“Babylon” Eat Your Heart Out: ‘The Carpetbaggers’ Reviewed

On the slipcover for Kino Lorber’s Blu-ray of The Carpetbaggers, Carroll Baker‘s Rina is shown biting George Peppard‘s Jonas Cord Jr. For those unfamiliar with Edward Dmytryk‘s big screen adaptation of Harold Robbins’ salacious novel, it would be easy to assume that’s a big scene – a climactic moment in the film. A person getting bitten tends to stick in the mind, but it’s actually quite forgettable, which says a lot about the kind of shenanigans that go down in this movie.

As comes with being a junior, Jonas is a wealthy young man with daddy issues. Instead of having those issues play out in the form of shouting matches and psychological warfare, though, the film kills Jonas Sr. (Lief Erickson) off early, leaving it to junior to take over the family business – putting their last name on stuff. Because Jonas is a quick study, he takes to the role quickly. Everything from plastics to airplanes start sprouting the Cord name, but can wealth buy happiness? That’s the million-dollar question only people like Jonas can afford.

Positives: one of the really cool things about this movie is the time span it covers. Having two and a half hours helps, but being reminded that some of the things we take for granted now, like passenger airplanes, were once (and not that long ago) novel is important – it’s too easy to develop a warped sense of time and history.

The film’s nonchalant attitude about scandal is fun, too, and not played up (and spoiled in the process) for shock, like Rina – Jonas’ stepmother – being revealed as Jonas’ ex or, even crazier (though you wouldn’t know it from how calm everyone is about it) Rina suddenly being revealed to be an item with Nevada Smith (Alan Ladd), a guy who’s supposed to be a surrogate father figure to Jonas. He doesn’t seem to have any qualms about pursuing a relationship with her. Betrayal isn’t given a second thought and that coldness feels very authentic.

Jonas doesn’t really have a character arc, though. As mentioned before, he takes to being in charge quickly, so there’s never that moment where he’s wrestling with doubt or questioning whether to cross a line. He doesn’t change, and given the runtime and the fact that the film revolves around him, that’s strange for a main character (if not a real person).

While The Carpetbaggers isn’t officially about Howard Hughes, it’s obvious he was an inspiration for Jonas, too … and, for all of Hughes’ successes, he also had a lot of failures. That’s something The Carpetbaggers doesn’t let Jonas have. Sure, plenty of his relationships fall apart, but no business problems. The film projects this image that you can take tons of risks and never suffer any consequences and that’s a dangerous lie to be selling that the real Hughes contradicts, never mind how the film ends (the less said about the ending, the better).

Bonus Features: Kino Lorber’s Blu-ray comes with two commentaries. Film historian Julie Kirgo provides a lot of historical context for what was going on when The Carpetbaggers premiered. She talks about Robbins (who also wrote the novel that was adapted into Elvis’ best movie, King Creole) and screenwriter John Michael Hayes (who, naturally enough, also worked on the film adaptation of Peyton Place), as well as Dmytryk, who went to jail as part of the Hollywood Ten but ultimately named names.

The second commentary is by film historian David Del Valle and filmmaker David DeCoteau, who do not paint a flattering picture of Peppard off-screen and compliment Robert Cummings’ turn as Nevada Smith’s scrupleless agent. Del Valle also shares an anecdote about going to the same barber as Peppard (who apparently wore a toupee) and the dangers of Baker’s memorable chandelier scene.

The Carpetbaggers is available on Blu-ray now from Kino Lorber.