As the presence of World War II remains in the past, The Jazz Age preceding it correlates an intriguing footnote. This was a period in which style and substance for the American people was on the high. Employment was raging, as was a dance craze known as The Charleston. Formal wear was the norm and that created a sense of a proper establishment. Music was poignant and quaint with lush orchestral and Big Band arrangements. People appeared happy and strong. Confidence in life and the nation was steady because a gloomy 'Great War' had ended a decade ago. Productivity was booming and there was a feeling in the air that the natural high was going to stay alive forever. Just before the decade would end a very different picture would emerge. A bleak crawl in recovery would be sustained as critical banking and other financial institutions collapsed with the stock market starting in 1929. When The Great Depression period was over, World War II was in play and The Cold War era of hostility and fear was born. The 20's was going to be a time people would want to miss, but also a phase of illusion and glitter masking the fragility of prosperity.
The Great Gatsby, written by author F. Scott Fitzgerald, is iconic because it describes the best and the worst of The Jazz Age. There was a desire for success but also a propensity for excess. Part of that issue was the public policy of Prohibition. This was a law that made illegal both the sale and distribution of alcohol. Organized crime (with such dominant and polarizing figures like Al Capone) was on the rise in an opportunity to capitalize the consumption for the banned drink. This was the backdrop to which the novel was formed and to the lead character in taking center stage. The novel was written in 1922 and published in 1925, just four years before a stunning end to the flamboyant era. Fitzgerald is considered a literary pioneer to the 1920's, and had recognition already with a novel called This Side Of Paradise. The inspiration for Jay Gatsby's powerful romance with Daisy Buchanan was based off of Fitzgerald's own relationship with a wealthy Chicago socialite, Ginerva King. They had a relationship for two years (1915-1917) before it fell apart due to their differences in class.
At the time the novel was adapted into a film, The Great Gatsby had seen the screen just two times. Neither rendition was as famous or as noted as the 1974 classic. The presentation had been so notable that a television version was created in 2000, and a re-make is the works scheduled for late 2012.
The film had a famous cast and strong expectations with production. However, critics and viewers alike had panned it. In general, people felt that the sets and styles looked good, but a cold feeling was present in which the decade did not get a full representation. Most did appreciate how the scenes and dialogue were faithful to the original novel. It was a case of cynicism where the sense of immorality in all characters would justify the tragedy that followed in the 1930's.
In the beginning, getting the cast and writing team in line was complex. Actors like Warren Beatty and Steve McQueen were considered for the role of Gatsby. None of that worked out as they declined. Francis Ford Coppola, who would later go on to direct famous films such as The Godfather and Apocalypse Now, became the screenplay author. Vladimir Nabokov, most famous for writing the novel Lolita, assisted with him. Jack Clayton was the British director, but his filmography had been and has remained spotty. Robert Redford, who had a successful hit a year earlier with The Sting, came on board as Gatsby. To the character he brought a magic aura of desire and mystery. Mia Farrow, who held a place in horror-film history with Rosemary's Baby six years prior, landed the role of Daisy Buchanan. She brought in clear drama and sensitivity to the role, but also vanity and carelessness that epitomized the wealthy Daisy. Bruce Dern, who appeared in numerous movies and television shows throughout the 1960's, was the stern and unforgiving Tom Buchanan. This was the powerful and possessive husband to Daisy, and by consequence an enemy to Gatsby. Sam Waterston, who would later go on to star in the TV series Law & Order, portrayed the role of Nick Carraway with honesty and compassion. Karen Black, who would star in the last Alfred Hitchcock film two years later, took on the role of angst-ridden Myrtle Wilson. The supporting cast was a strong-willed crew who often appeared in television and movie productions.
The film opens on a pleasant note. Nick arrives at Long Island, New York in a less than upscale area known as West Egg. East Egg is where the Buchanans live, and that is the area known for the most wealthy. A clear class divide between "old money" (inherited) and "new money" (earned) is the backdrop to upper-class life. Those in East Egg will always know their finances are secure while the West Egg citizens fight to maintain their recent status in order to compete with the times. Nick has returned from World War I and is renting a house next to mysterious businessman, Jay Gatsby. Gatsby keeps to himself and hosts a series of lavish parties at his sprawling mansion. Nick is more of a restrained and quiet individual, content instead to build a balanced life for himself as a stock broker. Daisy is a cousin of Nick and is excited upon seeing him. When they meet, she tries to set him up with a golfing socialite friend of hers named Jordan Baker.
On the other side of town, there is the portion of Queens. In there, a place known as "The Valley Of The Ashes" dwells other characters. A man named George Wilson owns a garage and gas station. He is a simple but naive individual. His wife, Myrtle, has been having an affair with Tom. Nick is confronted with these facts when he goes into the city with Tom and is introduced to Myrtle at the apartment he has rented out for their affair. Tom has created another lifestyle of his wealthy world in which he hosts gatherings at the apartment, Myrtle dresses up and is presented as his woman, and all celebrate together as if this is their regular life. Nick, while maintaining a close loyalty with Daisy, says nothing of these events and keeps them quiet for Tom.
