The Great Gatsby (1974)Some people are consumed by desiring something that only exists in the past. The Great Gatsby (1974) is an adaptation of the classic novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald--not the first and not the last. It follows the narrator and protagonist Nick Carraway (Sam Waterston) as he navigates the hedonistic and self-absorbed circle of high society during the Jazz Age in New York City and Long Island. Nick is invited to a party by his neighbor, the elusive yet filthy rich Jay Gatsby (Robert Redford), who has a proposition: invite Nick's second cousin, a flighty and unhappily married socialite named Daisy Buchanan (Mia Farrow), to tea as a pretext to have an affair with her. Sadness and death follows.
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The story of "The Great Gatsby" by Fitzgerald has been so absorbed into the American consciousness--largely by way of being required reading in schools--that there isn't much left to say about the major themes of the book that hasn't already been said and expounded upon at length. This is the only adaptation of the story that I've seen, and I was drawn to check it out primarily because of the director (Jack Clayton) and some of his works I've loved, like Something Wicked This Way Comes and The Innocents--both themselves adapted from works of literature (although the names had been changed). The production of the 1974 film is storied to say the least. According to producer Robert Evans, Truman Capote was commissioned to write the screenplay--ultimately it went unused and Francis Ford Coppola did the screenwriting instead. Evans intended for his then-wife, Ali McGraw, to be Daisy Buchanan, but actors Warren Beatty and Jack Nicholson--considered for Gatsby--wouldn't work with her. (Marlon Brando was considered, but dropped out when salary negotiations failed.) When McGraw left Evans for Steve McQueen, the role ultimately went to Mia Farrow. (Other actresses who vied for the role included Candice Bergen and Faye Dunaway.) And because Evans mistakenly assumed that Gatsby had dark hair, it took some convincing to let Redford play the titular role. The reason I share all of this reference material is that it underscores that The Great Gatsby was made as a big-time Hollywood adaptation, loaded with (to be honest, excellently well cast) superstars and talent. It's a reminder that the big-budget blockbusters that seem ubiquitous today aren't such a new thing; they've always been there, and probably always will be. This movie is an interesting example where despite the drama, there is some merit in the choices that ultimately went into the final product. Clayton brings a dreamy and ambiguous quality to the direction, where a subtle undercurrent of menace and corruption infuses everything. Waterston feels just right as Nick, overwhelmed yet attracted by the allure of opulence despite being manipulated into being little more than a pawn in getting Daisy and Gatsby together. And Farrow is pitch perfect as Daisy: manic, confused, overwrought, and ultimately morally vacuous.
The history of the novel, "The Great Gatsby", is also complicated. Not a success when first released, it was even regarded as "elitist" following the Great Depression (something that couldn't be farther from the truth). It was after it was distributed to soldiers in World War II that it experienced renewed appreciation (albeit after Fitzgerald's death). And yet it was made into a film both shortly after the novel's initial release, and then again after World War II. (It was also remade in 2013 by Baz Luhrmann.) What's intriguing about adapting a novel for film is the conflicting expectations that come with being faithful to the source material while also experiencing the story from a new perspective, necessitating making changes to the story by degrees. While the novel was narrated in the first person by Nick, this film includes scenes exclusive to Daisy and Gatsby, which Nick could not have shared in the book, so they were added in. Coppola also discovered that the novel had little dialogue, forcing him to explore other works by Fitzgerald in an effort to introduce dialogue that would be appropriate to the screenplay. The result is more of an exploration about the rekindled relationship between Gatsby and Daisy, rather than just hearing about it from Nick secondhand. This expectedly sets a different tone to the story and frames the characters differently. Nick remains ultimately disillusioned by life in New York at the end, but the role of the romance between Gatsby and Daisy is more pronounced here. Furthermore, the film more deeply explores--and speculates on--the profound damage wrought by Daisy's husband, the brutish Tom (Bruce Dern), largely through the way it depicts his unapologetic affair with Myrtle Wilson (Karen Black), the wife of his mechanic, George (Scott Wilson). Nick was privy to this in part in the book, but by way of scenes crafted for the movie that preclude Nick, the devastation originating from Tom's infidelity is heightened. Also consider how the movie represents the shocking degree of ambivalence by Tom and Daisy about the deaths at the end of the story after they reunite. If nothing else, this denouement serves as a condemnation of privilege and elitism, already a pronounced theme in the book. Furthermore, Redford's challenging performance as Gatsby reveals much about the wealthy romantic and his insecurities. There is always the hint that his money was made in bootlegging or some other criminal enterprise, and it's clear that his efforts to become rich were done solely to claim Daisy, similar to the antihero from Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights", Heathcliff. But while Gatsby is viewed by Nick as an icon of the American Dream to aspire to, there are numerous moments where it becomes clear that he is so consumed by the need to win Daisy over that he too quickly becomes anxious when things don't go according to plan. He becomes more and more emotionally weak as the story progresses, compared to Nick to whom he confides. This reveals a crack in the perfect mask of Gatsby's elite persona. For all of his charm and wealth, he is a desperate and hopeless fool for a woman who isn't worth chasing in the first place. All of these details illustrate how an adaptation of a book need not be slavishly devoted to merely replicating the novel on the silver screen for it to be enjoyable. There is value in seeing a new point of view on a beloved classic.
