Comments on: The Okay Gatsby

By: DCairns

DCairns — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 19:27:59 +0000

I wish I could have seen her cabaret act, singing Bowie’s “Time” while dressed as a stormtrooper (Nazi, not Imperial).

By: David Ehrenstein

David Ehrenstein — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 17:17:16 +0000

Karen Black is at her most unforgettable in The Day of the Locust.

By: dcairns

dcairns — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 14:59:31 +0000

Sam W’s kind of like that in every film, so he’s ideal — if you actually need the character in a film at all. Maybe the camera should have his role.

Is there a really successful film or TV adaptation of Fitzgerald out there at all?

I vaguely thought the Pat Hobby stories could make a good mini-sitcom, they have some of the same great cringe factor as Extras.

By: Levi Stahl

Levi Stahl — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 14:43:43 +0000

Nick Carraway must be a tough acting assignment–much like Nick Jenkins in Anthony Powell’s A Dance to the Music of Time, he’s mostly just there: watching, thinking, sometimes finding himself unwittingly complicit. It’s the portrayal of a thinking window.

And I think was actually remembering both Chiles and Black: I remember Jordan Baker’s voice absolutely making the role, and I remember Black being very good just because she’s unforgettable. So my brain is only about half mush.

By: dcairns

dcairns — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 11:14:52 +0000

Dedication = Buster Keaton.

Sadly, Redford shows also that you can be dedicated and talented and still not terribly interesting, at least much of the time.

Gatsby also has the problem of a passive central figure (Sam Waterson) multiplied by a passive-seeming Redford, Despite compression, the first 2/3rds drag along. It’s gratifying whenever Bruce Dern appears and gets the film up on its feet.

This and Coming Home suggest that the archetypal Bruce Dern part is The Unsympathetic Cuckold — not the most rewarding role to be typed in, but he’s the right kind of complex actor to pull it off.

By: dcairns

dcairns — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 10:41:32 +0000

Black is great, as ever. Lois Chiles is stunning, with a great voice. she’s very cool but doesn’t have to do much obvious Acting. But I was amazed how effective she was, since I recall her failing as a Bond girl. The difference in directors might account for that.
If you remembered somebody being stunning to look at, Chiles. Stunning performance (and V. REWARDING to look at), Black.

By: Levi Stahl

Levi Stahl — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 01:34:04 +0000

I remember thinking Karen Black was great in The Great Gatsby, but now I see from the IMDB that she didn’t play Jordan Baker, as I’d thought, but Myrtle Wilson. So what do I remember: was Black great or am I thinking of Lois Chiles, who actually played Jordan Baker?

By: David Ehrenstein

David Ehrenstein — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 00:29:41 +0000

Indeed. But it’s why the film doesn’t come off — though Clayton’s direction is admirable overall.

By: Zach Rosenau

Zach Rosenau — Sun, 13 Jan 2008 00:11:13 +0000

Robert Redford was always boring to me (outside his essential pairing with Paul Newman) until I saw…The Great Waldo Pepper, in which it is clear to me that he may in fact be the most dedicated actor…EVER.

Think about acting on the wing of a plane being piloted by your film’s director!!! Wow!

By: dcairns

dcairns — Sat, 12 Jan 2008 22:45:46 +0000

Clayton apparently cast Redford after sensing an air of danger about him. I think he may be the only person who ever sensed that, it certainly doesn’t photograph.

If Biskind’s book is at all reliable, and I’m not sure if it is — you would know better than I — “passive” does seem a good word for RR.

Mia Farrow is AMAZING.

Robert Blake is AMAZING also. His In Cold Blood killing partner, Scott Wilson, is very good in The GG.

So what’s needed for Jay G is an actor who seems like Redford but is like Blake underneath? A tall order…