On G List of Movie Reviews
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The Great Gatsby (1974)
Rate:
10
Viewed:
2/08
2/08:
Having been forced to read The Great Gatsby in high school and then again later on my own, I never really understood
its appeal.
So, I finally decided to see the cinematic version. I like the movie a lot, and it's everything I imagined the book to
be but better. Mia Farrow is very good as Daisy Buchanan. Robert Redford is perfect as Jay Gatsby. Bruce Dern gives
a wonderful performance as Tom Buchanan. Sam Waterston is well...Sam Waterston. Everybody else toes the line to keep up with
the main stars.
Although the film appears ambitious, the message is effective and subtle and comes across to me more clearly than the book
did. However, the principal characters are vapid and not worth caring about just like the book. To
illustrate this point, there are two scenes in either version that say it all what The Great Gatsby is about. The first
is when Daisy said she had never seen beautiful shirts like Gatsby's and thus had an orgasmic moment when the shirts were
thrown up in the air. The second is when Nick suddenly realized it's his birthday and I was like, "Huh?"
Many highlights are the Roaring Twenties costumes, the opulent cinematography, and the lavish interior sets.
I'm a firm believer of the adage: "Less is more." But for The Great Gatsby, why not go all out? And they just do.
All in all, The Great Gatsby is an underrated film that stays highly faithful but brings more meaning than the novel.