The Great Gatsby *** (1974, Robert Redford, Mia Farrow, Sam Waterston, Bruce Dern, Karen Black, Scott Wilson, Lois Chiles) – Classic Movie Review 2630

Director Jack Clayton’s painstaking, beguilingly romantic 1974 version of the great F Scott Fitzgerald novel of 1925 is the third movie of the classic work.

It is lit up with captivating performances headed by Robert Redford who overcomes his miscasting as the enigmatic, troubled Long Island millionaire Jay Gatsby and Farrow, who impresses as his spoiled lost lover Daisy Buchanan. Also scoring hit turns are Bruce Dern as her rotten husband and Karen Black as his mistress.

Director Clayton, filming mostly at Pinewood Studios, in Buckinghamshire, near London, lovingly establishes the 1920s American period atmosphere, with the help of Nelson Riddle’s Oscar-winning music score, the gorgeous costumes (designed by Theoni V Aldredge who won an Oscar too), John Box’s loving set designs and the luminous photography by the great British cinematographer Douglas Slocombe.

Francis Ford Coppola’s screenplay adaptation of a tricky book to turn into a movie actually works, and it’s a shame he didn’t also direct because there’s a damaging hollowness and shortage of dynamism and drive about Clayton’s lifeless handling of the film. He simply puts too much obsessive TLC into Gatsby.

The film is not Fitzgerald’s novel, nor his characters, but instead it is exactly what it should be – its own thing. It is not great Gatsby but it is good Gatsby and it is recommended for patient romantics. The problem is, as always, if Gatsby is a tasteless fool and Daisy is a silly beauty how can audiences care about their love?

Also in the cast are Scott Wilson, Sam Waterston, Lois Chiles, Howard Da Silva, Edward Herrman, Patsy Kensit, Roberts Blossom, Arthur Hughes, Beth Porter, Paul Tamarin, John Devlin, Vincent Schiavelli and Tom Ewell.

Da Silva also appears in the second 1949 version.

Producer Robert Evans bought the rights to the novel in 1971 by so that his wife Ali MacGraw could play Daisy, but she left him for Steve McQueen.

Coppola replaced Truman Capote as screenwriter but he comments: ‘Not that the director paid any attention to it. The script that I wrote did not get made.’

The Rosecliff and Marble House mansions in Newport, Rhode Island, were used for Gatsby’s house, while scenes at the Buchanans’ home were filmed at Pinewood Studios. A driving scene was shot in Windsor Great Park and other scenes were filmed in New York City and Uxbridge, Massachusetts.

As well as the two Academy Awards for Best Costume Design (Theoni V Aldredge) and Best Music (Nelson Riddle), it also won three BAFTA Awards for Best Art Direction (John Box), Best Cinematography (Douglas Slocombe) and Best Costume Design. It won a Golden Globe Award for Best Supporting Actress (Karen Black).

In 1988 Beth Porter became a film critic, joining The Critics’ Circle, and served for 10 years as London Editor for Film Journal International.

© Derek Winnert 2015 Classic Movie Review 2630

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