No do overs

On Sunday night I happened upon a showing of The Way We Were on Turner Classic Movies.

When I shared the happy accident on Facebook, six friends immediately chimed in.  And we all agreed on the movie’s main attraction:

Robert Redford

He has never looked better than he did in that film.

Perhaps Baz Luhrmann needs to watch it again, too.

The Moulin Rouge director is planning a 3-D adaptation of another Redford classic, The Great Gatsby, with Leo DiCaprio in the role that Robert made famous.

I think this is a very bad idea.

Don’t get me wrong.  I agree Leo is one of our finer actors.  And he looks very handsome with his hair slicked back, which the role of Gatsby requires.  But Leo, to me, remains very much a boy.

That’s part of his appeal.

Even in the brilliant Revolutionary Road — which should have earned him an Oscar nomination — Leo was a man child, which made his performance all the more compelling.

Robert Redford is 100 percent man.

Add to it Luhrmann’s plan to make The Great Gatsby in 3-D.  I think this effect works well in action flicks, but I not sure what it will add to this classic tale.

Sorry, Baz, just the idea of someone other than Robert in the title role is mind bending enough.  How can you expect us to settle for anything else?

For anything less?