ThiefHott Too much of everything

TaryBiggBall It was OK. I don't see why everyone loves it so much. It wasn't very smart or deep or well-directed.

Mandeep Tyson The acting in this movie is really good.

Brenda The plot isn't so bad, but the pace of storytelling is too slow which makes people bored. Certain moments are so obvious and unnecessary for the main plot. I would've fast-forwarded those moments if it was an online streaming. The ending looks like implying a sequel, not sure if this movie will get one

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.

gilligan1965 As with "The Blue Max" and other movies starring George Peppard, this is him playing himself as the pompous and arrogant man he was.There's no doubt that Peppard was a great actor at one time; but, the characters he played make you want to like him 'almost' as much as you want to hate him. This movie is no exception.Peppard plays a 'rich-kid' who revels in the fact that his dad suddenly dies and leaves everything to him.He immediately takes charge of all of his dad's business affairs (and, other affairs), and...there are many unexpected and monumental things that take place by an overly ambitious and arrogant inherited son who always thought that his dad was never the businessman whom he believed himself to be.This is a good movie.

mamalv This movie is truly a classic in the sense that old Hollywood is a classic itself. George Peppard is the son of an alcoholic father who is married to a beautiful young wife played oh so good by Carroll Baker. She is lusty and trashy and in love with Jonas. The father dies and he inherits all the movie business, and turns it into an empire at the cost of everyone and everything. It was wonderful to see all the stars in this movie, Lew Ayres, Bob Cummings, Martin Balsam, and the remarkable Alan Ladd. Ladd practically steals the show with his portrayal of the down on his luck silent western star. Since Jonas wants Carroll Baker for himself, and she decides to marry Ladd, he sets her up in a movie with Ladd and she becomes a major star. Jonas marries Elizabeth Ashley and drives her away only to find that in the end it is he not anyone else, to blame for his terrible existence. The final scene between Ladd and Peppard is movie magic. Ladd should have received a well deserved Oscar for his performance. To those that thought he looked puffy and aged, I disagree. He was perfectly cast and it was his last and finest performance.

moonspinner55 Adaptation of Harold Robbins' bestseller, about an egomaniacal Howard Hughes-like tycoon into airplanes, making movies and womanizing, comes to the screen without too much timidity; however, this "adult entertainment" is full of grown-ups acting like spoiled children (it isn't so much a Tinsel Town wallow as it is a bubbling cauldron of reckless immaturity), resulting in a camp melodrama that you can't tear yourself away from. George Peppard is the stony-faced tyrant who runs (and sometimes ruins) the lives of everyone in his path, and his plastic-formula panic is nearly funny; Elizabeth Ashley is the good girl he marries; Alan Ladd (in his final bow) is a faded cowboy star; Carroll Baker and Martha Hyer are lookalike starlets; Robert Cummings is a smarmy agent; Martin Balsam is a studio mogul on his way out. The whole tatty enterprise smacks of artificiality, with ugly sets and ridiculous character brawls, and yet one watches nearly hypnotized by the scandal sheet-styled, B-movie glamor. **1/2 from ****