The Great Gatsby (1974 film)

The Great Gatsbyis a 1974 Americanhistorical romanticdrama filmbased on the1925 novelbyF. Scott Fitzgerald. The film was directed byJack Clayton, produced byDavid Merrick, and written byFrancis Ford Coppola. It starsRobert Redford,Mia Farrow,Sam Waterston,Bruce Dern, andKaren Black. The plot concerns the interactions of writerNick Carrawaywith enigmatic millionaireJay Gatsby(Redford) and Gatsby's obsession to reunite with his former lover,Daisy Buchanan(Farrow), amid the riotous parties of theJazz AgeonLong Islandnear New York City.
The Great Gatsbywas preceded by1926and1949films of the same name. Despite a mixed reception by critics, the 1974 film grossed over $26 million against a $7 million budget. Coppola later stated that the film failed to follow his screenplay. In 2013, afourth film adaptationwas produced.
Nick Carrawaypilots his boat across the harbor to his cousinDaisyand her husband Tom’s mansion in East Egg. While there, he learns Tom and Daisy's marriage is troubled and Tom is having an affair with a woman inNew York. Nick lives in a small cottage in West Egg, next to a mysterious tycoon namedGatsby, a formerOxfordstudent and decoratedWorld War Iveteran, who regularly throws extravagant parties at his home.
Tom takes Nick to meet his mistress, Myrtle, who is married to George Wilson, an automotive mechanic. George needs to purchase a vehicle from Tom, but Tom is only there to draw Myrtle to his city apartment, where he hits her in the face when she taunts him with Daisy's name.
Back onLong Island, Daisy wants to set Nick up with her friend, Jordan, aprofessional golfer. When Nick and Jordan attend a party at Gatsby's home, Nick is invited for a private meeting with Gatsby, who asks him to lunch the following day.
At lunch, Nick meets Gatsby's business partner, a Jewish gangster and gambler named Meyer Wolfsheim, who rigged the1919 World Series. The following day, Jordan appears at Nick's work and requests he invite Daisy to his house so that Gatsby can meet with her. Gatsby surprises Daisy at lunch, and it is revealed that Gatsby and Daisy were once lovers, though she would not marry him because he was poor.
Daisy and Gatsby have an affair, which soon becomes obvious. While Tom and Daisy entertain Gatsby, Jordan, and Nick at their home, Daisy, on a hot summer day, proposes they go into the city as a diversion. At thePlaza Hotel, Gatsby and Daisy reveal their affair and Gatsby wants Daisy to admit she never loved Tom. She is unable to and drives off in Gatsby's car.
During the drive home, Daisy hits Myrtle when Myrtle runs into the street. Believing that it was Gatsby who killed Myrtle, since Tom tells or implies this to him, George later goes to Gatsby's mansion and fatally shoots him as he relaxes in the swimming pool, then commits suicide.
Nick holds a funeral for Gatsby where he meets Gatsby's father and learns Gatsby's original name is "Gatz". No one else attends the funeral. Afterward, Daisy and Tom continue with their lives as though nothing occurred. Nick breaks up with Jordan and moves back west, frustrated with eastern ways, and lamenting Gatsby's inability to escape his past.
ProducerRobert Evansplanned on makingThe Great Gatsbywith his wifeAli MacGrawas Daisy as it was her favorite book.Evans hiredTruman Capoteto write a script that turned out to be unusable despite Capote's $300,000 fee.Evans made a deal withBroadway producerDavid Merrickas producer of the movie, and it was Merrick who bought the rights for between $350,000 and $500,000 fromF. Scott Fitzgerald's daughter,Frances "Scottie" Fitzgerald.
Evans originally soughtWarren Beattyfor the role of Jay Gatsby, but Beatty turned him down, reluctant to act opposite MacGraw.With Beatty out, Evans offered the role toJack Nicholson, but Nicholson also reportedly was wary of acting with MacGraw and was unable to make a financial deal.
Evans then sought 49-year-oldMarlon Brandofor the role coveted by 38-year-oldRobert Redford, who broke through to superstardom in 1973, the yearThe Great Gatsbyremake was lensed.Although Brando was too old for the part, he had reestablished himself as a box office star with the twin successes ofThe GodfatherandLast Tango in Paris. Incensed at his loss of income when he surrendered his profit participation points for $100,000 to Paramount before the release ofThe Godfather, Brando personally negotiated his deal, demanding an unprecedented salary reportedly as high as $4 million salary, frankly revealing that the high salary would recoup his losses from the sale of his points.Gulf + WesternCEOCharles Bludhorn, whose conglomerate owned Paramount, vetoed any such deal on the grounds that the two movies were separate entities. Brando refused to be inGodfather IIwhen his salary demands were not met.
Robert Redfordcampaigned for the role of Jay Gatsby, but Evans rebuffed him on the incorrect belief that Fitzgerald's text specified Gatsby had dark hair.Director Jack Clayton upbraided Evans for his lack of knowledge about the book and convinced him to cast Redford."I began to think Evans never read the book," Clayton recalled. "Sure, he liked the idea of doing a Fitzgerald [movie], but he didn't know the text. Nowhere in it does Fitzgerald say Gatsby's hair is dark."During this time, Ali MacGraw subsequently lost the part of Daisy after she left Evans forSteve McQueen.MacGraw and McQueen approached producer Merrick through their agents and offered themselves as a package,but McQueen was turned down on the grounds that Redford already was cast.Without McQueen as her co-star, she dropped the project, although Evans claimed it was he himself who terminated her participation in the movie.
