Joseph E. Levine enjoyed a big hit with The Carpetbaggers, where Carroll Baker played a trashy movie star based on Jean Harlow with a script by John Michael Hayes, so it made sense for him to follow it up with a biopic starring Baker as Harlow with a script by John Michael Hayes - though this movie isn't that much more a realistic depiction of Harlow's life than The Carpetbaggers.
It doesn't help that much of the film is fictionalised - you have to do some extra reading to realise that Leslie Nielsen is meant to be Howard Hughes (who was also in The Carpetbaggers), Martin Balsam is meant to be Leo B. Mayer, Majestic is meant to be MGM, Jack Harrison is William Powell. Red Buttons plays Arthur Landau, the kindly agent who promotes her - depicted as a saintly Santa Claus type figure who loves his wife and is completely platonic about Harlow. Peter Lawford is allowed to play the real Paul Bern, Angela Lansbury her real mother and Raf Valone her real step father.
Most of the film centers on men trying to get Harlow into bed - the first assistant director (Peter Hensen), the impresario (Nielsen), movie star (Mike Connors), producer (Lawford). And she's tempted a lot of the time but is afraid to give into her cravings. It's that sort of level of trash. Harlow doesn't get dick from Lawford so she seeks it from Vallone, who says no; Connors wants to give it to her first then changes his mind; Nielsen is willing to do it, then she gets it whenever she can.
I've always had time for Carroll Baker as an actor - she had this great deep throaty voice and a vivacious presence. She's not much like the real life Harlow, who was sparky, naive and a lot more voluptuous - you have to enjoy her on her own terms. Which is as a campy over the top ham.
Lovers of camp will enjoy some of the ripe dialogue, Baker's monologues, Harlow's search for sexual satisfaction, and the elaborate decor. There's some real "am I watching this?" stuff here, like a sequence where Baker tries to seduce Vallone, Connors and Nielsen in succession, and is knocked back by the first two. However Nielsen does the deed and then Harlow winds up picking up men in bars, waking up in hotel rooms with flashing neon signs outside. It's entertaining on some level and it's consistent awfulness and his quality cast do keep you watching, but in the end I was just offended for poor old Jean.
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