Still image from the 1969 film The Gypsy Moths.

The Gypsy Moths

Directed by John Frankenheimer

A trio of barnstorming skydivers finds love and heartache at one small-town stop.

1969 1h 50m Drama TV-MA

Expires: March 1st


CAST
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0

John Frankenheimer, Director
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John Frankenheime..
Director

1

Burt Lancaster, Mike Rettig
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Burt Lancaster
Mike Rettig

2

Deborah Kerr, Elizabeth Brandon
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Deborah Kerr
Elizabeth Brandon

3

Gene Hackman, Joe Browdy
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Gene Hackman
Joe Browdy

4

Scott Wilson, Malcolm Webson
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Scott Wilson
Malcolm Webson

5

William Windom, V. John Brandon
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William Windom
V. John Brandon

FULL SYNOPSIS

Professional skydivers Mike Rettig, Joe Browdy, and Malcolm Webson arrive in Kansas to perform in the small town of Bridgeville. They are invited to stay at the home of Elizabeth and John Brandon, Webson's aunt and uncle. Suffocated by her loveless, childless marriage, Elizabeth finds herself attracted to Rettig. Browdy takes up with a topless go-go dancer, and Webson begins a tenuous relationship with Annie Burke, a student boarder at the Brandon house. Later, Rettig and Elizabeth make love in the living room, while John listens silently from upstairs. On the morning of the aerial exhibition, Rettig asks Elizabeth to go away with him, but she rejects him. That afternoon, Rettig performs the dangerous "cape jump" but plummets to his death when he fails to pull the ripcord of his parachute. To pay for their friend's funeral, Browdy and Webson stage a special memorial show, and Webson insists upon attempting the cape jump for the first time. He successfully completes the stunt before a capacity crowd and leaves town, vowing never to skydive again. Browdy leaves for Hollywood to become a stuntman.


VIDEOS
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Ben Mankiewicz Intro...
Hosted Intro
Michael Phillips Intro...
Hosted Intro
They Came For A Show...
Movie Clip
No Air At All
Movie Clip
Best And Rightest Reasons...
Movie Clip
You Ever See Him Sweat?...
Movie Clip

ARTICLES
Burt Lancaster had a truly commanding physical presence, and always used it to his best advantage on screen. But it's important to remember that Lancaster was an adventurous actor who regularly appeared in challenging movies. Grim existential offerings like Sweet Smell of Success (1957), The Train (1964), and The Swimmer (1968) are hardly the kind of thing one expects from a matinee idol. In that sense, The Gypsy Moths (1969), his final picture with John Frankenheimer (who directed him in four previous films), isn't that big a departure. However, even within the realm of Lancaster's other movies, this is a portrait of existential despair with a shockingly fatalistic twist. It's little wonder that audiences didn't embrace it when it was originally released, even during the turbulent 60s. The Gypsy Moths are a team of three cocky skydivers who travel from town to town in the mid-West, putting on a stunt-filled parachuting exhibition. Trouble awaits when Mike Rettig (Lancaster), Joe Browdy (Gene Hackman), and the youngest of the trio, Malcolm Webson (Scott Wilson), find themselves in Bridgeville, the small Kansas town where Webson grew up. The team is invited to stay at the home of Webson's aunt (Deborah Kerr) and uncle (William Windom), whose marriage seems to be disintegrating. Browdy will eventually become involved with a topless waitress (Sheree North), Webson will hook up with a local co-ed (Bonnie Bedelia), and Rettig will find himself being drawn toward We...

ARCHIVES
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 Movie Posters from the movie 'The Gypsy Moths'
The Gypsy Moths
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NOTES

Location scenes filmed in Kansas. After its initial engagement, the film was lengthened to 110 min and the rating changed to R.

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