The Great Gatsby Movies
The Great Gatsby
The Great Gatsby movies are all an American romantic drama film based on the 1925 novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald. The Great Gatsby has several versions including a 1926 silent film.
- 1926 Version — (80 minutes)
- 1949 Version — (91 minutes)
- 1974 Version — (149 minutes)
- 2000 Version — (90 minutes)
- 2013 Version — (142 minutes)
1926
The silent film adaptation was made in 1926, just one year after the novel came out. Warner Baxter portrayed Jay Gatsby and Lois Wilson portrayed Daisy Buchanan. The film was produced by Famous Players–Lasky, and distributed by Paramount Pictures.
The film's director Herbert Brenon designed The Great Gatsby as lightweight, popular entertainment, playing up the party scenes at Gatsby's mansion and emphasizing their scandalous elements. The film had a running time of 80 minutes, or 7,296 feet.
All that has survived from the film is a one-minute trailer. Extensive efforts by Professor Wheeler Winston Dixon have been made to recover an original print of the film but to no avail so far. Rumors say a surviving copy is in an "unknown film archive in Moscow" but Dixon dismissed those rumors as unfounded.
1949
This version was directed by Elliott Nugent, and produced by Richard Maibaum, from a screenplay by Richard Maibaum and Cyril Hume. The film stars Alan Ladd, Betty Field, Macdonald Carey, Ruth Hussey, and Barry Sullivan, and features Shelley Winters and Howard Da Silva, the latter of whom later appeared in the 1974 version.
This version was delayed by censors and then heavily censored. Due to such censorship, film critics noted that the final film contained very little of "the flavor of the Prohibition era". It was said that the baneful influence of prohibition and the disillusionment of post-World War I" were conspicuously absent despite the Jazz Age setting.
1974
Big budget adaptations begin with this version. In fact, two especially big-budget, well-known versions include this one starring Robert Redford and the 2013 film with Leonardo DiCaprio. The film was directed by Jack Clayton, produced by David Merrick, and written by Francis Ford Coppola. It stars Robert Redford in the title role of Jay Gatsby, along with Mia Farrow, Sam Waterston, Bruce Dern, and Karen Black.
Truman Capote was the original screenwriter but he was replaced by Francis Ford Coppola. Coppola believes he got the job on the recommendation of Robert Redford, who had liked a rewrite Coppola did on The Way We Were. Coppola "had read Gatsby but wasn't familiar with it." William Goldman, who loved the novel, said in 2000 that he actively campaigned for the job of adapting the script, but was astonished by the quality of Coppola's work.
2000
The looser adaptation, “G,” set in the world of hip-hop, a 2000 TV movie directed by Robert Markowitz. It stars Toby Stephens in the title role of Jay Gatsby, Mira Sorvino as Daisy Buchanan, Paul Rudd as Nick Carraway, Martin Donovan as Tom Buchanan, Francie Swift as Jordan Baker, Heather Goldenhersh as Myrtle Wilson, and Matt Malloy as Klipspringer.
Hampered by a limited budget of $5 million and hastily filmed in Montreal, Canada, in order to reduce costs, this A&E television adaptation suffered from low production values, and the critical response upon its broadcast release was overwhelmingly negative. Mira Sorvino's performance as Daisy Buchanan was roundly criticized.
2013
This big budget version was co-written and directed by Baz Luhrmann and stars Leonardo DiCaprio, Tobey Maguire, Carey Mulligan, Joel Edgerton, Isla Fisher, Jason Clarke, and Elizabeth Debicki. The controversial race baiting Jay-Z served as executive producer. The movie was mostly well received with mixed reviews.
