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The Last Tycoon': An uneven but bingeworthy tale of old Hollywood (review)When F. Scott Fitzgerald began writing what would prove to be his final novel, "The Last Tycoon," the author had packed a lot of living into his short life. Once a young literary star, known for his hit Jazz Age novels and stories and his jet- setting lifestyle with wife, Zelda, Fitzgerald came crashing to earth in the 1. The Depression made Fitzgerald's tales of the rich and heedless seem irrelevant.
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Zelda's hospitalization and Fitzgerald's alcoholism took a toll on his work. Watch Grosse Pointe Blank Full Movie. Needing money, Fitzgerald took a step down on the literary prestige ladder and moved to Hollywood.
But instead of cashing in by selling out, Fitzgerald struggled as a screenwriter, failing to thrive in the Hollywood system and unable to transfer his distinctive writing sensibility to the movie script form."The Last Tycoon," which has been freely adapted into an uneven but watchable nine- episode series for Amazon Prime Video, was Fitzgerald's attempt to transform his disappointing Hollywood days into art. But Fitzgerald died at age 4. The fact that it's Fitzgerald's writing voice - romantic, rueful, melancholy, wittily perceptive - that make such classics as "The Great Gatsby" special, adapting his work to movies or TV has been a rocky process. Consider the dire 1. The Last Tycoon" that starred Robert De Niro as the charismatic movie producer Monroe Stahr.
Critic Pauline Kael slammed the overly reverential treatment, the choice of minimalist playwright Harold Pinter to adapt the already incomplete story, and an aura so enervated it felt "like a vampire movie after the vampires have left."In turning "The Last Tycoon" into a TV series, executive producers and showrunners Billy Ray ("Shattered Glass") and Christopher Keyser ("Lone Star") faced an uphill battle. Originally developed for HBO, the series was turned down by HBO before Amazon Studios picked it up. When Amazon made the pilot available for viewers to sample last year, critics weren't impressed. It's a shame, because in watching all nine episodes (including the pilot, which admittedly gets things off to slow start), it's easy to see that "The Last Tycoon" gets better and more confident as the show goes along. Matt Bomer plays Stahr, the young producer who, legend has it, was inspired by MGM's "Boy Wonder," Irving Thalberg.
Like Thalberg, Stahr suffers from a bad heart, and it's implied that his consuming devotion to work could possibly cost him his life. Thalberg died at age 3.
At the heart of "The Last Tycoon" is the conflict between Stahr and the studio head, Pat Brady (a character inspired by MGM boss Louis B. Mayer.)Brady, played by Kelsey Grammer, is trying to keep the studio in business, as you can tell when he says clumsily obvious lines like, "You can't have art without commerce, Monroe."But even as Stahr's gift for getting the best out of stars and technicians helps the bottom line, Brady resents Stahr getting the credit as the studio's true creative force. To their credit, Ray and Keyser don't get hung up on being overly faithful to Fitzgerald.
While certain characters are familiar from the book, including Brady's aspiring producer daughter, Celia (Lily Collins), this "Last Tycoon" takes liberties with its source. That turns out to be a good idea. With its period setting, and touches that manage to both portray and comment on the era (women fighting for equality at work and in marriage, African Americans feeling left out of the Hollywood mainstream), "The Last Tycoon" feels less like Fitzgerald, and more like "Mad Men." (Scott Hornbacher, another executive producer, was a producer and director on "Mad Men.")Like Don Draper, Monroe Stahr isn't what he passes himself off to be. And he's got plenty of company in the not- what- it- seems department, as "The Last Tycoon" is filled with characters who harbor secrets, and say things to get what they want, whether they're true or not."The Last Tycoon" could use some of the flair and poignancy of that other recent Hollywood tale, "Feud: Bette and Joan." But it gets more bingeworthy the longer you stick with it. The cast is strong, with particularly good work done by Jennifer Beals, who steals all her scenes as a bigtime movie star, and Rosemarie De.
Witt, as Brady's discontented wife. Grammer wisely underplays what could be a scenery- chewing role, skillfully handling Brady's shift from paternalistic pride to gnawing jealousy when it comes to his protege, Stahr. Bomer, who was genial in TV's "White Collar," and heartbreaking in the HBO movie, "The Normal Heart," has the most difficult role. Stahr is supposed to be some sort of genius when it comes to movies, and the other characters are in awe of him. By sketching in some of Stahr's less- than- glossy history, this "Last Tycoon" helps to make him a bit more relatable. Bomer is particularly strong, for example, in the excellent Christmas- set episode, when Stahr is stingingly reminded that success doesn't protect him from anti- Semitism.
This episode, in particular, evokes "Mad Men." But throughout the first nine episodes, Bomer is never given a character- defining scene like Don Draper's mesmerizing spiel about the Kodak Carousel slide projector. What might have been that moment - Stahr creating an instantly compelling movie scene involving a stenographer, black gloves, and a nickel - gets thrown away."The Last Tycoon" definitely has flaws, including its bizarrely cartoonish treatment of German- to- Hollywood figures such as Marlene Dietrich and director Fritz Lang. And Dominique Mc.
Elligott can't do much with the contrived role of Kathleen, the woman with whom Stahr falls in love. But the series is beautifully made, with luscious cinematography by Danny Moder, affecting music by Mychael Danna, exquisite production design by Patrizia von Brandenstein and elegant costumes by Janie Bryant (another "Mad Men" veteran.)At its best, "The Last Tycoon" is an absorbing trip back to Hollywood's not- so- Golden Age. And even when it slips, it's still pretty good melodrama, with desperate characters, unexpected deaths and gorgeous people pretending they're keeping it together even when they're not. "The Last Tycoon" ends with a scene that, depending on what Amazon decides, could be a cliffhanger leading into a second season, or an abrupt way to wrap things up.