The Great Gatsby (1974)

THE GREAT GATSBY was adapted for the screen by Francis Ford Coppola from F. Scott Fitzgerald's 1925 masterpiece about a handsome and enigmatic tycoon betrayed by the American Dream. Though self-made millionaire Jay Gatsby (Robert Redford) has been in love with the spoiled Daisy Buchanan (Mia Farrow) since his days as a poor boy in the Midwest, she's now married to a boorish philanderer (Bruce Dern) and seems more out of reach than ever. Gatsby's attempts to win Daisy back result in his tragic downfall, as witnessed and narrated by his neighbor and friend Nick Carraway (Sam Waterston). The result is a richly successful evocation of the Jazz Age and a tragic portrait of shallow lives ruined by wealth, brilliantly acted by Redford, Waterston, Dern, and the rest of the supporting cast.