The Greek Tycoon

The Greek Tycoon is a 1978 American biographical romantic drama film, of the roman à clef type, directed by J. Lee Thompson. The screenplay by Morton S. Fine is based on a story by Fine, Nico Mastorakis, and Win Wells, who loosely based it on Aristotle Onassis and his relationship with Jacqueline Kennedy. Mastorakis denied this, instead stating "We're not doing a film about Aristotle Onassis. It's a personification of all Greek Tycoons." The film stars Anthony Quinn in the title role and Jacqueline Bisset as the character based on Kennedy. Quinn also appeared in Thompson's picture The Passage, released the following year. Various plot lines track the Kennedy assassination and Onassis relationships but the ordering of the timeline being vastly different. Onassis' son did die in a plane crash, one of his ex-wives committed suicide and the marriage was short lived due to a sudden illness. Names were similar but not identical. Plot Aging Greek Theo Tomasis rose from his peasant roots to become a mogul who owns oil tankers, airlines, and Mediterranean islands and longs to be elected President of Greece. He eventually falls in love with the considerably younger Liz Cassidy. The two first meet when she is visiting his island estate with her husband James, the Senator from the state of Massachusetts. Theo immediately is attracted to her and, despite the fact she is happily married, begins to woo her aboard his yacht while James converses with the former Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. Meanwhile, Theo's relationship with his son, Nico, is tenuous at best. He encourages Nico to join the business and make money in the same manner he did. Nico wants to manage his own affairs and convinces his father to jumpstart his ventures. The plan is to buy older freighters and convert them to oil tankers and sell them to the Saudi family. This would allow Saudi oil magnates to control the delivery of oil outside of American Corporate controls. Theo is impressed and helps bankroll the purchase of a fleet of boats. Upon their return to the States, the Cassidys begin their run for President of the United States, eventually winning the primary and the general election. The First Lady later suffers a miscarriage and becomes depressed and tired of the public life. Tomasis, who has a good relationship with the First Family, offers a vacation on his yacht as a change of pace.