"It was full of money—that was the inexhaustible charm that rose and fell in it, the jingle of it, the cymbals' song of it . . High in a white palace the king's daughter, the golden girl . ,"— Fitzgerald's conception of the voice of Daisy Buchanan.After Ali MacGraw's departure from the project,Candice BergenandKatharine Rossreportedly were offered the role of Daisy.Tuesday Weldis considered.Faye Dunawaywants the role so badly she maneuveres her knowledge of Hollywood to obtain a screen test, but Clayton still passes on a final decision.
What approach Clayton did not pass on wasMia Farrow's. She had the privilege to have for godfather legendary film directorGeorge Cukorwho had a historic link to the book: a young man beginning his career, he had directed the work's originalBroadwaystage adaptation in 1926.She sent a cable to producer Evans asking him to consider her for the role. DirectorJack Claytonfound agreement to go with this casting.
Truman Capotewas the original screenwriter but he was replaced byFrancis Ford Coppola.Coppola had just finished directingThe Godfather, but was unsure of its commercial reception and he needed the money.He got the job on the recommendation ofRobert Redford, who had liked a rewrite Coppola did onThe Way We Were.Coppola "had read Gatsby but wasn't familiar with it."He checked himself into a hotel room in Paris (Oscar Wilde's old room) and started.He later recalled:
On his commentary track for theDVDrelease ofThe Godfather, Coppola refers to writing theGatsbyscript, adding "Not that the director paid any attention to it. The script that I wrote did not get made."
William Goldman, who loved the novel, said in 2000 that he actively campaigned for the job of adapting the script, but he was astonished by the quality of Coppola's work:
TheRosecliffandMarble Housemansions inNewport, Rhode Islandand an exterior ofLinden Placemansion inBristol, Rhode Island, were used for Gatsby's house while scenes at the Buchanans' home were filmed atPinewood StudiosinBuckinghamshire, England. One driving scene was shot inWindsor Great Park, UK. Other scenes were filmed inNew York CityandUxbridge, Massachusetts.
VeterancroonerNick Lucaswas chosen by the film's musical directorNelson Riddleto newly record his arrangements of the songs, "I'm Gonna Charleston Back to Charleston", "When You and I Were Seventeen" and "Five Foot Two, Eyes of Blue" for the award-winning soundtrack.
The film received mixed reviews, being praised for its faithful interpretation of the novel but also criticized for lacking any true emotion or feelings towards theJazz Age. Based on 40 total reviews collected by Rotten Tomatoes, the film has an overall approval rating of 40%, with an average rating of 5/10. The critical consensus reads: "The Great Gatsbyproves that even a pair of tremendously talented leads aren't always enough to guarantee a successful adaptation of classic literary source material."Despite this, the film was a financial success, making $26,533,200against a $7 million budget.
Vincent Canby's 1974 review inThe New York Timestypifies the critical ambivalence: "The sets and costumes and most of the performances are exceptionally good, but the movie itself is as lifeless as a body that's been too long at the bottom of a swimming pool," Canby wrote at the time."As Fitzgerald wrote it,The Great Gatsbyis a good deal more than an ill-fated love story about the cruelties of the idle rich...The movie can't see this through all its giant closeups of pretty knees and dancing feet. It's frivolous without being much fun."
Stanley KauffmannofThe New Republicwrote: "In sum this picture is a total failure of every requisite sensibility. A long, slow, sickening bore."
Variety's review was likewise split: "Paramount's third pass atThe Great Gatsbyis by far the most concerted attempt to probe the peculiar ethos of the Beautiful People of the 1920s. The fascinating physical beauty of the $6 million-plus film complements the utter shallowness of most principal characters from the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel. Robert Redford is excellent in the title role, the mysterious gentleman of humble origins and bootlegging connections...The Francis Ford Coppola script and Jack Clayton's direction paint a savagely genteel portrait of an upper class generation that deserved in spades what it received circa 1929 and after."
Roger Ebertgave the movie two and a half stars out of four. Comparing film to the book details, Ebert stated: "The sound track contains narration by Nick that is based pretty closely on his narration in the novel. But we don't feel. We've been distanced by the movie's overproduction. Even the actors seem somewhat cowed by the occasion; an exception is Bruce Dern, who just goes ahead and gives us a convincing Tom Buchanan."
Tennessee Williams, in his bookMemoirs, wrote: "It seems to me that quite a few of my stories, as well as my one acts, would provide interesting and profitable material for the contemporary cinema, if committed to... such cinematic masters of direction as Jack Clayton, who made ofThe Great Gatsbya film that even surpassed, I think, the novel by Scott Fitzgerald."
Fitzgerald's daughter,Frances "Scottie" Fitzgerald, who sold the film rights, had reread her father's novel and noted howMia Farrowon-set looked the part as her father's Daisy, while Robert Redford also asked advice to match the author's intent, but her father, she noted, was more in the narrator, Nick.However, after viewing the film, Fitzgerald's daughter criticized Farrow's performance as Daisy.Although she praised Farrow as a "fine actress," Scottie noted that Farrow seemed unable to convey the "intensely Southern nature" of Daisy's character.
In the 2004documentary filmZ Channel: A Magnificent Obsession, a montage of scenes of films shown on the defunctZ Channelis played withWilliam Atherton's cover ofIrving Berlin's "What'll I Do?" from the 1974 adaptation.
The film won twoAcademy Awards, forBest Costume Design(Theoni V. Aldredge) andBest Music(Nelson Riddle).It also won threeBAFTA AwardsforBest Art Direction(John Box),Best Cinematography(Douglas Slocombe), andBest Costume Design(Theoni V. Aldredge). The male costumes were executed byRalph Lauren,and the female costumes byBarbara Matera. It won aGolden Globe AwardforBest Supporting Actress(Karen Black)and received three further nominations forBest Supporting Actor(Bruce DernandSam Waterston) andMost Promising Newcomer(Sam Waterston).
The soundtrack was released by Paramount Records (L45481)