Of the four adapted to film, the 1974 version of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel, The Great Gatsby, is considered to be the closest to the original text. Jack Clayton (Room at the Top) directs Robert Redford and Mia Farrow in this 1920's romp. But what was supposed to be an intimate story of lust and loss seems to hide behind pretty set designs and costumes.
Francis Ford Coppola's attempt to be faithful the original leaves the actors with what is essentially a word for word copy of the book. Absent of Nick's key insight through narration that brought so much life to the novel cripples the story, causing only the essentials moments of the book to be left in to keep a plot going.
Sam Waterston as Nick Carraway is entertaining at most. Using only an occasional voice over to introduce scenes, that's all we hear from what's going on in Nick's head. The relationship between Jordan and Nick is not as prominent, focusing more on Gatsby then anything.
Redford (The Sting, Butch Cassidy......
Join Now or Login to view the rest of this paper.
Approximate Word Count: 361
Approximate Pages: 2 (260 words per double-spaced page) |