Elia Kazan's The Last Tycoon is a very good film and well worth seeing. The absolute top reason to see it is for Robert DeNiro's outstanding performance, a reminder why he's the greatest American actor of his generation. The movie has many other fine performances, from a long list of big stars, that also make it a treat. Chief among those fine supporting performances was Theresa Russell's film debut. She was a nuanced and convincing. The film is also beautiful, with great period sets, excellent cinematography, and many close-ups of distinctive faces that told their stories without words. The film's structure, pacing, imagery (the unfinished beach house) and editing were also pleasing, and conveyed respect for the film and for the audience.
All that said, The Last Tycoon feels somehow unsatisfying, and surely did not reach the heights of greatness to be expected from a collaboration of Fitzgerald, Spiegel, Kazan and Pinter, on a big budget and with a dozen major stars. My own speculation is that the movie makers were too familiar with the details of Fitzgerald's story, and as they cut scenes and made changes they forgot to look at their work from the perspective of a moviegoer who has not read the novel and does not know the story.
All that said, The Last Tycoon feels somehow unsatisfying, and surely did not reach the heights of greatness to be expected from a collaboration of Fitzgerald, Spiegel, Kazan and Pinter, on a big budget and with a dozen major stars. My own speculation is that the movie makers were too familiar with the details of Fitzgerald's story, and as they cut scenes and made changes they forgot to look at their work from the perspective of a moviegoer who has not read the novel and does not know the story.