The Great Gatsby (1974)

Because the Twenties WERE Shallow
I get the impression that the people giving this movie poor reviews are a mix of 1) intellectual snobs (or would-be) who think it compulsory to pan any screen attempt to tackle great literature or 2) hooligans who can't appreciate a movie unless it's got blood, guts, and vulgarity (in short, like most movies made today). I loved Fitzgerald's book, and I loved this film, and here's why:

It is not only an effective, emotionally gripping rendition of the book (made plain by the very dislike so many people express for its intentionally dislikable characters), but it is a visually stunning one, capturing all the hollow gold of the glitzy era the book so devastatingly indicts, and the performances by nearly all the players are superb (with special kudos to Sam Waterston for the very personification of Nick the narrator). For all those who say the movie is lacking depth or who criticize Mia Farrow's rendering of Daisy as flighty, your very criticism reveals the film's great...

Nelson Riddle score makes the difference
Earlier in the year, I offered a review of the video tape edition of this film. The version contained elevator-type music, as the original Nelson Riddle soundtrack was missing. Riddle could not agree on terms price for the original score with the movie studio. Riddle's estate evidentally has done so so the original score has been restored to the film.

Many reviewers asked that the original score be considered for any re-release. Well, on the 30th anniversary of the film, here it is.."The Great Gatsby" with the original soundtrack. Thank you!
Fitzgerald would have been pleased with the adaptation and the accompanying soundtrack. It is obvious how much of a difference the music makes in contributing to the overall experience.
The DVD is not to be viewed in a context of pure entertainment. It is a relevant story about the desire to possess what one does not have, regardless of the cost. The script is taken directly from the key points in the text. The...

Not Great But Sometimes Magical
This movie is both great and awful depending entirely upon one's need for accuracy or how deeply you may have felt about the book by F. Scott Fitzgerald.

Francis Ford Coppola wrote the screenplay for this film and followed the classic book about as closely as a film is capable of doing. But I found the direction to be flawed somehow. The film is filled with starlit close-ups (no one's eyes sparkle like that, not even Daisy's) and smoke screen silhouettes, complex party scenes and plenty of flapper costumes. I just couldn't figure out why all of the strange lighting existed after hiring two nearly perfect looking actors, in Mia Farrow and Robert Redford. I would have preferred to see the stars in Daisy's eyes stem from a great acting performance rather than the eerie sparkles falsely placed in every close-up!

Robert Redford was good as Gatsby and he conveyed some of the character's desperate and lonely love. I was disappointed that all of the complexity of Gatsby...

Click to Editorial Reviews