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The Great Gatsby (1974)

Rate: 10
Viewed: 2/08, 1/26

Gatsby
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. However, the principal characters are vapid and not worth caring about. 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 they 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 it just does. By the way, the little girl who plays the daughter is Patsy Kensit who's recognizable as the babe in Lethal Weapon 2 and the messed-up sister in Angels & Insects.

All in all, The Great Gatsby is an underrated film that stays highly faithful but brings more meaning than the novel.

1/26: My rating still holds for The Great Gatsby.

What jumps out the most is Douglas Slocombe's cinematography. That's how the book should be done on film with a great deal of opulence. The cast is perfect. I wouldn't have thought of Mia Farrow as Daisy Buchanan, but she played the role to the fullest. Robert Redford will always be Jay Gatsby who's obsessed with her for the wrong reasons. Everybody else is very good.

All in all, ignore the critics; The Great Gatsby is a masterpiece.