Recommended for: Fans of a sumptuous yet slyly critical critique of elitism, and of an extraordinarily well-cast movie, adapted from a classic work of literature. The Great Gatsby persists as an informative assessment of the Jazz Age (a phrase coined by Fitzgerald himself), offering a unique and accessible way to better understand this work of fiction.
The history of the novel, "The Great Gatsby", is also complicated. Not a success when first released, it was even regarded as "elitist" following the Great Depression (something that couldn't be farther from the truth). It was after it was distributed to soldiers in World War II that it experienced renewed appreciation (albeit after Fitzgerald's death). And yet it was made into a film both shortly after the novel's initial release, and then again after World War II. (It was also remade in 2013 by Baz Luhrmann.) What's intriguing about adapting a novel for film is the conflicting expectations that come with being faithful to the source material while also experiencing the story from a new perspective, necessitating making changes to the story by degrees. While the novel was narrated in the first person by Nick, this film includes scenes exclusive to Daisy and Gatsby, which Nick could not have shared in the book, so they were added in. Coppola also discovered that the novel had little dialogue, forcing him to explore other works by Fitzgerald in an effort to introduce dialogue that would be appropriate to the screenplay. The result is more of an exploration about the rekindled relationship between Gatsby and Daisy, rather than just hearing about it from Nick secondhand. This expectedly sets a different tone to the story and frames the characters differently. Nick remains ultimately disillusioned by life in New York at the end, but the role of the romance between Gatsby and Daisy is more pronounced here. Furthermore, the film more deeply explores--and speculates on--the profound damage wrought by Daisy's husband, the brutish Tom (Bruce Dern), largely through the way it depicts his unapologetic affair with Myrtle Wilson (Karen Black), the wife of his mechanic, George (Scott Wilson). Nick was privy to this in part in the book, but by way of scenes crafted for the movie that preclude Nick, the devastation originating from Tom's infidelity is heightened. Also consider how the movie represents the shocking degree of ambivalence by Tom and Daisy about the deaths at the end of the story after they reunite. If nothing else, this denouement serves as a condemnation of privilege and elitism, already a pronounced theme in the book. Furthermore, Redford's challenging performance as Gatsby reveals much about the wealthy romantic and his insecurities. There is always the hint that his money was made in bootlegging or some other criminal enterprise, and it's clear that his efforts to become rich were done solely to claim Daisy, similar to the antihero from Emily Bronte's "Wuthering Heights", Heathcliff. But while Gatsby is viewed by Nick as an icon of the American Dream to aspire to, there are numerous moments where it becomes clear that he is so consumed by the need to win Daisy over that he too quickly becomes anxious when things don't go according to plan. He becomes more and more emotionally weak as the story progresses, compared to Nick to whom he confides. This reveals a crack in the perfect mask of Gatsby's elite persona. For all of his charm and wealth, he is a desperate and hopeless fool for a woman who isn't worth chasing in the first place. All of these details illustrate how an adaptation of a book need not be slavishly devoted to merely replicating the novel on the silver screen for it to be enjoyable. There is value in seeing a new point of view on a beloved classic.
Recommended for: Fans of a sumptuous yet slyly critical critique of elitism, and of an extraordinarily well-cast movie, adapted from a classic work of literature. The Great Gatsby persists as an informative assessment of the Jazz Age (a phrase coined by Fitzgerald himself), offering a unique and accessible way to better understand this work of fiction.