The Carpetbaggers (film)
The Carpetbaggers is a 1964 American drama film directed by Edward Dmytryk, based on the best-selling 1961 novel The Carpetbaggers by Harold Robbins and starring George Peppard as Jonas Cord, a character based loosely on Howard Hughes, and Alan Ladd in his last role as Nevada Smith, a former Western gunslinger turned actor. The supporting cast features Carroll Baker as a character extremely loosely based on Jean Harlow as well as Martha Hyer, Bob Cummings, Elizabeth Ashley, Lew Ayres, Ralph Taeger, Leif Erickson, Archie Moore and Tom Tully.
The Carpetbaggers
The film is a landmark of the sexual revolution of the 1960s, venturing further than most films of the period with its heated sexual embraces, innuendo, and sadism between men and women, much like the novel, where author Dawn Sova asserts "there is sex and/or sadism every 17 pages".[3]
Prequel[edit]
As Alan Ladd had died before the film was released,[23] he was unavailable when the film's success suggested an audience for a prequel.
Nevada Smith was filmed and released two years later, with Steve McQueen as Smith.