The Last Tycoon

The Last Tycoon is a drama set in 1930s Hollywood, in the era when the big studios were at their height. Monroe Stahr, a young but already powerful production chief, spends his days settling the problems of film stars, directors and writers, and has little room left for anything else. His life changes when he meets Kathleen Moore, a young Englishwoman who reminds him of his late wife, and the relationship unsettles the balance he has kept between his work and himself. The film is based on F. Scott Fitzgerald's unfinished novel, whose central character was inspired by the producer Irving Thalberg.

Elia Kazan directed, working from a screenplay by Harold Pinter, with Sam Spiegel producing. The film came late in Kazan's career: it is the eleventh feature in the chronological filmography that begins with A Tree Grows in Brooklyn in 1945 and includes Gentleman's Agreement, A Streetcar Named Desire, On the Waterfront and East of Eden. Robert De Niro plays Monroe Stahr, heading a credited cast of 49 that also includes Tony Curtis, Robert Mitchum, Jeanne Moreau, Jack Nicholson and Donald Pleasence.

Released in November 1976 and running 123 minutes, the film drew a critics' rating of 5.4 out of 10 from 27 reviews, while audiences on TMDB rate it 6.3 out of 10 from 169 votes, a slightly warmer response than that of the reviewers.