I first considered myself at a disadvantage to comment upon a filmed version of 'The Great Gatsby,' being that I hadn't read the book for years, and even then, I really wasn't old or experienced enough to really appreciate it. But this is instead the best way to approach a film adaptation of a novel - if you have no prejudices based on another incarnation, you can be free to interpret the material fresh.
I last saw the 1974 film version of 'The Great Gatsby' at the same time I read the novel - roughly 15 years ago when I was in high school. At that time, I can't remember the film making much impression on me, other than seeing a parallel to the character Robert Redford played in 'Indecent Proposal.' Today, it's hard to believe this film came out in the midst one of Hollywood's greatest periods. I was surprised to see Francis Ford Coppola credited as the screenwriter. This film was released, in fact, the same year that Coppola's masterpieces 'The Godfather Part II' and 'The Conversation' were released. Actually comparing 'The Conversation' to 'The Great Gatsby,' the two films seem to come from completely different eras of filmmaking.
The story is told through the eyes of Nick Carraway (Sam Waterston), who lives in a modest Long Island home next door to the mysterious Gatsby (Robert Redford), who it turns out carries a torch for Nick's cousin Daisy (Mia Farrow). The tale eventually turns to tragedy worthy of Shakespeare, though as it plays out in this film version, it feels contrived. The biggest sabotage to this film is putting too much emphasis on the Daisy-Gatsby romance, carried on with much gauzy, soft-focus photography and sappy music. I'm not sure what audiences thought of this stuff in the '70s, but I know it's laughable to modern audiences (ask any of the hundreds of people who showed up to Tampa Theatre this past weekend). The spends a lot of time building up the characters coming together, then revels in their time together, neglecting the thematic reasons it all happens. The romance is its own end.
A lot of the film feels as if it were directed for the stage. Some performances (particularly Farrow's) are ridiculously over-the-top, as if the actors were trying to make their presence felt in the rafters. In scenes that involve more than dialogue, the film is hobbled by perfunctory staging and editing that feels like cheap television work.
The tragedy of 'Gatsby' for me is that there are a lot of ideas swimming around under the surface that are never quite crystalized. Bruce Dern turns in an interesting performance as Daisy's husband, Tom, spouting off ignorantly about the world, but not as a caricature. The themes about the world of class and privilege lacking morality are glossed over in some ways, but other elements of the story are incredibly heavy handed (the visual and theme of the Dr. T.J. Eckleburg billboard are horribly belabored). The scenes of Gatsby's parties are effective spectacles however, with various patrons dancing and drinking with abandon, spilling over into fountains and in some cases, never leaving. But all of that spectacle never paid off thematically. All it did was make me want to return to the novel and see what this story was supposed to be about in the first place.