|
DVD Drama
|
|
Written by Abbie Bernstein
|
|
Tuesday, 30 March 1999
|
 |
|
title:
|
The Betsy |
|
|
studio:
|
Warner Home Video |
| MPAA rating: |
R |
| starring: |
Laurence Olivier, Robert Duvall, Tommy Lee Jones, Katherine Ross |
| release year: |
1978 |
| film rating: |
Two Stars |
| reviewed by: |
Abbie Bernstein |
‘The Betsy’ is one of those rare films that benefits from being
modified from the widescreen to full-screen aspect ratio. It’s
difficult to imagine what this movie played like on the big screen.
Adapted from Harold Robbins’ novel by screenwriters William Bast and
Walter Bernstein and directed by Daniel Petrie, ‘The Betsy’ resembles
nothing so much as an extra-long, better-acted episode of ‘Dynasty.’
Actually, it’s the other way round as ‘The Betsy’ was made in 1978 and
‘Dynasty’ and its ilk didn’t show up until the ‘80s. However, the style
and subject matter both seem more familiar from nighttime soap opera
than from films of any era.
‘The Betsy,’ believe it or not, is what aging Detroit auto mogul Loren
Hardeman Sr. (Laurence Olivier) plans to call a new car that he hopes
to have designed behind the back of his company-running grandson, Loren
III (Robert Duvall). The moniker is a tribute to Hardeman’s beloved
great-granddaughter (Kathleen Beller), but it’s typical of the film
that he doesn’t contemplate what car dealers will face trying to peddle
one of these babies. Hardeman Sr. enlists the professional acumen of
race car driver Angelo Perino (Tommy Lee Jones), who until now has only
designed his own race cars. Loren Sr. and Loren III are both driven by
memories of past tragedy (dramatized in copious flashbacks) that have
them at loggerheads in the present. There are lots of sexual
assignations, some of them between in-laws, and lots of manly butting
of heads about the right way to build cars and run corporations, played
out on well-appointed sets.
They just don’t make movies like ‘The Betsy’ for theatrical release any
more -- for good reason. The film’s look is unremittingly flat, with no
differentiation in photography between the segments set in the present
and those in the past. Chapter 9 does feature some nostalgia-inducing
and oddly cute split-screen segments, but even an explosion in Chapter
30 doesn’t make much of an impression, visually or aurally. On the DVD,
Chapter 6 suffers from little white scratches popping up all over the
frame.
The main thing the film has going for it is an incredibly talented
cast. Olivier is restrained and sympathetic, Duvall is superb (as
always) and Jones plays his hot-headed brash hero with conviction. It’s
also a kick to be reminded of how these performers and others looked 20
years ago -- hard to imagine Jones as a floppy-haired young stud, but
here’s proof.
Otherwise, ‘The Betsy’ is simply an oddity, an unacknowledged
forerunner of the sort of fare that ruled the tube a decade ago and can
still be caught in syndication today.
| more details |
|
sound format:
|
Dolby Digital |
|
aspect ratio(s):
|
1:3:3 (full-screen, modified from original ratio) |
| special features: |
Chapter Search |
| comments: |
This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it
|
| |
|
| reference system |
| DVD player: |
Kenwood DV-403 |
| receiver: |
Kenwood VR-407 |
| main speakers: |
Paradigm Atom |
| center speaker: |
Paradigm CC-170 |
| rear speakers: |
Paradigm ADP-70 |
| subwoofer: |
Paradigm PDR-10 |
| monitor: |
27-inch Toshiba |
|
|
