Review of The Great Gatsby (1974) by Samuel B — 02 Mar 2013

The Great Gatsby was based off of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel of the same name. It takes place in the roaring twenties when the economy was soaring and everybody was getting rich. It is narrated by Nick Carraway (Sam Waterston). A difference between the movie and the book is that the book is narrated completely by Nick, and he has to be there. The movie has scenes where Nick is not present. That is the one big difference between the movie and the book. In the book you learn about a lot of things that happened through gossip, but in the movie you see more things, and not everything is through gossip.

The Great Gatsby was a literary masterpiece, but a really bad movie. It is bad because of casting choices to play certain characters. Robert Redford played jay Gatsby, and I honestly thought he was the only good casting choice. Mia Farrow did a terrible job playing Daisy Buchanan. You hated her character just as much as you did in the book, but she could have been a little bit less over the top with her acting. I always thought she had an annoying speaking voice, but she sounds incredibly childish in this movie. You can play a character that is supposed to be terrible and make her a little less annoying. She doesn't have to be so over the top and childish. Way too whiny, and I couldn't stand her. Karen Black was the exact same way. She played Myrtle Wilson just as badly as Mia Farrow played Daisy Buchanan. The men aren't as annoying as the woman, but you hate them too. Gatsby is the only one you like. All of the people in this movie are vile, deceitful, and they cheat on their spouses.

Jay Gatsby (Robert Redford) is the only likeable character in this, but he is incredibly flawed. He is positive, and successful. He wants to be part of the crowd that is called "old money." He can't be part of it however, because he didn't inherit anything, he came from nothing and made something out of himself. Part of the ridiculousness of the story is how people who inherited their money look down on people who earned their money. They gossip and put down put like Gatsby, and they are really stereotypical rich people. They are snobby, arrogant, and you hate them if you aren't like them.

Another thing about Gatsby is that he is delusional, and he wants to be with people who aren't as good as him. In my opinion he is better then every other character put together. He just can't see that, because he is so driven to get what he wants, that he won't consider the fact that it may not be worth the effort. If he did he would be much happier, and he would live his life much better. You like him but you really wish he were wiser in certain areas. He also wants to be with Daisy who is an awful person. He continues to fantasize about her obsessively, but she isn't even worth it. It ends up doing him bad at the end.

The movie could have been great because it is very similar to the book, and it was written by the author of the book F. Scott Fitzgerald, and by the famous Oscar winning director Francis Ford Coppola. The film had all of the elements you needed to be a classic, besides good acting. The acting really made the film awful. I also hate it how nothing gets resolved in the end. It is depressing, and it bothers you through out the movie. The film would have been a classic if something got resolved in the end, and if the acting was better. Because honestly those were the only two flaws, but they ruined the movie completely.