The Great Gatsby

This stunning production with its splendid cinematography and its intelligent script by Francis Ford Coppola captures the essence of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel of the man who pursues his preposterous dream. Robert Redford is utterly convincing as the enigmatic protagonist, Gatsby, whose personality "seemed to face . . . the whole external world for an instant, and then concentrated on you, with an irresistible prejudice in your favor" [Fitzgerald, Chapter 3]. Young Sam Waterston portrays a believable Nick Carraway, Fitzgerald's narrator and empathetic observer; and while some reviewers have criticized Mia Farrow's performance, in my view, she is pitch perfect as the shallow, spoiled young woman whose "artificial world was redolent of orchids and pleasant, cheerful snobbery and orchestras which set the rhythm of the year, summing up the sadness and suggestiveness of life in new tunes" [F. Ch. 8]. Farrow's performance makes us understand how Daisy's porcelain beauty and fecklessness could ignite the obsession of a man who has, after all, invented his own persona. Both of them are equally unreal.

The production values are superb. The settings, the music, and magnificent costumes--the pastel beaded silks and satin pumps, the feathered head-dresses--convincingly portray privileged wealth of the 1920s, which would soon plummet into the Depression--the great Valley of Ashes that infected the 1930s and indeed contaminated the entire twentieth century.

I bought this for my 17 yr old daughter as she had just read the book in her English class. I had seen it when it originally came out. My daughter LOVED it and shared it with her friends. She felt it was very true to the book.

I saw this movie for the first time when I was teaching my juniors in English about the novel. The movie really helped the book come to life for them and the cast is brilliant! Excellent movie and I am glad that I have finally added it to my collection!

As an English teacher, I teach the novel by Fitzgerald every year. This film adaptation is just delightful...Mia Farrow is an appropriately ditzy yet tragic Daisy and Redford...ahhh...Redford. I highly recommend!

I had the pleasure recently of re-reading the book and then watching both film versions. This version is definitely the one to watch. Not perfect by any means, the Robert Redford, Sam Waterston, Bruce Dern, and Mia Farrow version essentially captures the subtext of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel of the vapid lifestyle of the rich before the 1929 crash. Thanks to a superior script by Francis Ford Coppola and great acting by the entire cast, the meanning of Fitzgerald's novel become very clear with overstating the obvious. This film is a perfect companion to any discussion of the novel. Reviewers who cannot see what Gatsby sees in the flighty Daisy miss the point of the novel.