The secret mission of Gatsby is soon exposed. He had courted Daisy years ago but had gone into the war and lost contact with her. He has his mansion directly across the water from East Egg in order to be close to her. In fact, the green light on the dock of her property can be seen and is watched by him quite often at night. It is his hope that at some point she would wander into one of his parties and they would meet again. He makes an effort to befriend Nick in order to arrange a private meeting with Daisy. Nick is unassuming and cordial to the process. A part of him is suspicious about his neighbor but also intrigued.
Jordan facilitates the conversations between Gatsby and Nick initially. She knows his intentions with Daisy just as she knows what is going on between Tom and Myrtle. Jordan appears cold but decisive and her emotions are very rarely in the equation. However, she has her eye on Nick and tries to get close to him. Amidst a collection of flowers set up in Nick's cottage, Daisy arrives and runs into Gatsby. Both are awe-struck and stand silent for a moment. Nick departs and lets the couple reconnect. Not long after, Daisy and Gatsby are drawn back into an affair. Part of the dilemma is that Tom has become a difficult husband with many clear exploits besides Myrtle. Part of the struggle is that Daisy knows her own social class has enslaved her and she must not deviate.
Gatsby hosts a party at his mansion in which the Buchanans attend. Daisy and Gatsby sneak off for some private time together while Nick tries to play off the scene to Tom. Jordan is paying close attention to the drama and wondering what the next move is. By the conclusion, Tom suspects that his wife is carrying on with the mysterious businessman and sets out to figure out how he got his money. The story Gatsby has told is that he inherited money, studied at Oxford and owns several drug stores.
As the film nears its half point, Gatsby tells Daisy that he wants her to break things off with Tom. At the same time, George has discovered that Myrtle has been having an affair and decides he must leave town with her in order to keep her. A confrontation occurs at the Plaza Hotel in which Gatsby declares that Daisy has always loved him and will be leaving Tom for good. Tom makes insults and threats in response. Daisy tries to keep the peace, but breaks down in tears and tells her beau that he wants too much by asking her to wipe out her entire relationship history with Tom. After all, she and Tom have a daughter together. A fight is nearing between the two men and Daisy rushes out of the hotel in hysterics. Gatsby follows in hot pursuit and Tom chases after. Inside the dining area of the hotel, Tom blurts out how Gatsby really earned his money through bootlegging.
At the same time, a forlorn Nick recognizes that this day is his thirtieth birthday. Gatsby and Daisy are heading out of the city in his yellow Rolls-Royce. However, on the way to the city the cars were switched and it was Tom driving the vehicle. He stopped for gas and had a brief conversation with George in which the garage owner sadly said he was leaving. Myrtle is upstairs and locked in the bedroom as the yellow car drives by a second time. Believing it is Tom, she rushes out into the street to try and talk to him. An accident occurs and Myrtle is killed, but the car drives off before anyone can see it. Nick and Tom discover the circumstances while driving home hours later. Despite having used and mistreated Myrtle, Tom is devastated and cries at the sight of the tragedy.
What the rest of the characters do not know is that Daisy was the one driving the car. Gatsby thought it would calm her to be behind the wheel when they left the hotel. Based on witness reports, Tom believes it was Gatsby driving. George, who had already caught onto the affair that Myrtle was having, believes this mysterious rich guy is the man his wife had been seeing. Only Nick becomes privy to the situation. The next day Gatsby lets it slip that it was Daisy at the wheel. Nick suggests that Gatsby go out of town for a while until things calm down, but Gatsby is insistent that Daisy needs his presence more than ever. He believes when the drama settles down that she will leave Tom and come for him.
George, despondent beyond consolation over Myrtle's brutal death, takes it upon himself to seek revenge. He brings a gun and heads out of the Valley Of Ashes and into East Egg. He manages to locate the Buchanan household and scares Daisy, who sees him through the window. Tom goes outside to handle the situation and confronts George. George is seeking answers about the owner of the car and Tom lets him know who and where Gatsby is. As a result, George shows up at the Gatsby mansion and guns down the unsuspecting owner swimming face down in his pool. He proceeds to take his own life at the devastation of becoming a murderer. Police are called to the scene but very little crowd emerges. Nick is on hand, due to being the neighbor, and tries to keep as much of his friend's personal life from the story as he can.
The conclusion finally brings a sense of closure to the mystery. A man named Mr. Gatz arrives to see Nick and he identifies himself as Gatsby's father. Turns out that Gatz was the real last name and Jay had come from poor roots in North Dakota. He never went to Oxford and he never inherited any money as he claimed. He was a hard-working and driven individual intent on securing the only love he ever had in his life. Transforming into Gatsby and setting up shop in West Egg was the only way he could afford to compete for Daisy's heart. A funeral is held for Gatsby but with no important attendants outside of Nick and Mr. Gatz.
