Review of The Notorious Bettie Page

I was at the small gathering at Hef's house for this movie. In fact, I had dinner with Bettie just before the movie. We were both Southerners and enjoyed each others' company in a well connected conversation about alternative medicine and spirituality. After dinner, we went into Hef's screening room. I always sit directly in front of Hef's sofa, nearest to the screen. Bettie was several rows back in a chair. All was fine until the rape scene. Betty screamed,"No! No!" from the back of the room and ran out, through the lobby, outside and into an SUV. I followed her. She let me into the SUV with her and I proceeded to calm her down. She was crying,"No one was supposed to know that!" Apparently, only Bettie and one other person (a relative) knew about the gang rape. She was very upset and felt betrayed that her lifelong secret had been exposed and she had to witness it in a room full of strangers. Hef never did come out to see what was going on. Richard Bann, a long timer at Hef's did come out. My friend Elliot Silverstein (director of Cat Ballou and A Man Called Horse) came out. I waved them away. I sat and talked to Bettie for quite a while until her driver appeared and took her away. For ANYONE to say this movie pleased Bettie and she liked it is not true! And whoever wrote that was NOT in the room when this film premiered at Hef's. I was there. I sat in the car with this marvelous woman, then in her 80s and held her hand as she cried. That is the God's honest truth. My heart went out to her. She truly felt that Hollywood had beaten her down yet again.