Butterfly

Butterfly is a 1982 American independent crime drama film co-written and directed by Matt Cimber, based on the 1947 novel The Butterfly by James M. Cain. The starring cast includes Stacy Keach, Pia Zadora, Lois Nettleton, Ed McMahon, James Franciscus, Edward Albert, and Orson Welles. The original music score was composed by Ennio Morricone. The film was financed by Zadora's husband, Israeli multimillionaire Meshulam Riklis, at an estimated cost of US$3.5 million. The film follows a silver mine caretaker who is reunited with his estranged teenaged daughter who wants to take silver from the mine. It received 10 nominations for the 3rd Golden Raspberry Awards (including Worst Picture), with Zadora winning Worst Actress and Worst New Star, and McMahon winning Worst Supporting Actor. Nevertheless, Zadora won Best Female Newcomer at the 39th Golden Globe Awards for her role (over Elizabeth McGovern and Kathleen Turner). This occurred after her husband flew members of the Hollywood Foreign Press Association to Las Vegas to hear Zadora sing, producing accusations that the award had been "bought". Orson Welles' portrayal of Judge Rauch was nominated for both supporting actor categories at the Golden Globes Awards and at the Golden Raspberry Awards. Plot In 1937, in a small mining town on the Nevada–Arizona border, Jess Tyler is the caretaker of an unused silver mine. His wife, Belle Morgan, deserted him 10 years earlier and took their daughters, Janey and Kady, when she ran off with another man, Moke Blue. A 17-year-old Kady shows up at Jess's place, telling him her mother Belle is running a brothel, and one of the clients got Kady pregnant with a son, Danny. Danny's father is Wash Gillespie, the son of the wealthy mine owner, who refused to marry her. Kady is money hungry and has returned home to steal silver from the mine. Jess, initially opposed to stealing silver from the mine, relents and says they can take small scraps after she seduces him. They work in the mine together; afterwards, while Kady takes a bath, Jess ends up giving her a massage but stops short of having sex. Soon after, Wash comes to town and proposes to Kady, and she accepts. Belle, suffering from severe tuberculosis, arrives with Blue and a mutual friend, Ed Lamey, ostensibly to celebrate the engagement. Blue insinuates that he knows about the theft, and while the others are out of the house, Belle stabs him with a hat pin, and he kills her in self-defence.