Director: Elia Kazan
Writer: Harold Pinter (Screenplay) F Scott Fitzgerald (Novel)
Starring: Robert De Niro, Tony Curtis, Robert Mitchum, Jeanne Moreau, Jack Nicholson, Donald Pleasence, Ray Milland
Plot: F. Scott Fitzgerald‘s novel is brought to life in this story of a movie producer slowly working himself to death.
Tagline – He has the power to make anyone’s dream come true… except his own.
Runtime: 2 Hours 3 Minutes
There may be spoilers the rest of the review
Verdict: Strangely Important Movie
Story: The Last Tycoon starts as we see how Monroe Stahr (De Niro) is working on the latest film, finding the right points to make it the production company’s next big hit, his superiors including Pat Bray (Mitchum) question this latest method even if the boss trusts his ideas without a doubt.
We follow Monroe as he conducts the business and uses his position of power to seduce aspiring actresses, while his health only continues to worsen by not taking the break his doctors are giving him.
Thoughts on The Last Tycoon
Characters – Monroe is the hotshot producer that can make any film work for his production company, he sees the little flaws in movies to fix them before they get released, he over works himself, but using his position got find actresses. Rodriguez is one of the starts of the studio that has worked with Monroe for years, the only one that will help him. Pat Brady is the senior production manager or something like that for the studio, he is against Monroe’s decisions at times, fearing for the studio.
Performances – The do have an amazing cast for this movie, Robert De Niro takes the center stage and of course this was when every role he did gave us something to remember. With Tony Curtis and Robert Mitchum taking the main supporting roles we have nothing to fear with performances here.
Story – The story follows one movie producer as he is searching for perfection on this next movie, while also keeping himself attached to enough women. We see his mental and physical health decline with his over working, but the truth is, even with a wonderful cast this just doesn’t become interesting enough for us to watch.
Romance – The film claims to be a romance, but I am not sure why, we only meet a womaniser.
Settings – The film takes place in Hollywood which puts us into the world we are going to be taking on, it works without being anything special.
Scene of the Movie – Fixing the film.
That Moment That Annoyed Me – Seems boring
Final Thoughts – This is an example of older films which would have worked well at the time but doesn’t anymore, the performances are wonderful, but the story drags.
Overall: Dated movie
Rating
