The Great Gatsby

In my younger and more vulnerable years...

...my father gave me some advice.

"Always try to see the best in people, " he would say.

As a consequence, I'm inclined to reserve all judgments.

But even I have a limit.

Back then, all of us drank too much.

The more in tune with the times we were...

...the more we drank.

And none of us contributed anything new.

When I came back from New York, I was disgusted.

I see, Mr. Carraway.

Disgusted with everyone and everything.

Only one man was exempt from my disgust.

One man?

Mr. Carraway?

Gatsby.

Was he a friend of yours?

He was...

...the single most hopeful person I've ever met.

And am ever likely to meet again.

There was something...

...about him, a sensitivity.

He was like...

He was like one of those machines that register earthquakes 10,000 miles away.

Where'd you meet him?

At a... At a party...

...in New York.

In the summer of 1922...

...the tempo of the city approached...

...hysteria.

Stocks reached...

...record peaks...

...and Wall Street boomed...

...in a steady...

...golden roar.

The parties were bigger.

The shows...

...were broader.

The buildings were higher.

The morals were looser and the ban...

...on alcohol had backfired...

...making the liquor cheaper.

Wall Street was luring the young and ambitious.

And I was one of them.

I rented a house 20 miles from the city on Long Island.

I lived at West Egg...

...in a forgotten groundskeeper's cottage, squeezed among the mansions...

...of the newly rich.

To get started, I bought a dozen volumes on credit, banking and investments.

All new to me.

The stock market...

- ...hit another high. - The market's moving up, up, up!

Well, of course, nothing is 100 percent. I wouldn't go investing every penny.

At Yale I dreamed of being a writer...

...but I gave all that up.

With the sun shining...

...and the bursts of leaves on the trees...

...I planned to spend...

...the summer studying.

And I probably would have...

...were it not...

...for the riotous...

...amusements that beckoned...

...from beyond...

...the walls of that...

...colossal castle...

...owned by a gentleman I had...

...not yet met...

...named Gatsby.

So...

...he was your neighbor.

My neighbor.

Yeah.

When I think about it, the history of the summer really began...

...the night I drove over to my cousin Daisy's for dinner.

She lived across the bay in old moneyed...

...East Egg.

Her husband was heir to one of America's wealthiest families.

His name...

...was Tom...

...Buchanan.

When we were...

...at Yale together, he'd been...

...a sporting star. But now his glory days were behind him and he...

- ...contented himself with... - Telephone, Monsieur Buchanan.

- It's me. - ...other affairs.

I thought I told you not to call me here.

Boaz!

Shakespeare!

- Tom! Oh! - Ha-ha-ha!

- How's the great American novel coming? - I'm selling bonds with Walter Chase's outfit.

Let's say after dinner, you and I, we go into town.

- I can't. - Catch up with the old wolf pack.

- Big day on the job tomorrow. - Nonsense! We're going.

First team, all-American.

You see?

Made me who I am today.

Forest Hills.

Played the Prince of Wales. What a sissy.

Life is...

...something you dominate.

If you're any good.

Oh!

Oh.

Hey.

Henri!

Where are you?

The doors.

Close them.

Sorry. Thank you.

Is that you, my lovely?

Daisy Buchanan, the golden girl.

A breathless...

...warmth flowed from her.

A promise that there was no one else...

...in the world she...

...so wanted to see.

Do they miss me in Chicago?

Yes. Um, at least a dozen people send their love.

How gorgeous.

They're absolutely in mourning.

- They're crying. Yes. - No.

- I don't believe you. - Wailing.

- I don't believe you. - They're screaming.

"Daisy Buchanan...

...we can't live...

- ...without you!" - I'm paralyzed with happiness.

Whoa!

Whoa! Oh!

Jordan Baker...

...a very...

...famous golfer.

Oh.

She was the most frightening person I'd ever seen.

Well, I've seen your face on the cover of Sporting Life.

Nick Carraway.

But I enjoyed looking at her.

I've been lying on that sofa...

...for as long as I can remember.

This summer I'll fling you two together. I'll push you into linen closets...

...and out to sea in boats!

- I'm not listening to a word. - So, Nick...

...Daisy tells me...

...that you're over in West Egg...

...throwing your lot in...

...with those social-climbing...

...primitive new-money types.

My little shack's just a cardboard box at 80 a month.

Your life is adorable.

I know somebody in West Egg.

I don't know a single person...

...that side of the bay.

You must know Gatsby.

Gatsby?

What Gatsby?

Madame, the dinner is servi.

Would you like to hear...

...a family secret?

- That's why I came over. - It's about the butler's nose.

Things went from bad to worse.

I hate that word "hulking."

I heard a rumor that you were getting married...

- ...to a girl out West. - It's a libel.

- I'm too poor. - They have to be old...

...so they die quickly.

Can't we talk about something else?

Anything. Crops.

You're making me feel uncivilized...

...Daisy.

Civilization's going to pieces.

Have you read The Rise of the Colored Empires...

...by this fellow Goddard? Everybody ought to...

...read it. The idea is...

...that it's up to us, the dominant race...

...to watch out or these...

...other races...

...will have control of things.

Tom's very profound lately. He reads deep books with long words in them.

It's been proved.

It's scientific.

We've got to beat them down.

Buchanan residence.

Monsieur Wilson, from the garage.

Monsieur Buchanan.

Excuse me, I'll be right back.

I'm sorry.

- Well, this Mr. Gatsby you spoke of... - I'm working on it.

- ...he's my neighbor. - Shh! Don't talk.

I wanna hear what happens.

I don't care what you do...

Something happening?

- Why, I thought everybody knew. - Well, I don't.

Tom's got some...

- ...woman in New York. - Got some woman?

She might have the decency not to telephone at dinnertime. Don't you think?

- Is that too much to ask? - Daisy, don't create a scene.

I love seeing you at my table.

You remind me of a rose. An absolute rose...

- ...doesn't he? - So after dinner...

I'm not like a rose.