I was totally surprised at how great this film.You could feel your paranoia rise as the film went on and as you gradually learned the details of the real situation.

This is a must-see and one of the best documentaries - and films - of this year.

This is a gorgeous movie made by a gorgeous spirit.

Amazing worth wacthing. So good. Biased but well made with many good points.

Film Review: "The Last Tycoon" (1976)The last picture show of Director Elia Kazan (1909-2003), who takes F. Scott Fitzgerald's unfinished novel from 1941, adapted for the screen with help of screenwriter Harold Pinter (1930-2008), puts his signature on slow-burning intense character struggles in the Golden Era of Hollywood of the 1930s scenarios, where film studio executive Monroe Stahr, performed by beats underlining, matured-in-isolation actor Robert De Niro, who runs through the film like a train, taking on every obstacles as well as presented opportunities by encountering several women, choosing arguably the false kind to lose balance entirely, over his calmly received incomplete beach house of bliss; masterfully visualized in straight, uncompromising shots in scenes as Monroe's meeting with Mid-Western Writer Brimmer, portrayed by ultra-relaxed actor Jack Nicholson; in an evening of drinking, dining and ping-pong gaming, before a high-pitched hit strikes into this action-denying, quiet and classic drama-indulging two-hour-film about a life of executive producers, following furthermore actor Robert Mitchum (1917-1997) as wise-looking, yet office-women-intercoursing character of Pat Brady, his daughter Cecilia Brady, given face by 18-year-old actress Theresa Russell, who would have been the choice for a future wife in Monroe Stahr's position in order to come to terms of peacemaking. Nevertheless "The Last Tycoon" produced by the director's long-time-benefactor Sam Spiegel (1901-1985) does miss the universal messages for a wider audience to connect to, as the equally-titles 2016 TV show of 9 episodes, which needed exceeding thrills for the character of Monroe actually wants to get out, breaking free of it all, recalling the more-accomplished entertaining picture by Robert Altman "The Player" (1992, which finds satire beats to fight the here-centered black and white cinematic film-in-film moments between world-famous supporting cast Jeanne Moreau & Tony Curtis that probably can only be fully enjoyed by people, who have made the experience in producing some kind of visual-storytelling project in their lives, where the relentless, unforgiving force becomes evident that chances of happiness within are fleeting moments; suddenly there, gone forever, before the cycle renews itself.© 2017 Felix Alexander Dausend (Cinemajesty Entertainments LLC)

F. Scott Fitzgerald's time in Hollywood inspired him to write "The Last Tycoon", his final novel. Fitzgerald had a tendency to model his heroes on men he admired and then infuse them with a lot of himself. In this case he choose Irving Thalberg, who for a brief period in the late 20's and 30's was the "boy genius" production chief at M-G-M, until his death at the age of 37 in 1936. Thalberg was second to none in his instinctive feel for what would make a successful film but he only provided the bones for Fitzgerald's protagonist, the author fleshed the character out with little or no attempt to incorporate Thalberg's personality or private life. Instead Fitzgerald opted for Abraham Lincoln as the model for much of what was Monroe Stahr - including his novel's title, as Lincoln was frequently referred to by contemporary media as "The Tycoon" and like Stahr was fighting a war on many fronts.As a film, the "The Last Tycoon" (1976) is far less than the sum of its generally excellent parts, which could also be said of its unfinished source novel. It is full of structural discord that many viewers will find quite frustrating. A relatively large budget, excellent production design, fine performances by a cast nicely matched to the characters they play, clever editing, and first-class cinematography. Then throw in a screenplay that is true to its unfinished source novel. Yet instead of box office and critical success you get one of the more expensive flops in movie history. But you also get a very ambitious film that is about as interesting as any you will find, with a cutting edge story that is no less powerful for its extremely small target audience; all nicely matched by the ambitious, paternalistically cast, and expensive film-within-a-film that the title character is pushing though despite it being an obvious money-loser for the studio.The adaptation's trouble lies almost solely with the film's love interest, Kathleen Moore, played by Ingrid Boulting. Kathleen is all Fitzgerald, an Irish will-of-the-wisp given to irresponsible self-indulgences and beguiling frankness. Woman such as Kathleen were central to Fitzgerald's world view, he believed that they inspired and tortured any man cerebral and imaginative enough to appreciate them. While such a relationship can be translated to the screen (often easier than in a book because film is a visual medium), it will only connect with a small segment of viewers, most others will find it puzzling.The most interesting detail of the entire production is the way Boulting is costumed, lit, and filmed in her scenes. She glows in these shots because Kathleen is even more of an ethereal character than Gatsby's "Daisy", Monroe sees her as extremely delicate and light in a way that seems too perfect for his world. She is elusive to him, almost translucent, which only makes her all the more precious. Three years later this concept would be carried to its extreme in "All That Jazz" with Jessica Lange's "Angelique" who literally had no physical substance. The point from a "language of film" perspective is that a filmmaker presents a character in this manner to immediately clue viewers into that character representing an all-consuming motivational force that will drive the hero throughout the story - often to doom.Kathleen makes her entrance in one of the best scenes in cinema history; with the post-earthquake chaos of the flooding studio lot looking like 'thirty acres of fairyland' at night, a radiant mystery woman climbs down from a gigantic floating head (fabricated to be used by the studio as a prop the following week) and smiles at Monroe Stahr, the last of the great Hollywood princes.To its credit, the screenplay is true to Fitzgerald's vision and Boulting and DeNiro effectively bring their relationship dynamic to the big screen. But potential viewers should understand that their often nonverbal relationship is the core element of the entire film, the rest of the story is simply a backdrop. Fitzgerald struggled with "The Last Tycoon" because he was in effect writing two books in one: a "psychological" novel about Stahr and a social commentary about Hollywood. Harold Pinter's difficulties with the screenplay stemmed from the same issue Fitzgerald had been unable to resolve, just where to strike the balance between the two stories.The emphasis on Stahr means that the excellent supporting cast, from Tony Curtis as a troubled movie star to Robert Mitchum as a cynical studio head to Donald Pleasence as a perplexed English writer, do not get any substantial screen time; but are relegated to insubstantial supporting parts in the service of giving DeNiro the room to showcase his character's roller coaster of elation and sadness. The only exception is Teresa Russell's Cecilia (the story's Nick Carraway) whose sense of right and wrong helps to elevate her above the others.Then again, what do I know? I'm only a child.

