Other Titles • The Great Gatsby • Der Große Gatsby (1974)
Synopses for The Great Gatsby (1974)
1.
This adaptation of the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, scripted by Francis Ford Coppola, puts costume design and art direction above the intricacies of character. It's certainly a handsome try, and perhaps no movie could capture The Great Gatsby in its entirety. Robert Redford is an interesting casting choice as Gatsby, the millionaire isolated in his mansion, still dreaming of the woman he lost. And Sam Waterston is perfect as the narrator, Nick, who brings the dream girl Daisy Buchanan back to Gatsby. No, the problem seems to be that director Jack Clayton fell in love with the flapper dresses and the party scenes and the Jazz Age tunes, ending up with a Classics Illustrated version of a great book rather than a fresh, organic take on the text. While Redford grows more quietly intriguing in the film, Mia Farrow's pallid performance as Daisy leaves you wondering why Gatsby, or anyone else, should care so much about his grand passion. The effective supporting cast includes Bruce Dern as Daisy's husband, and Scott Wilson and Karen Black as the low-rent couple whose destinies cross the sun-drenched protagonists. (That's future star Patsy Kensit as Daisy's little daughter.) The film won two Oscars--not surprisingly, for costumes and musical score. --Robert Horton
(47 votes)
2.
The 20's never roared louder than this sumptuously romantic retelling of F. Scott Fitzgerald's Jazz Age classic. Robert Redford stars as Jay Gatsby, who had once loved beautiful, spoiled Daisy Buchanan (Mia Farrow), then lost her to a rich boy. But now Gatsby is mysteriously wealthy... and ready to risk everything to woo Daisy back. A winner of two Academy Awards, The Great Gatsby features a fine supporting cast adn an elegant script by Francis Ford Coppola. And at its center is the opulent evocation of an era of hot jazz and cold champagne, of women as exotic and demanding as hothouse flowers, and of lives made soft by too much, too soon.
(48 votes)
3.
Jack Clayton's version of THE GREAT GATSBY was adapted for the screen by Francis Ford Coppola from F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 masterpiece about a handsome and enigmatic tycoon betrayed by the American Dream. Though self-made millionaire Jay Gatsby (Robert Redford) has been in love with the spoiled Daisy Buchanan (Mia Farrow) since his days as a poor boy in the Midwest, she's now married to a boorish philanderer (Bruce Dern) and seems more out of reach than ever. Gatsby's attempts to win Daisy back result in his tragic downfall, as witnessed and narrated by his neighbor and friend Nick Carraway (Sam Waterston). The result is a richly successful evocation of the Jazz Age and a tragic portrait of shallow lives ruined by wealth, brilliantly acted by Redford, Waterston, Dern, and the rest of the supporting cast.
(42 votes)
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