ChikPapa Very disappointed :(

AniInterview Sorry, this movie sucks

SeeQuant Blending excellent reporting and strong storytelling, this is a disturbing film truly stranger than fiction

Lela The tone of this movie is interesting -- the stakes are both dramatic and high, but it's balanced with a lot of fun, tongue and cheek dialogue.

federovsky This film seems to be largely out of favour, and it does have problems, but taken as an Ibsonian study of 20s flapper society, it's fine. Class, money, personality and style form a cocktail that looks far better than it tastes and this film captures the vacuousness being absurdly rich quite effectively. The tendency to overblow this story is strange though, as it's basically a chamber piece.For a classic novel, Fitzgerald's story is ungainly, with an unconvincing mix of themes, the metaphorical nature of which is too transparent - such as the sordid road between Manhattan and the Eggs. Mainly it is misogynistic, and the film doesn't attempt to elucidate the real subtext of the story - Gatsby's implicit bromance with Carraway. Of course, Gatsby was not meant to be gay, only codedly gay - it was impossible for Fitzgerald to be literal, being firmly in the closet himself. That angle, as in the book, is more obviously portrayed by Jordan, whose role is to provide the clue.It also perhaps simmers too long - it's a while before we meet the man, and the improbable lifestyles and flapper parties have to carry things along until the mystery of Gatsby's personality takes over. Unfortunately it is also a mystery why he is so attracted to shrill, neurotic Daisy (Mia Farrow) and that undermines what ought to be the driving dynamic of the film.The tension does mount steadily in the latter part of the film though, amplified by the (now rather stock) stifling weather trick (did Tennessee Williams get it from here?). If Coppola's meandering script were a little more incisive, Farrow replaced by someone that Gatsby might have actually found desirable, and the camera pulled back a little from all the perspiring faces, this could have been a classic.

tomsview Francis Ford Coppola wrote the screenplay for this film version of the story, and although he changed, omitted and tightened a great deal of the dialogue, he stayed true to the spirit of the novel.The other versions have extensive narration sourced from Fitzgerald's text, but this one uses narration sparingly. Director Jack Clayton and Coppola tell this "Gatsby" in purely cinematic terms.However it all comes down to whether it nails the characters: the enigmatic Jay Gatsby (Robert Redford), and the love of his life, the flighty Daisy Buchanan (Mia Farrow).Robert Redford is a less effusive Gatsby than Leo DiCaprio, and he doesn't have the sense of impending tragedy that Alan Ladd projected. However, he seems just too grounded to be obsessing - with scrapbooks and press clippings - over the woman he loved, lost and now wants back again. Coppola's script also tones the character down - he is not as boastful as in the novel where he tries to disguise his humble beginnings - he glosses over his actions in the war, which are more detailed in all the other films, and certainly in the novel. Despite that, it is Robert Redford after all, and he holds attention without ever needing to do too much.Mia Farrow's Daisy is an edgier portrayal than Betty Field's, Mira Sorvino's or Cary Mulligan's, the neurotic quality works because Daisy is rather weak and indecisive - she is prepared to accept Tom Buchanan's unfaithfulness for the sake of a comfortable life, something Gatsby doesn't get.The film has the best supporting cast of all the films: Lois Chiles as Jordan Baker, Bruce Dern as Tom Buchanan and especially the Wilsons: Karen Black as Myrtle and Scott Wilson as George. Sam Waterston as Nick Carraway is a good balance to Redford's Gatsby. There is also homage to the 1948 version with Howard Da Silva, the original Wilson, now cast as Gatsby's associate, Meyer Wolfsheim. This is a beautiful looking production. You can see where the money was spent after securing two of the hottest stars of the day. The 1920's setting is captured beautifully with locations and scenes that encapsulate the recklessness of the era between WW1 and the economic disaster to come.The film captures the sadness and disillusion at the end. I can appreciate this film more now than when it was first released in 1974. After 40 years, it is far removed from all the other films and events that may have clouded my judgement back then.

Ross622 Jack Clayton's adaptation of F. Scott Fitzgerald's "The Great Gatsby" was a very well made movie with some of the best character development I have seen in a fictional work that was turned into a film. The movie stars Robert Redford as Gatsby who is a very successful businessman who has his own private company, Redford plays Gatsby it's as if he is taking the role like it is nothing to him. In the film we also meet the narrator to the story which is a bondsman named Nick Carraway (played by Sam Waterston) who is the cousin of the woman of Gatsby's dreams Daisy Buchanan (played by Mia Farrow) who got married to Tom Buchanan (played by Bruce Dern) while Gatsby was serving in WWI. Basically this movie along with the book is just one huge love square because Tom has a mistress named Myrtle Wilson (played by Karen Black) who is married to George Wilson (played by Scott Wilson). There is a lot of things that I like about this movie besides the acting, I also was really impressed with the production design as well as the costumes which both areas won Academy awards for 41 years ago. I did read Fitzgerald's novel before I saw this movie and while watching it the story became much more clear to me. I would rank this as one of the best romance movies of all time along with Gone with the Wind (1939), Ball of Fire (1941), It Happened One Night (1934), La Dolce Vita (1960), The Apartment (1960), and Some Like It Hot (1959). This is one of 1974's best films.

Family-Bert If you want to get the real thing read the book. Otherwise watch this movie. It is as close as a film can get to this masterpiece of American literature. I appreciate that the director and the script didn't try to deviate from the book. The actors are excellent throughout, except for Tom, who is adequate but miscast. Mia Farrow hits all the right notes. To appreciate Redford's understated acting, you need to see DiCaprio try the same role. The rest of the cast is flawless. Sam Waterston is the perfect empathetic narrator through whose eyes we see the tragedy unfold... but as hard as he tries we will never see it through Fitzgerald's pen unless we read the book.