Dear IMDb, Why isn't this film more well known? Yes, Ingrid Boulting did ruin it a little bit. She really wasn't up to the mark. You didn't feel that she was this unattainable woman.But the rest of the cast is first rate. I mean, De Niro, Nicholson and Mitchum in the same film - it is one of the great star casts of the 70s. De Niro gets some great chances to show off his acting skills. And then there is Theresa Russell, Tony Curtis and Donald Pleasance lending support.The film is really understated. Maybe it lacked narrative punctuation - I mean those two to three magnificent scenes which would really elevate the movie to another level. But i still like watching this over and over again. It is so memorable and melancholic. Some of the expressions on Den Niro's face were simply devastating. Best Regards, Pimpin.(9/10)

For a little while as I watched the Last Tycoon, I thought I could understand what the critics said of this film when it first came out (the majority of them I mean). The screenplay, written by Harold Pinter from what is supposedly a much richer (albeit incomplete) text from F. Scott Fitzgerald, stages many scenes like how one would see on a theater stage, with only one or two little directional differences with Elia Kazan's take on the material. This, plus its slightly 'dry' style (i.e. very little musical score, limited camera movement, performances kept without much, if at all, improvisation), makes things seem almost too much in the realm of the naturalistic, of drama kept to a minimum of interaction.But as the film went along like this, I started to notice something: the sort of coldness, almost a loneliness, with the character of Monroe Stahr, is what actually makes a lot of the movie work for all its intents and purposes. It has the veneer of being a little distanced, of not having the full driving force of drama and comedy (although it does have both of those in bits and pieces, more as little familial or romantic drama or one-line throwaways) like an 8 1/2 or the Player with dealing in the problems of a professional in the film industry. But because of Stahr's method of practices, of being as Mitchum's character describes "like a priest or a rabbi, 'this is how it will be'", when he's told 'no' it shatters him. As a film about loss, and the very calculated realization that his code in business spills over into the personal, the Last Tycoon does work.Maybe not very well, but work it does, as storytelling and as a character piece. Sure, it might not be De Niro's best, but he does deliver subtle like it's as second nature as breathing (kind of a twist on his other 1976 character, Travis Bickle, whom he played subtle but also crazy, where as here it's subtle and empty), and he's got plenty of backup. There was some critical flack for the actress Ingrid Boutling, playing the nearly obscure object of Monroe's desire-cum-demand, but she too is better than she was given credit for, at least within the range she's allowed to work in (which, granted, isn't as much as one might think, but she's seen not as a fully-fleshed person but as someone with hints of a reality she needs and a fantasy world of movies she doesn't).Then there's Nicholson, showing up in the final reels for a couple of amazing scenes sparring with De Niro, barely ever raising voices for a low-key one-on-one as a movie exec and communist writer organizer. Not to forget Mitchum, in maybe his last good performance, and Theresa Russell in also an underrated turn as a woman grown up way past her years. Did I mention Jeanne Moreau? She's Moreau, that's about it, playing a completely self-absorbed star for all its one dimension is worth. Only Tony Curtis, with his libido problems isn't par for the course, and Donald Pleasance has a shaky (if darkly funny) scene as a scorned writer.Does the Last Tycoon have some problems as feeling like compelling historical drama? Sure. But does it somehow get into the atmosphere of its character in the context of his profession, revealing all that's absent for him every day coming home to his Asian butler? Absolutely. It's a mix and match that will disappoint some, and for those who want to take the chance on a somewhat forgotten 70s film- Kazan's last and Spiegel's final ego-tickler- might be even more impressed than I was. 7.5/10