The Last Tycoon

Flawless recreation of 'old Hollywood' is let down by some ponderous stretches, but is overall a powerful drama sparked by a phenomenal mid-70s all-star cast (though Nicholson is essentially wasted and unusually subdued in a glorified cameo). De Niro, Mitchum and Pleasence share acting honours, and Kazan proves he remained a master of direction until the very end (and includes some perhaps telling references to those "damn commies"!)

I wanted to see more about the movie making parts, and less about the love stories and such, which were slow and not convincing. Had the woman character been more interesting, maybe the longing and melancholy from De Niro's character would have had the right impact. I almost didn't give this a passing grade.

Only watch if you're a De Niro completionist, he gives a good performance but the film overall is dull. Even Nicholson and their scene together is not very memorable.

54.500

Very good De Niro and Nicholson performances in a pretty dull movie.

50.250

impressive cast gets together and mostly sulk for 2 hours

Elia Kazan's final film, from F. Scott Fitzgerald's final novel about a brilliant film producer (Robert De Niro). It has some fine moments: the producer's doomed romance with a mysterious woman (Ingrid Boulting), his feud with a Communist organizer (Jack Nicholson), and various scenes of wheeling and dealing. But Harold Pinter's script isn't one of his best works, and the ending is enigmatic in the most pretentious way. The acting and production values are solid; good score by Maurice Jarre.

Flat like a pancake, but there's production values.

Pretty dull and boring, even De Niro cannot make it up, though he is doing his best.

Surely feels like the work of the writer of The Great Gatsby. It's felt in the obsession with a dull, wispy woman and in the symbolism of a house that will never be finished. Kazan's final film has a somnolent pace that speaks of personal tragedy, but there is intelligence and formal beauty in every scene, and also in the way De Niro handles the production aspect of the studio. Billy Wilder captured this world in Sunset Blvd, and it's back here in all its coziness and glorious superficiality.

Two swan songs in one.