It was the most anticipated movie of the decade. People were literally obsessed. Long before the first frame was even shot, the cast of The Great Gatsby 1974 was under a microscopic lens that would make modern Twitter stans look chill. Paramount Pictures wasn't just making a movie; they were trying to manufacture a cultural earthquake. They had the $6 million budget—huge for the time—and a screenplay by Francis Ford Coppola. But as history shows, throwing all the right ingredients into a pot doesn't always guarantee a meal anyone actually wants to eat.
Honestly, looking back at it fifty years later, the 1974 adaptation is a fascinating case study in "beautiful failure." It looks like a dream but often moves like a nap.
The Casting Gamble That Defined a Decade
Robert Redford was the only choice for Jay Gatsby. At least, that's what the studio thought. He was at the absolute peak of his "golden boy" powers, fresh off The Way We Were and The Sting. He had that untouchable, distant quality that Gatsby needs. But here's the thing: some critics felt he was too distant. He was so busy looking like a statue of a god that he forgot to show us the desperate, sweating striver underneath the pink suit.
Then you have Mia Farrow as Daisy Buchanan. This was controversial from day one. People wanted Faye Dunaway. They wanted Ali MacGraw. Instead, they got Farrow’s ethereal, almost ghost-like fragility. It changed the whole vibe of the movie.
1974 was a weird time for Hollywood. They were caught between the gritty "New Hollywood" realism of the early 70s and a desperate desire to return to old-school glamour. You can see that tension in every scene. The clothes were so influential that they actually sparked a "Gatsby Look" trend in menswear, thanks to Ralph Lauren’s involvement with the costumes, but the actors often looked like they were terrified of wrinkling their linen.
Robert Redford: The Man Who Was Too Perfect?
Redford’s Gatsby is basically a walking Ralph Lauren advertisement. He’s stunning. But if you read the F. Scott Fitzgerald novel, Gatsby is supposed to be a bit of a "new money" try-hard. Redford, by contrast, looks like he was born on a yacht in Newport.
He played Gatsby with a stiff, guarded elegance. It worked for the mystery, sure. But did it work for the romance? Critics like Pauline Kael were famously brutal, suggesting the chemistry between Redford and Farrow was practically non-existent. It’s like watching two beautiful magnets that are both the same pole—they just keep pushing each other away instead of clicking.
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Mia Farrow and the High-Pitched Heartbreak of Daisy
Daisy Buchanan is a difficult role. She’s "gleaming like silver, safe and proud above the hot struggles of the poor." Farrow captured the "safe and proud" part through a lens of sheer nervous exhaustion.
Some fans of the book hate her performance. They find it too flighty, too breathy. Others argue she’s the only one who actually understood the assignment. Daisy isn’t supposed to be a hero; she’s a disaster wrapped in silk. Farrow plays her like a woman who is constantly about to shatter into a million pieces. It’s haunting, even if it’s hard to watch.
The Supporting Players Who Stole the Show
While everyone was busy arguing about Redford and Farrow, the supporting cast of The Great Gatsby 1974 was quietly doing the heavy lifting. This is where the movie actually finds its pulse.
- Bruce Dern as Tom Buchanan: This was a stroke of genius. Dern has this innate ability to look like he’s about to punch someone even when he’s smiling. He made Tom Buchanan genuinely terrifying and arrogant in a way that felt grounded. He wasn't a cartoon villain; he was just a rich guy who truly believed the world belonged to him.
- Karen Black as Myrtle Wilson: She brought a desperate, sweaty energy to the film that it desperately needed. Amidst all the cool blues and whites of the Long Island mansions, Black’s Myrtle was a flash of hot, tragic red.
- Sam Waterston as Nick Carraway: Long before he was the face of Law & Order, Waterston was the perfect "observer." He has those wide, judgmental, yet fascinated eyes. He’s the audience’s surrogate, and he plays the "midwesterner lost in the sauce" beat perfectly.
Lois Chiles also deserves a shout-out as Jordan Baker. She had that "hard, limited" quality Fitzgerald wrote about. She looked like she’d seen everything and found most of it boring. It’s a very underrated performance that often gets lost in the shuffle of the bigger names.
Why the 1974 Version Still Matters
We have the 2013 Baz Luhrmann version now. It’s loud, it’s fast, and it has Jay-Z on the soundtrack. So why do people keep going back to the '74 version?
It’s about the atmosphere. Director Jack Clayton didn’t want a frantic movie. He wanted a slow burn. The cinematography by Douglas Slocombe is legendary—everything is soft-focus, golden, and drenched in a sense of loss. It feels like a memory that is fading even as you’re looking at it.
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The cast of The Great Gatsby 1974 represents a specific moment in cinema when "Prestige" meant something different. It wasn't about CGI or fast cuts. It was about whether an actor could hold a silent close-up for thirty seconds without the audience getting bored. Redford could do it. Whether he was actually "Gatsby" or just "Redford being Gatsby" is the debate that will probably never end.
The Coppola Script Controversy
Did you know Francis Ford Coppola wrote the screenplay in about three weeks? He was stuck in a hotel room in Paris. He reportedly followed the book very closely—almost too closely.
A lot of the dialogue is lifted straight from Fitzgerald’s pages. This sounds like a good idea on paper, but it’s why the movie feels a bit "stagey." Real people don't always talk in poetic prose, and when you have actors as naturalistic as Bruce Dern mixed with the stylized dialogue, it creates a weird friction. It’s a beautiful friction, but friction nonetheless.
Common Misconceptions About the 1974 Film
People think the movie was a flop. It wasn't!
In reality, it was a massive commercial success. It made over $26 million at the box office, which was huge back then. The problem was the critical reception. The "New York Intellectual" crowd hated it. They thought it was hollow. But the public? They loved the clothes. They loved looking at Redford. They bought the soundtrack.
Another myth is that the cast didn't get along. While there wasn't a "wild party" vibe on set—Redford was notoriously private—the production was professional, if a bit strained by the heat during the Newport, Rhode Island filming. The "stiffness" you see on screen wasn't behind-the-scenes drama; it was a deliberate directorial choice to show how repressed these characters were.
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How to Appreciate the 1974 Cast Today
If you’re going to revisit this film, don't expect an action movie. Don't even expect a standard romance.
Look at the hands. Jack Clayton used a lot of close-ups of hands—nervous fidgeting, gripping drinks, reaching for the green light. The actors used their physicality to tell the story that the dialogue sometimes obscured.
- Watch Bruce Dern's face when he's not talking. He's always calculating.
- Listen to the silence between Redford and Farrow. It’s uncomfortable for a reason.
- Notice the sweat. Despite the "perfect" costumes, the film does a great job of showing how oppressive the summer heat was, mirroring the rising tensions of the plot.
The cast of The Great Gatsby 1974 might not be the definitive version for everyone, especially those who grew up with Leo DiCaprio’s "Old Sport" energy. But it remains the most faithful to the mood of the book—the feeling that the party is over, the lights are flickering, and everyone is just waiting for the crash.
If you want to understand the 1970s obsession with the 1920s, this is the blueprint. It’s a film about people who have everything but want the one thing they can't have: the past. And in that sense, Robert Redford was the perfect choice. He looked like a man who had everything, but his eyes always seemed to be looking at something just out of reach.
To dive deeper into the legacy of this era, your next step is to compare the 1974 costume design with modern Ralph Lauren collections. You'll see that the "Gatsby" influence didn't die in the 70s—it basically built the American luxury aesthetic we still use today. You should also check out the 1949 version starring Alan Ladd if you want to see how the "tough guy" Gatsby compares to Redford’s "golden boy" interpretation.