This was Paramount's third stab at bringing F Scott Fitzgerald's jazz-age classic to the screen. Robert Redford is unquestionably more handsome than Alan Ladd (who starred in the 1949 version), but he's no more demonstrative or credible as the millionaire with a dark past. Mia Farrow, meanwhile, is better cast than Betty Field, though her Daisy Buchanan is more skittishly irresponsible than irresistibly infatuating. While Jack Clayton's direction is suitably languid, the lush imagery only reinforces the superficiality of Francis Ford Coppola's reverential script. Hopelessly middlebrow, this is a film of considerable beauty, but only surface depth.

Nick Carraway, a young Midwesterner now living on Long Island, finds himself fascinated by the mysterious past and lavish lifestyle of his neighbor, the nouveau riche Jay Gatsby. He is drawn into Gatsby's circle, becoming a witness to obsession and tragedy.