Poor Little Rich Girl: The Barbara Hutton Story (1987) (TV)

User Rating:

6.8/10   

Director:

Charles Jarrott

Writers:

Dennis Turner (teleplay)
C. David Heymann (book)

Release Date:

16 November 1987 (USA)

Genre:

Biography | Drama

Plot:

The true story of one of the richest women in America - heiress to the Woolworth fortune. She had vast wealth and seven husbands, but never found lasting love.

Plot Keywords:

Alcoholism | Dysfunctional Marriage | Marriage Problems | Heir | Actor

Awards:

Won Golden Globe. Another 3 wins & 1 nomination

Cast

Farrah Fawcett	...	Barbara Hutton
David Ackroyd	...	Graham Mattison
Stéphane Audran	...	Pauline de la Rochelle
Amadeus August	...	Count von Haugwitz-Reventlow
Nicholas Clay	...	Prince Alexis Mdivani
Bruce Davison	...	Jimmy Donahue
Carmen du Sautoy	...	Roussie
Anne Francis	...	Marjorie Post Hutton
Sascha Hehn	...	Baron Gottfried von Cramm
Kevin McCarthy	...	Franklyn Hutton
Tony Peck	...	James Douglas III
Zoë Wanamaker	...	Jean
Clive Arrindell	...	Prince Troubetzkoy
Linden Ashby	...	Lance Reventlow - Adult
Debbie Barker

Runtime:

Germany:233 min (2 parts) | UK:282 min (6 parts) | USA:240 min (short version)

Country:

USA | UK

Language:

English

Colour:

Colour

Aspect Ratio:

1.33 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono

Certification:

Australia:M

Company:

Lester Persky Productions

Absorbing bio-pic

It is fashionable to look down on made-for-TV movies. But this one is one of the best examples of such flicks. Despite its length, I watched it fully, because the title character was an interesting person. Farrah Fawcett does a good job playing Barbara Hutton, the much-married Woolworth heiress. Cary Grant, who was, at one time, wedded to her is portrayed as a nice guy, who divorces her because of her partying. Hutton was also married to a sadistic Danish count who tries to steal her fortune. She even renounced her American citizenship in order to live with him. Another of her husbands was Count von Kramm, the Nazi-trained tennis player who failed to win at Wimbledon and suffered consequences in Germany. Hutton discovered that he was bisexual, so she divorced him. Barbara Hutton was an ardent socialite, so she neglected her only son. The movie has her telling him that she could not live with him in Arizona because she was not that kind of mother. Later, when someone calls him a "son of a bitch", he simply says "Exactly"! Probably, the most memorable dialogue in the film!

The film follows Hutton around the world. It is interesting to see the film's depiction of exotic countries in the middle part of the twentieth century.

(Reviewed by Sundar Narayan)