Chip Kaufmann’s Pick:
Zardoz (1974)
Of all the dystopian sci-fi flicks out there from Metropolis to Oblivion (see review this issue), none is more unique or more bizarre than British director John Boorman’s 1974 opus Zardoz.
Back in the day it was what was known as a “head trip”. The film is set in the 23rd century where 95% of the world has descended into chaos (no reason is given) while the remaining 5% consists of intellectuals who live in force field protected communities known as vortexes. These intellectuals are keepers of the world’s collective knowledge but do nothing with it.
Sean Connery plays an outsider who infiltrates one of the communities and discovers a society of people who are immortal and where disobedience is punished by aging the lawbreakers into senility without the possibility of death. People who commit suicide are simply regenerated so there is no possibility of escape. And that’s just for starters.
Boorman based his concept of a future society on a combination of the New Age communes and wealthy gated communities that he ran across in California in the late 1960s. You have to admit that the idea of such a possibility sounds pretty nightmarish and in this film it truly is.
Connery (in a role originally intended for Burt Reynolds and wearing a costume that makes him look like Pancho Villa in a red diaper)) is joined by a solid cast of British and Irish actors including Charlotte Rampling, Sara Kestleman, and John Alderton.
Zardoz is loaded with extremely imaginative visuals that still astonish (the film was shot in Ireland’s Wicklow Mountains) and it contains a bleak, absurdist Samuel Beckett sense of humor that plays better today than it did in 1974. Once seen Zardoz cannot be forgotten and the title punchline remains one for the ages.
Michelle Keenan’s Pick:
The Great Gatsby (1974)
With all the buzz about Baz Luhrmann’s big budget [better-be-a-blockbuster] remake of The Great Gatsby (due out later this month), I thought it was a fitting time to revisit the 1974 version of The Great Gatsby starring Robert Redford and Mia Farrow.
The Great Gatsby takes place in roaring twenties in the affluent Hamptons on Long Island. Redford plays the enigmatic and fascinating nouveau riche titular character. The story is narrated by Nick Carraway (Sam Waterston), a young Midwestern veteran who befriends Gatsby while summering at a neighboring property. It is from within Gatsby’s little known inner circle that Nick recounts his time with Gatsby in a story of obsession and tragedy.
The Great Gatsby is one of my favorite books of all time. No matter how times I read it I am always struck by Nick’s stalwart and compassionate narrative and by Jay Gatsby’s blind faith and hope in the future and his unwavering love for Daisy Buchanan.
In my mind, the 1974 film captures these and so many other elements of Fitzgerald’s definitive novel. The grand romance and the roaring twenties are beautifully illustrated, but so too is the ugly underbelly of the story and its haunting images. However, for all of its beauty and luxury, there is a simple starkness to the film that echoes the impact of Fitzgerald’s words.
Redford is the very personification of Gatsby’s strengths and failings, and he is surrounded by a marvelous cast. Shot on location in some of the guilded era’s most beautiful homes in Newport, Rhode Island (including Rosecliff as Gatsby’s less than humble abode), the setting couldn’t be more perfect. Francis Ford Coppola very respectfully and artfully adapted F. Scott Fitzgerald’s beloved and acclaimed novel.
The film was directed admirably by Jack Clayton, but was met with mixed reviews. In my humble opinion, it stands the test of time, and I wonder what kind of reviews the film would be met with if it were released today.
That said, today’s audiences may want the more in-your-face portrayal of lavish gluttony that seems to represent Baz Luhrmann’s flapper extravaganza than the ’74 version. We’ll find out later this month when the latest Great Gatsby hits theatres. In the meanwhile, I highly recommend revisiting Jack Clayton’s The Great Gatsby.