Back home

The Great Gatsby

500 votes

Nick Carraway, a young Midwesterner now living on Long Island, finds himself fascinated by the mysterious past and lavish lifestyle of his neighbor, the nouveau riche Jay Gatsby. He is drawn into Gatsby's circle, becoming a witness to obsession and tragedy.

Status: Released

Released Date: 1974-03-27

Runtime: 144 mins

Director: Jack Clayton

Spoken language: English

Genres: Drama, Romance

Original title: The Great Gatsby

Production Companies: Paramount Pictures

Production Countries: United States of America

Cast

Robert Redford

Mia Farrow

Bruce Dern

Karen Black

Scott Wilson

Sam Waterston

Lois Chiles

Howard Da Silva

Roberts Blossom

Edward Herrmann

Elliott Sullivan

Arthur Hughes

Kathryn Leigh Scott

Beth Porter

Reviews

Geronimo1967

"Nick" (Sam Waterston) lives in a cottage on the edge of the estate owned by the enigmatic "Gatsby" (Robert Redford) and is fascinated by the man. He has old money wealth and regularly hosts lavish parties for strangers whom her barely knows and to which he rarely bothers to go. "Nick" is unexpectedly invited to one such party and then to meet the man himself who isn't quite what he was expecting. This is the start of an unusual friendship that introduces him to a life of shallow profligacy, duplicity and some fairly ghastly individuals. "Gatsby" has taken a shine to "Daisy" (Mia Farrow) who is married to the rather brutish "Tom" (Bruce Dorn) and much of the rest of this lengthy period melodrama follows the intricacies of the new relationship between these two men, and of the latter man's increasingly dubious lifestyle that isn't quite playing out as "Nick" anticipated. Now this adaptation is an almost literal one of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel - and that might have worked were we in a theatre. We are not, though, and what we are presented with here is a wordy and frankly rather sterile and plodding character study. Too much reliance is placed on the aesthetic elements - the costumes, sets, lavishness of the parties; indeed the imagery is gorgeous. It's supposed to be a love story, but the purported relationship between Redford and Farrow just doesn't resonate. I never really understood why she was so acclaimed in the first place - her performances were always rather hit or miss. The narration from Waterston also becomes a little too flat and the contrasting existences of the fabulously wealthy and the subsistence poor is hardly developed at all. My star of the film is Karen Black's "Myrtle" - possibly the only persona here that exudes anything like a sense of personality as she juggles her marriage and her affair. This is a nasty story about selfish and thoughtless people, but this iteration simply fails to capture that emotion, or - indeed - any other emotion either. Lots and lots of style, but it's lacking soul.

2024-07-23

Recommendations

3.4

Sometimes I Think About Dying

2024-01-10

Fran likes to think about dying. It brings sensation to her quiet life. When she makes the new guy a

2.7

There's a Girl in My Soup

1970-12-15

TV personality Robert Danvers, an exceedingly vain rotter, seduces young women daily, never staying

3.1

Our Dancing Daughters

1928-09-01

A flapper who's secretly a good girl and a gold-digging floozy masquerading as an ingénue both vie f

0.8

Devil's Harvest

2003-01-01

It seems innocent enough. Struggling young artist Daniel King is invited by his childhood friend Nat

3.4

Vanilla Sky

2001-12-14

David Aames has it all: wealth, good looks and gorgeous women on his arm. But just as he begins fall

3.6

Straw Dogs

1971-11-25

David Sumner, a mild-mannered academic from the United States, marries Amy, an Englishwoman. In orde

3.5

In My Father's Den

2004-06-11

War journalist Paul Prior returns to his New Zealand hometown after his father’s death, rekindling s

3.6

The Talented Mr. Ripley

1999-12-25

Tom Ripley is a calculating young man who believes it's better to be a fake somebody than a real nob

3.5

Rocky III

1982-05-28

Following Rocky Balboa's intense battle with his most powerful adversary yet – the ferocious Clubber

3.6

After the Wedding

2006-02-24

A manager of an orphanage in India is sent to Copenhagen, Denmark, where he discovers a life-alterin

2.7

The Millionairess

1960-10-18

When her father dies, Epifania Parerga, an Italian in London, becomes the world's richest woman. She

2.4

Forget America

2000-11-09

Two friends fall in love with the same girl and end up in a situation that can only make everyone un

3.2

Threesome

1994-04-08

At a sizable public college, high-minded student Eddy is forced to room with the slovenly Stuart, bu

3.3

The Prince of Tides

1991-12-25

A troubled Southern man talks to his suicidal sister's psychiatrist about their family history and f

3.8

Purple Noon

1960-03-10

Tom Ripley is a talented mimic, moocher, forger and all-around criminal improviser; but there's more

Raise the Red Lantern

1991-12-18

In 1920s China, 19-year-old Songlian becomes a concubine of a powerful lord and is forced to compete

2.8

Airport '77

1977-03-11

Flight 23 has crashed in the Bermuda Triangle after a hijacking gone wrong. Now the surviving passen

3.8

Sabrina

1954-09-01

After her return from school in Paris, a playboy finally takes notice of his family's chauffeur's da

Zwei Herzen voller Seligkeit

1957-03-22

East Lynne

1913-05-01

An aristocratic woman, Lady Isabel, leaves her husband and children when she suspects him of adulter