Robert DeNiro stars as Monroe Stahr, a thinly veiled depiction of film pioneer Irving Thalberg, who is burdened by his overwhelming position as a studio production head, by the loss of his movie star wife, and by his weak heart. While DeNiro's portrayal is the centerpiece of the film, there are several other elements involved which lend an extra aura of prestige. Directed by Elia Kazan, the film is technically competent, but, as it is based on a work which its original author left incomplete, the ending is a bit forced and contrived. You can tell that they had to come up with an ending without the resource of the author to make it seamless. To lend additional sparkle, there are appearances by a multitude of stars such as Tony Curtis, Robert Mitchum, Ray Milland, and Theresa Russell who vie for screen time on the periphery of the main plot line involving Stahr's encounter and subsequent infatuation with an extra, played by Ingrid Boulting, who is his dead wife's twin. Mitchum in particular does a nice job as the studio boss, but all of them feel underused. If you're going to put these people in a film, they should have something to sink their teeth into.
Kazan captures the spirit of the time and place well, but the pacing is slow - sometimes interminable - and sometimes confusing. It doesn't seem to have that crackle that Kazan's previous films had, and perhaps the director recognized this and subsequently retired.
While The Last Tycoon represents Elia Kazan's last directorial effort, it is also notable for featuring the only joint screen appearance to date of Robert DeNiro and Jack Nicholson.
Tycoon is a thinly veiled retelling of the life of movie mogul Irving Thalberg. Thalberg made an amazing slew of motion pictures during his short rein as a producer and studio head in the 30's and 40's. DeNiro's Monroe Stahr is a mysterious, haunted individual who literally lives only for the movies he's making. It seems his fascinating with the screen makes him unable to communicate with the living all around him. Playwrite Harold Pinter ( plays The Servant, The Caretakeruses and films The Handmaid's Tale, The French Lieutenant's Woman) this as a metaphor for Stahr's detachment from humanity and his inability to connect with the elusive love of his life Kathleen Moore played by Ingrid Bolting.
Pinter's detached, elliptic dialog and unusual dialog rhythms only enhances the impression that Stahr is in this world but not of it. Ultimately Stahr's (ironically named given his position in the industry) intense devotion to what we see vs. what we experience through living contributes to him working himself to death. Pinter fleshes out Fitzgerald's novel (essentially a retelling of The Great Gatsby focusing on the elite of Hollywood instead) and manages faithfully translates many of the themes from the book.
As directed by Hollywood and Broadway veteran Elia Kazan (On The Waterfront, East of Eden, A Streecar Named Desire), The Last Tycoon isn't an easy film to like; many of the characters seem vapid and self serving. In the character of Stahr we have a protagonist who isn't really "there" at all. Which is precisely Kazan and Pinter's point; The Last Tycoon is how image overwhelms substance but can't become a substitute for living. The brilliant casting features veterans that were contemporaries of (and in some cases worked with) Irving Thalberg. Kazan's direction brings many of these characters to life providing a unique glimpse into the Hollywood studio system at its prime. Kazan and Pinter provide a fascinating and disquieting glimpse into the American life of the glamorous and powerful of Hollywood during its heyday. It's a sad and tragic tale which Kazan manages to inject with quiet power.
The transfer is very nice although there are a few analog and digital artifacts. The compression artifacts are minimal, however and probably won't be noticeable to most viewers. Although the packaging claims the sound is in Dolby Digital 5.1, it's actually presented in a stereo format and not remixed for 5.1 that I can tell.
There aren't any extras provided. With the cast, writer and director involved you would expect there to be something in Paramount's vaults that could be included as an extra. There's no audio commentary. Since Kazan was alive just prior to the release of this film (September 2003), I would have thought he might have been asked to provide a commentary after all this was his last film. Additionally, it was produced by legendary independent producer Sam Spiegel with music by Maurice Jarre so from a historical perspective it's a fairly important mainstream film. The Last Tycoon was the last gasp from a generation of film makers and, as such, deserved better.
While not a showcase like Kazan's earliest motion pictures (he peaked as a film director in the 50's with On The Waterfront and a handful of other classic films), The Last Tycoon manages to capture the end of an era and a tragic life in its all too brief 123 minutes with elegance and power.
