
Overview
Power and sex are at the heart of this adaptation of Harold Robbins's soap opera bestseller, set in the 1930s and loosely based on the life of Howard Hughes. George Peppard stars as Jonas, a hard-drinking young aircraft tycoon who starts going off the deep end when his tyrannical father (Leif Erikson) dies. After reclaiming the girl his father stole from him (Carroll Baker), Jonas starts producing movies--at first to help his old friend, a silent-film star struggling to make the transition to sound (Alan Ladd) but eventually to placate his out of control ego. After numerous failed marriages and ever-worsening alcoholism, Jonas finally makes an effort to face the demons of his past, but it may be too late. Director Edward Dmytryk (THE YOUNG LIONS, RAINTREE COUNTY) enlivens this sprawling film with his sense of character and period detail. Peppard is fine as the lead, and Alan Ladd unusually accessible as the aging cowboy star, Nevada Smith. The women in the cast, though, have little to do except manipulate the men for money and sex. Fans of this sort of thing, however, should find such shallowness merely part of the racy, sudsy fun.
Awards:
Main Cast & Crew:
Edward Dmytryk - Director
George Peppard
Alan Ladd
Robert Cummings
Martha Hyer
Elizabeth Ashley
Lew Ayres
Martin Balsam
Ralph Taeger
Archie Moore
Carroll Baker
Details
- Format: DVD (Manufactured on Demand, AC-3, Dolby)
- Run Time: 150
- Color Format: Color
- UPC: 032429342911
- Genre: DRAMA
- Rating: Not Rated
- Release Date: May 2020

Movie Reviews
Synopsis:
This entertaining adaptation of Harold Robbins's novel of greed and sex recreates the early days of Hollywood. After his father dies, a ruthless young aircraft tycoon gets mixed up in numerous romantic and business shenanigans in the movie industry. Among the women he gets involved with are a flapper, who he marries and treats horribly, and a blonde beauty he transforms into a sex symbol. Meanwhile, a cowboy star who's an old pal from his past attempts to reform him.
Notes:
Theatrical release: April 9, 1964.
THE CARPETBAGGERS was Alan Ladd's final screen appearance, and the film debut for actress Elizabeth Ashley.
Reviews:
"...The movie is physically sumptuous..." - 03/13/1996 USA Today, p.6D