THE BETSY

Lesley-Anne Down and Tommy Lee Jones

THE BETSY (1978). Director: Daniel Petrie. 

"It's not the stock, it's not the money -- it's the car!" 

Loren Hardeman (Laurence Olivier of Richard III) wants a racer named Angelo (Tommy Lee Jones) to work with him on a new fuel-efficient engine and a brand new car he will name after his granddaughter (Kathleen Beller): the Betsy. However, Loren's grandson, Loren Hardeman III (Robert Duvall), who hates him and now runs the company, is completely against the idea, and pulls a few dirty tricks of his own. Loren III has a wife (Jane Alexander) and a mistress (Lesly-Anne Down of Countess Dracula), who also dallies with Angelo, but Betsy develops feelings for him as well. Meanwhile long intermittent flashbacks take us back to the thirties and to the story of Hardeman's gay son (Paul Rudd), his conspiring boyfriend (Clifford David), his wife (Katharine Ross of Games), who has an affair with her father-in-law, and an act of suicide which will have consequences in the present day. 

Father and son: Paul Rudd and Olivier

Based on a novel by schlockmeister Harold Robbins, The Betsy is actually an entertaining and well-acted potboiler. In addition to the very capable actors already named, there's good work from Joseph Wiseman as a mobster, Edward Herrmann as an assistant, and others. Olivier is simply too old for the flashback sequences -- no amount of hair dye or make up can make him look fifty years younger -- and while Duvall is generally excellent, he underplays way too much in his climactic confrontation with his grandfather. There is a nice score by John Barry. A very strange sequence has Angelo being beaten up not by tough guys but what appear to be businessmen on the verge of senior citizenship! The gay aspects are rather dated, but as this section of the story takes place long before Stonewall this is almost inevitable. Daniel Petrie also directed The Idol and many, many others. 

Verdict: Not too many likable characters in this, but it's absorbing. ***. 

THE GREAT WHITE HOPE

THE GREAT WHITE HOPE (1970). Director: Martin Ritt.

Although inspired by the life of black boxer Jack Johnson, this movie -- based on the play by Howard Sackler -- is not really a biography as such. James Earl Jones actually plays "Jack Jefferson," a black heavyweight champion a few years after the turn of the century. White boxing promoters talk a Caucasian boxer out of retirement and tell him that he's the "Great White Hope" to knock Jefferson off his perch. Jefferson is not just hated because he's black and a champion, but because he's living with a white woman, Eleanor Backman (Jane Alexander), and this not only infuriates many whites but some blacks as well. As it examines their tragic relationship, it presents varying points of view from both black and white communities, and looks at the tensions that ultimately drive the couple apart. This is a good movie with some excellent scenes, but it isn't as great as it could have been and it's hard to figure out why. The actors are all very expert -- although they seem to be acting more than actually living their roles -- and perhaps Ritt's direction is too low-key for such dynamic material. Whatever the case, Jones undeniably registers a great deal of charisma and star presence.

Verdict: Worth a look. ***.