05-14 ]

The film stars Laurence Olivier, Robert Duvall, Katharine Ross, Tommy Lee Jones, Jane Alexander, Joseph Wiseman, Kathleen Beller, Edward Herrmann, Paul Rudd, and Lesley-Anne Down.

The Betsy features music composed by John Barry. [cite web
title = The Betsy (1978)
publisher = movies.com by Muze, Inc.
date = 2007
url = http://movies.com/the-betsy/d824888/drama
accessdate = 2008-05-14 ]

All the sex is so discreet that the movie never allows itself to get as trashy as a Harold Robbins bestseller should be. [cite web
last = SM
title = The Betsy (1978)
publisher = Time Out Film Guide
date = undated
url = http://www.timeout.com/film/newyork/reviews/67677/The_Betsy.html
accessdate = 2008-05-14 ]

The Betsy was filmed at Rosecliff mansion in Newport Rhode Island.

Plot

The plot involves a fading family-owned automobile manufacturer that pins its hopes for a return to profitability based upon a new model named for the granddaughter of the firm's founder. Intrigue within the book centers on corporate secrets and family betrayal. Several of the characters are based upon members of the Ford family; the most notable dynamic is between the character player by Olivier and that of Henry Ford.

Assembly plant footage was filmed at the American Motors (AMC) Kenosha, Wisconsin facilities. It shows 1978 Gremlin, Pacer, and Concord models being built and painted.

Jones and Duvall would costar a decade later in Larry McMurtry's sweeping western epic, Lonesome Dove.

Notes

Reviews

* Citation
last = Maslin
first = Janet
title = The Betsy (1978) Screen: Of Cars, Sex Money and 'The Betsy':Family Affair
newspaper = The New York Times
date = 1978-02-10
url = http://movies.nytimes.com/movie/review?_r=1&res=9803E5DC1430E632A25753C1A9649C946990D6CF&oref=slogin
accessdate = 2008-05-14 .
* cite web
title = The Betsy (1978)
publisher = movies.com by Muze, Inc.
date = 2007
url = http://movies.com/the-betsy/d824888/drama
accessdate = 2008-05-14
*