The Last Tycoon (1976)

Director:

Elia Kazan

Writers:

F. Scott Fitzgerald (novel)
Harold Pinter (writer)

Release Date:

19 noviembre 1976 (USA)

Genre:

Drama | Romance

Frase comercial:

He has the power to make anyone's dream come true... except his own.

Plot:

F.Scott Fitzgerald's novel is brought to life in this story of a movie producer slowly working himself to death. |

Plot Keywords:

Deliberate Cruelty | Widower | Movie Set | Earthquake | Beach House

Awards:

Nominated for Oscar.

Comentarios de los usuarios:

I didn't read the book

Cast

Robert De Niro	...	Monroe Stahr
Tony Curtis	...	Rodriguez
Robert Mitchum	...	Pat Brady
Jeanne Moreau	...	Didi
Jack Nicholson	...	Brimmer
Donald Pleasence	...	Boxley
Ray Milland	...	Fleishacker
Dana Andrews	...	Red Ridingwood
Ingrid Boulting	...	Kathleen Moore
Peter Strauss	...	Wylie
Theresa Russell	...	Cecilia Brady
Tige Andrews	...	Popolos
Morgan Farley	...	Marcus
John Carradine	...	Tour guide
Jeff Corey	...	Doctor

También conocida como:

Último magnate, El (Argentina) (Spain) [es]

Duración:

123 min

País:

USA

Idioma:

English

Color:

Black and White | Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Sonido:

Mono

Clasificación:

Netherlands:6 | Iceland:L | Sweden:11 | Australia:M (original rating) | USA:PG (certificate #24458) | Argentina:16 | Australia:MA | Finland:K-16 | UK:15

Company:

Academy Pictures Corporation

Trivialidades:

'Romy Schneider' turned down the role of Didi.

Quotes:

Monroe: I don't think I have more brains than a writer, I just think that his brains belong to me

Movie Connections:

References San Francisco (1936)

I didn't read the book

The few comments I've read here about the movie seem to refer quite a bit to Fitzgerald's book. I happen to believe that a movie should be judged on its own merits. The Last Tycoon, then, is probably one of those many movies that pales in comparison to the book. Nonetheless, this movie is an excellent work. De Niro is excellent as Monroe Stahr, the reclusive studio head who concerns himself more with the quality of a film rather than the revenue it would generate, an aspect that ultimately leads to his demise. Movies are a passion of his, soon superseded by an interest in a woman (Moore) who reminds him of a lost love. Ultimately, Stahr loses everything, his career and Moore, shattering his dreams of happiness with a disheartening realism.

This is the only Kazan movie I've ever seen, breaking a vow that I would never see one of his films after learning about his aggressively anti-communist (anti-freedom) history. Kazan does a wonderful job of directing, however, helped not in the least by an extremely talented cast (particularly noteworthy is De Niro's performance in his early Taxi Driver Raging Bull acting days). The woman who plays Moore could've done a better job, having this elusive, ethereal beauty at some points in the film, then an annoying vapidness in other parts. The movie portrays love and ambition in a humanizing light, without the gut wrenching sentimentality of many movies of this genre. Particularly wonderful was Stahr's acting of a certain scene twice (one to motivate a screenwriter named Boxley, and the other in the end of the film, a desperate coming to terms of a love lost twice). Also beautiful was the role movies played in Stahr's life; in one sense he vicariously experiences love in the films (and loses his love in the above-mentioned scene he acts out), and in another sense, movies mark the rise and fall of his power, as he fades into a dark, empty movie lot in the end.

Wonderful film... don't read the book, it'll only ruin it.