Butterfly (1982 film)
From The Art and Popular Culture Encyclopedia
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Butterfly is a 1982 film directed by Matteo Ottaviano, based on the 1947 novel The Butterfly by James M. Cain. The starring cast includes Stacy Keach, Pia Zadora, Ed McMahon, and Orson Welles. The original music score was composed by Ennio Morricone. The film was financed by Pia Zadora's husband, Israeli multimillionaire Meshulam Riklis, at an estimated cost of US$2,000,000.
The movie was almost universally panned by film critics. The film received 8 nominations for the 1982 Golden Raspberry Awards, with Pia Zadora winning "Worst Actress" and "Worst New Star", and Ed McMahon winning "Worst Supporting Actor". Nevertheless, Pia Zadora won "Best Female Newcomer" at the Golden Globes for her role, over Elizabeth McGovern and Kathleen Turner. This occurred after her husband flew members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to Las Vegas to watch Pia sing, producing accusations that the award had been "bought" .
This English language movie was filmed in color and ran for 108 minutes. It received a MPAA rating of R.
Plot summary
In 1937, Jess Tyler is a desert hermit who has spent years guarding an abandoned silver mine in Goodsprings, Nevada. Suddenly, Jess is confronted by his very grown-up and sexy daughter who, when she was a baby, had been taken away from him by his wife, Belle. Kady, it so happens, has not come home for a family reunion - she has just been dumped by a rich young man who is the father of her illegitimate child and whose family owns the very silver mine that Jess is guarding.
Kady hopes to use her feminine wiles to seduce Jess and reopen the mine and extract the money from the earth that she feels is due her from the family. As if his seductive daughter walking around bare-breasted in front of him is not enough, Jess must also deal with the sudden return of his older daughter, Janey, who appears with Kady's son; Belle, who comes back to Jess dying of tuberculosis; and Moke Blue, the man who stole Belle away from Jess years ago. Also squeezing his way into Jess's shack is Wash Gillespie, the father of Kady's child, who now wants to marry her.
Main cast
- Stacy Keach - Jess Tyler
- Pia Zadora - Kady Tyler
- Orson Welles - Judge Ranch
- Lois Nettleton - Belle Morgan
- Edward Albert - Wash Gillespie
- James Franciscus - Moke Blue
- Stuart Whitman - Reverend Rivers
- June Lockhart - Mrs. Helen Gillespie
- Ed McMahon - Mr. Gillespie
- Paul Hampton - Norton
- George Buck Flower - Ed Lamey
