Sunday | August 16, 2009 7:00 pm

The Last Tycoon

Screening on Film

Directed by Elia Kazan.
With Robert De Niro, Tony Curtis, Robert Mitchum.
US, 1976, 35mm, color, 125 min.
Print source: HFA

Kazan's final feature is a lush, nostalgic evocation of lost Hollywood and a still misunderstood attempt to reach the romantic heart of F. Scott Fitzgerald's now mythical unfinished novel. Working closely with Harold Pinter, Kazan stayed true to the abstract, remote qualities of Monroe Star, played with vulnerable intensity by Robert De Niro. The almost overwhelming roster of Old Hollywood talent—Ray Milland, Robert Mitchum, Dana Andrews—marked The Last Tycoon as "adult," and against the returning tide of youth oriented filmmaking, contributing to the dismal box office and ungenerous critical reception that convinced Kazan to abruptly retire from cinema.