The Great Gatsby Movie Review

The Great Gatsby Critical Movie Review
The Great Gatsby is a movie that was made in 1974 by Paramount Pictures. It was directed by Jack Clayton, produced by David Merrick, which was taken from the screenplay written by Francis Ford Coppola. The movie is based off the 1925 novel written by F. Scott Fitzgerald, and the main actors in the movie are Robert Redford (Jay Gatsby), Mia Farrow (Daisy Buchanan), Bruce Dern (Tom Buchanan), and Sam Waterson (Nick Carraway). Although the movie didn’t go over very well with the critics, Theoni V. Aldredge’s stunning costume designs and Nelson Riddle’s background music won the film two Oscars.
The movie starts off when Nick moves into his new home, which is right next door to a big mansion. Nick is curious about his neighbor who is always throwing fancy parties but keeps to himself. This mysterious man is Jay Gatsby; he befriends Nick but never reveals the source of his wealth. Nick becomes best friends with Jay and is living the high life, but it seems the only thing that Jay cares about is winning the affection of Nick’s cousin, Daisy. Daisy is married to another rich man, Tom, who doesn’t seem to care for her too much and is actually physically abusive towards her, but she gets to live a more-than-comfortable life so why leave him? The whole movie is a big love battle between Gatsby and Daisy. He is trying to win a second chance with her, but she keeps going back and forth between Jay and Tom and can’t decide which man to love. So how else for this book to end beside everyone living miserable lives?
This movie paints a good picture of all the prosperity that American’s had in the 1920s and how badly they didn’t want to give it up. The Great Gatsby teaches the classic value that money can’t buy happiness. Jay thought he could just live the fast life and party all the time, but that isn’t what wins over the girl. Another common theme in The Great Gatsby is the yearning to live the “American dream”. Daisy figured if she could have everything she wanted- the money, the nice clothes, and the two men after her- her life would be perfect. The final theme I found in the book is that there are no second chances in life. The harder Gatsby tried the less likely it was that he would get a second chance with Daisy. The Great Gatsby is also historically accurate. The way the characters dressed matched the ways that most respectable men and women did in the 1920s; after all it did get an Oscar for the wardrobes. The houses looked old-timey and the actors were dressed very proper and had good manners. My favorite prop in the movie was the Model T car. It put the icing on the cake when placing a viewer in to the 1925 setting. Jack Clayton used a lot of slow moving shots for the viewer to take in all that was happening. There wasn’t a lot of talking in the movie. This helped the movie watcher feel the emotions that the actors were feeling. Another interesting way that the movie was put together was the fact that Nick was narrating it most of the time. It gives the perspective of an outside character telling a story about peoples lives, which makes it interesting and keeps someone from being bias to one side of the story. Also the lighting used in the movie was catchy but eerie, kind of like the theme of the movie: everything appears fine and dandy but there’s something not right about it.
This film is a good historical display of the way people lived in the 1920s. It doesn’t have to tell the straight facts; instead The Great Gatsby is a metaphorical example of the lifestyle people lived and how it can backfire. I think it is a good film to use in showing the history of American culture. The movie doesn’t show how the U.S. government or its relations with other countries was doing in the 1920s, but it is a great example of America’s social fabric. The Great Gatsby film was a brutal 2 and a half-hour long movie full of unnecessary zooms, pauses, and close ups. I have read the book and liked it a lot more than the video production. Where as the book touches on more of the social issues in the 1920s, the movie mainly focuses on the love affair between Daisy and Gatsby. This approach turned the film in to a melodramatic drama-romance. I think the movie would be better if the producers would have incorporated Nick in to the story line more. All in all I would recommend this movie to others because of its classic representation of American times.

Biliography:
"The Great Gatsby." Imdb. IMDb, n.d. Web. 6 Dec. 2012.