Despite the fact that it starred box-office giant, Alan Ladd, this version was lucky to break even - unlike the 1974 version which actually lost money (although it was lensed on a far more extravagant scale). Both films suffer from almost identical flaws. Both tend to be dull, tedious and uninteresting. Both Ladd and Robert Redford are unconvincing. The Ladd version is further burdened with a stolid performance from Macdonald Carey and hysterical over-acting from Betty Field. True, Barry Sullivan as Tom, Howard Da Sylva as Wilson and Shelley Winters as his wife, do give their roles some bite, but their commendable efforts are somewhat undermined by the movie's odd construction of flashbacks within flashbacks (which often don't return to the flashback they started with).
At least Francis Ford Coppola's wordy screenplay for the 1974 film does eliminate all the flashbacks. However, to do this he has been forced to make Sam Waterston, rather than Gatsby or Daisy, the central character. Waterston does a reasonable job, considering the vapid script. On the other hand, Redford, who makes a surprisingly late entrance, does virtually nothing at all. He plays the character with little charisma and in such a stolidly dead-pan, offhanded way that I assumed his constant use of the expression, "old sport", was deliberately designed to mock or annoy his guests.
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