史蒂夫(比利·克鲁德普 Billy Crudup 饰)在跑步方面有着过人的天赋,许多教练想要将他收入麾下但却纷纷遭到了拒绝,因为,在心高气傲的史蒂夫心中,只有传奇田径教练比尔(唐纳德·萨瑟兰 Donald Sutherland 饰)有资格成为他的“师傅”,经历了一番波折之后,史蒂夫最终成为了比尔手下的得力战将。 经历了比尔别具一格的严格训练,史蒂夫获得了长足的进步。之后,他在校园里结识了名叫马瑞(莫妮卡·波特 Monica Potter 饰)的美丽女孩,两人双双坠入了爱河。一场竞争激烈的比赛中,初出茅庐的史蒂夫获得了第四名的好成绩,就在比尔和马瑞都在为他感到高兴的时候,史蒂夫却宣布要结束自己的职业生涯,因为他脆弱的自尊无法承受没能得到第一名的打击。
George Peppard plays a hard-driven industrialist more than a little reminiscent of Howard Hughes. While he builds airplanes, directs movies and breaks hearts, his friends and lovers try to reach his human side, and find that it's an uphill battle. The film's title is a metaphor for self-promoting tycoons who perform quick financial takeovers, impose dictatorial controls for short-term profits, then move on to greener pastures. The Carpetbaggers is the kind of trashy classic most people were too embarrassed to admit they enjoyed back in the early 60s. But this Harold Robbins adaptation is so cheerfully vulgar, it's hard not to have a good time - especially given the thinly veiled portrait of Howard Hughes at its center. George Peppard plays the heel-hero, who founds an airline company in the 1920s and buys a movie studio in the 1930s, crushing friends and mistresses along the way. The high cheese factor is aided by the good-time cast Carroll Baker as Peppard's hot stepmom, Bob Cummings (quite funny) as a cynical agent, and Elizabeth Ashley, who married Peppard, in her debut -uncharacteristically, as a good girl. One sad note is Alan Ladd, looking and sounding very end-of-the-line in his final role, as a man's man cowboy star. Elmer Bernstein's swaggering score helps goose the action along.