Several months later Nick finds himself eating in a hotel restaurant with Jordan. She reveals that the Buchanans are going away to Europe for a while as a new house gets built for them in the states. In a scene that best displays his pent-up anger, Nick lashes out against the careless behavior of Daisy and Tom. He resents the fact that Gatsby covered up the truth of the car accident and paid for that with his life. Daisy went on with life as business as usual and never made an effort to acknowledge the death of her beloved suitor. Nick vows to go back west and says that life in the east is too much for him. Jordan remarks that her own careless behavior is what must be the culprit for Nick in rejecting her.
Tom arrives at the table and is stunned with Nick refuses to shake his hand. Tom then details his side of the story. He insists he had to tell George who Gatsby was or he would have been killed on the stop. He then lets out his own grief over Myrtle and declares that Gatsby had this coming to him. Nick is upset and tries to reveal that it was Daisy driving, but Daisy arrives and breaks up the words. She appears adrift in her circumstances and tells Nick she hopes to see him at the new house when it opens up. The film ends as the Buchanan couple, wealthy and untouchable as the story opened up, leaves together without fallout from their choices.
The Great Gatsby stands as a powerful moment in film-making history. It transformed an epic piece of literature into a dazzling feature of old settings and emotional turmoil. Despite the fact that the 1920's was positive, a downturn and change across society was getting closer. While written well before the crash, Fitzgerald's book foreshadows how the decline of morality was going to pave the way into a decline of lifestyle. There were many words exchanged in which fear and prejudice were prevalent. For example, Tom remarks over tea with his companions when Nick first arrives that the black race could be destined to take over. In the confrontation at the Plaza, Buchanan lashes out at family institutions going downhill and interracial marriage becoming a possibility. All of this was well before the Civil Rights era. What the author has done is shown the idea of maintaining cultural power is what keeps the elites merciless in their pursuit for greed.
Class structure was never more visible in literature than in how Fitzgerald aligned it with The Great Gatsby. West Egg symbolizes a domain of peace away from the rush of money and style. East Egg is all the glitter and excitement that financial pursuits happen. Ironically enough, when Nick leaves town at the end he is going to the west and abandoning the east. There has always been a sense of idealism and romanticism about the flat terrain in the western part of the country as opposed to the bright and crowded cities in the east. Within the two factions of class sits the grim and decadent Valley Of The Ashes. There the Wilson couple dwells and each has their own idea of integrity in order to get out. George represents spirituality and principle, mostly by the way he gazes at a sign outside his window that he believes holds the eyes of God. In terms of upbringing, there is little difference between George and Gatsby. Both men were poor and both men went after women that did not love them fully for themselves. Jordan Baker is a wealthy person but takes a shine to the more humble Nick Carraway. Yet it is Nick who rejects her world because it led to such hardship around him. Nick is a mirror to both George and Gatsby; his values are aligned without stumble in the same fashion Gatsby loves Daisy, but he leaves the scene out of anger just as George goes out to perform murder as a protest against injustice.
The whole cast is to be commended for their commitment and style to the presentation. Robert Redford was the star and he makes it so by transforming Gatsby into a lovable and passionate man. Gatsby never changed his ideals or his vision in the quest to win over Daisy. Many viewers could identify with this love from afar. By contrast, Bruce Dern takes on a powerful lead as a ruthless and unapproachable wealthy magnate. All of the scenes have Tom brutalizing his women, like when he punched Myrtle in the nose for making a comment about Daisy. Through it all he manages to be compelling because there was a certain wit and charisma to his financial status. Mia Farrow has tremendous moments to let her personality ooze into the shallow but vibrant Daisy. In her scenes with Gatsby, Daisy becomes gentle and loving. Karen Black deserves praise for becoming a tragic person destined to sacrifice all of her dignity in order to hold onto a life she could never have. Sam Waterston is the narrator and conscience of the film. As Nick, he leaves behind a straightforward role that many could find themselves having similar reactions to.
The pacing of the film was delicate and sophisticated. Roaring Twenties music was spilling out of the phonograph and hyper flappers were dancing by water fountains. This film represents an unusual approach to a love story because it was life's circumstances, and not emotions, that kept the couple apart from happiness. All images will leaving the viewer pining for a lost time, just as Jay Gatsby carried the torch for Daisy Buchanan in all of his life.
Movie: The Great Gatsby
Director: Jack Clayton
Cast: Robert Redford, Mia Farrow, Bruce Dern, Karen Black, Sam Waterston
Studio: Paramount Pictures
Rating: PG
Running Time: 144 Minutes
Brian's Rating: 5-of-5 stars
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