clanciai This was Alan Ladd's last film, he died in January the following year only 50 years old, but seldom has a great film star made a nobler exit. He was quite a small man, often he had to use high heels for his filming, especially with larger women, but he was one of the toughest of them all, and he fights it out more than well in almost every film of his. Here he is the older mentor of George Peppard, born a multi millionaire, completely ruthless and without any human feelings, it seems, almost like a psychopath. The fact that he does have deep-set psychological problems gradually becomes more evident as the film develops with all his human wrecks on the way, especially dames, and no one can do anything about it, except Alan Ladd in the end.It's a towering film worthy of Edward Dmytryk's finest achievements, and the architectural psychological structure is carefully constructed with deliberate care to reach overwhelming proportions. George Peppard's character is entirely abominable, and he even gets worse along the course of his shipwrecks. Harold Robbins' novel is loosely based on the character and career of Howard Hughes, aviator, film producer and multi millionaire, and is a caricature of him just as "Citizen Kane" was one of William Randolph Hearst. Sometimes caricatures reach the truth better than actual documentaries, and George Peppard's character couldn't be more convincing. The other actors are also excellent, especially Robert Cummings as the typical tycoon lackey and Lew Ayres in one of his few but always eloquent performances. Caroll Baker is as vulgar as ever, Martha Hyer makes an impression like of Marilyn Monroe, and Elizabeth Ashley could almost have been Audrey Hepburn. It's a great film, and although you hate it cordially from the beginning for its lousy cynical monsters of ruthless bullies, the film remains a masterpiece.

JLRMovieReviews George Peppard stars in this film, based on a Harold Robbins novel of lust, ambition, dysfunction, and love, or lack thereof. Father Leif Erickson disapproves of his wild ways, never settling down and his pursuit of anything in a skirt. You might say, George worried him to death, as Leif has a sudden heart attack right in front of him, as they were arguing. As a result, George inherits everything and promptly begins to tell people what to do. But with responsibility, maturity does not always follow. He is very spontaneous in his dealings with people and will drop them or fire them at will. Enter Carroll Baker who was, to begin with, his girlfriend, but then she went after his father, so now she is a widow. But they are still hot to trot for each other. The cast is a film lover's dream, as it includes formidable stars Alan Ladd, Bob Cummings, Lew Ayres, Martin Balsam, Elizabeth Ashley, Audrey Totter, and Martha Hyer. The film seems to be a mixture of other films like The Bad and the Beautiful, The Oscar, and The Betsy, which incidentally was also written by Robbins. Its over-the-top melodramatics just keep getting more and more dramatic near the end with him buying companies, including a movie studio, and throwing them away like Kleenex. Then, there's a mysterious part of his past that deals with a deceased brother. What next, huh? I started to say, it's nowhere as good as The Oscar, being less unintentionally funny, but it really gets your attention and never lets you go. If you love melodrama, don't miss The Carpetbaggers.

Luis Guillermo Cardona Film within film. A success story written by a man who was orphaned as a child, spent a long time between streets and orphanages... until he became a millionaire selling sugar. After losing his fortune, he went to Hollywood where, challenging a director of Universal, decided to write a novel: "Not as a Stranger", which describes her experiences in the orphanage, and soon became a hit record sales. In this follow two dozen works, most successful and made into films, excelling "The Carpetbaggers" by his strong narrative and the construction of characters that give a precise account of this strange, fascinating, complex and yet deplorable world power. Harold Robbins is his name. In this glittering film version, made by Edward Dmytryk with all the required solvency a project of this type: Luxury rooms, precise alignment of 30' years, splendid music, full color photography and a cast of renowned, the race to the dazzling economic power of a man who reminds us, inaccurate but intentionally, extremely well-known Howard Hughes, is captured with a vigor is maintained from beginning to end, and a handful of characters that imposes an effective framework for a class marked by careerism, opportunism, the compulsive desire for money and their ability to trample on anyone to get away with such with it.The most significant in this environment is that Dmytryk, insurance and Robbins, reveal a fair appreciation of their characters and give them the best arguments to explain their actions, to understand their false starts and we get to see them as what they really are: extremely fragile beings, working to do and get hurt, and capable of doing everything, absolutely everything... except happiness. George Peppard, recreates with great destination for a man with a personality, in principle, enviable: defined, direct, with clear objectives, always ready to take the reins firmly and take the consequences of their actions. But that also bears its inevitable and heavy shadow: passes over anyone, without ambassy gets rid of one who serves or fails to serve, is male chauvinist and promiscuous, and has a lust for power that knows no bounds: "get master of the world "should be among its purposes. And it endorses the deal: Baker, Ladd, Ashley, Cummings.. unobjectionable.This is a brilliant film that overwhelms us and impacts.

Helene Chevrette I'd heard of this movie, but had never gotten around to watching it... I was impressed by the quality of the script in some scenes and then let down in others... Interesting characters, though stereotypical. The pretty blonds, the cowboy, the drunks, the agents but one character stands out, and that is the wife of power hungry industrialist, Monica Wintrop. You think she'll flake but she keeps on going and in the end well... I won't spoil it for you! I think she has the best line in the movie. Here it goes: When her husband asks if she's pregnant: "It happens, you know, look at all the people in China!... Besides, accidents happen mostly in the home."