The Great Gatsby 1974

Vincent Canby, New York Times: The movie can't see this through all its giant closeups of pretty knees and dancing feet. It's frivolous without being much fun. Read more

Don Druker, Chicago Reader: Director Jack Clayton seems overawed by the opulence of the production as well as by the mythic presence of Fitzgerald -- and the result is a film of shimmering surface brilliance and almost complete lack of focus or substance. Read more

Stanley Kauffmann, The New Republic: In sum this picture is a total failure of every requisite sensibility. A long, slow, sickening bore. Read more

Roger Ebert, Chicago Sun-Times: The movie is 'faithful' to the novel with a vengeance -- to what happens in the novel, that is, and not to the feel, mood, and spirit of it. Read more

Jay Cocks, TIME Magazine: The film is faithful to the letter of F. Scott Fitzgerald's novel but entirely misses its spirit. Read more

Derek Adams, Time Out: A literary adaptation that continually begs detrimental comparison with the novel, this relies too much on appearance, making little attempt to explore behind the beguiling '20s facade. Read more

Variety Staff, Variety: The Francis Coppola script and Jack Clayton's direction paint a savagely genteel portrait of an upper class generation that deserved in spades what it got circa 1929 and after. Read more