Review of The Great Gatsby (1974) by Christine S — 07 Sep 2007

Wishing more from the movie version of Jay Gatsby. The portrayals of Daisy and Tom was acceptable. Fitzgerald's title invites us to ask: what is so great about Jay Gatsby. Nick in the book said: Only Gatsby, the man who gives his name to this book, was exempt from my reaction?Gatsby, who represented everything for which I have an unaffected scorn. If personality is an unbroken series of successful gestures, then there was something gorgeous about him, some heightened sensitivity to the promises of life, as if he were related to one of those intricate machines that register earthquakes ten thousand miles away. This responsiveness had nothing to do with that flabby impressionability which is dignified under the name of the ?creative temperament.?? it was an extraordinary gift for hope, a romantic readiness such as I have never found in any other person and which it is not likely I shall ever find again. No?Gatsby turned out all right at the end; it is what preyed on Gatsby, what foul dust floated in the wake of his dreams that temporarily closed out my interest in the abortive sorrows and short-winded elations of men.

As Nick said: "They were careless people, Tom and Daisy- they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made." The film does capture the essence of Gatsby's line:

"Her voice is full of money".