Rosettes I must have picked up this movie during a Katharine Ross movie rush.....although I am also a fan of Kathleen Beller movies. Nevertheless, up to 50 minutes into the movie, I'm wonder why am I watching this, I was never into Dynasty, it's not my kind of movie, why am I watching this besides for the point that I now own a copy.BUT......it grows on you. You get involved wondering what happened to various generations of the family, how they bought it. It's not much about the car at all ALTHOUGH as a young teen, I read the airport shop paperbacks my parents did and recalled a similar book of intrigue and paperback sex....just that car was solar powered. So perhaps this movie kept my interest from the innocence and curiosity of my childhood.The sexual twists are fun if even shocking. The cast is excellent, from well recognized major players to young actors then who are now famous to old familiar supporting actors in parts best suited for them. One must keep in mind, though, of when this movie was made, both from the aspects of what was acceptable for an R rating and what passed for nude beauty way back when.There are some quasi plot holes such as in why would someone with that much power be so consumed about losing a point that apparently less important. One must remember, though, that for the "villain", it is not about what a rational person sees but what he believes. Especially if he considers that the risk is worth the reward.As an amateur writer and actress, I often see things from the viewpoint of how can I see myself in this movie. Does it give me a spot to get involved and take me away from my life for 90 minutes or so. This movie however, I was not so much taken to another world despite the energy it had. Nevertheless, once I was past that first hesitation, I was involved, I wanted answers to my questions.Maybe all I wanted was not there on the first pass, but I was compelled to keep watching..........and maybe sometime again, I will be compelled to watch again, to learn more, perhaps even to be able to see myself on that screen.

les6969 When another reviewer here wrote 'There's only one reason to watch this film. It's not the quality of the acting or the strength - or otherwise - of the plot. Rather, it's a study in excess, and my favourite excess in this film would have to come under L for lust. Kathleen Beller is extremely photogenic and I absolutely love the swimming pool scene !' I felt a whole lot better as this is the ONLY reason to watch this awful film. Kathleen Beller is one of those incredibly beautiful women with an amazing screen presence, who never really made it in films, she is a good actress but doing dross like this probably didn't help much. Oliver is just awful, how he can be so highly rated when he cannot even carry off an American accent is beyond me, it has been said he hams it up, but if you ask me he is just a bad actor who just happened to be in some great films directed by great directors and written by great script writers. This film just shows him up for the ham actor he always was. Just why Robert Duval ( who really is an excellent actor ) did this film is a mystery. Tommy Lee Jones just doesn't fit the role and didn't really become much of an actor until he was much older. This film is one of those that is so bad you watch it because you cannot quite believe how bad it is, but the Katleeen Beller pool scene will make any normal guys pulse race I can assure you of that!

inspectors71 The Betsy is one of those movies I watched on HBO a quarter century ago and I still can't forget it, like Fedora, Shoot, and Mandingo--all crummy, laughable pieces of trash that helped teach me to appreciate good movies. After you've read the two or three pages of comments about this Harold Robbins trashfest, you'll probably come away with the idea that there's not much to this movie other than Olivier's career collapse and Kathleen Beller's full-frontal assault on the caveman hiding in your brain.You're pretty much right.Except that there's Tommy Lee Jones, an actor who can slip back and forth across the lanes of acting and camp with a flick of his wrist on the wheel--here, he's definitely against the flow of traffic. The story itself has a certain pull; watching Detroit try to kill a revolutionary car reminds me of that Jeff Bridges flick from the late 80's, Tucker, I think.Yet, just to show you that, even though I pretend to be a grownup, I still think like a 20 year old. I have in my movie case one tape labelled simply "Trash" (three movies that stink) and The Betsy is the stinkiest. The reason I keep it is that The Betsy is astonishingly, gloriously bad, made even worse--or infinitely better--by Kathleen Beller, wearing only her smile, all bouncy up high and fluffy below.

Scoopy How can you make a bad movie with Olivier, Duvall, Tommy Lee, Katherine Ross, Jane Alexander, and plenty of other capable people?Study this film to find out.I felt awful for Olivier. First, let me say that I am a great fan of his, and have worn out my VCR watching him in Wuthering Heights, Rebecca, Spartacus, and other great performances. Having said that, I must now regretfully say that his performance in The Betsy ranks among the worst ever captured on film. He has no clue how to affect an American accent. Worse still, he plays himself in the flashbacks ... and he looks like an old guy on Miami Beach wearing youthful fashions and spray-on hair color. I had to turn away from it at times.Oh, I wish I had never seen this movie at all.If you have a choice between this and "Manos", plan on a Torgo evening.