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Breakfast at Tiffany's

Breakfast at Tiffany's

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Rating: 1 stars
Summary: "Moon River" - deserves * * * * *
Review: DIDN'T ANYONE READ THE BOOK? Capote hated this film. So do I. I love Audrey Hepburn ("Sabrina" is a treat, "Funny Face" is sublime), but she isn't Holly Golightly. This is one of my all time favorite books, and one of the great American masterworks of the 20th century. Capote saw Holly as a young Marilyn Monroe type - sexy, manipulative, ignorant, bold and brash, but deeply vulnerable. The script is one of the worst "adaptations" ever. The only actor in this film who seems to bare any relation to a character from the book is Buddy Ebson as Doc. He seems to have stepped out of a diffrent film. A better film. I want to see THAT film! Patricia Neal's character isn't in the book. She's not bad (she was better as the negro maid in "Hud" - oops, I guess they changed that role from black to white for the film). Mickey Rooney is an abomination as Holly's Japanese neighbor - I cringe just thinking about it. Instead of Capote as narrator we have the VERY heterosexual George Pappard....if I go on I'm going to start drinking again. PLEASE somebody make a good film of this beautiful story. It's April of 2004 - Scarlett Johannson would make an ideal Holly (she's the perfect age - 19). Billy Bob Thornton would make a heartbreaking Doc. Come on Hollywood, I dare ya! Oh, on the positive side, I loved "Moon River."

Rating: 2 stars
Summary: Highly overrated movie
Review: I am very much getting into classic movies the last few years and (as stupid as it sounds) hearing moon river on sex and the city and knowing it was connected to this movie made me want to see it. I agree with the observation that audrey hepburn is very classic and elegant but I found the movie to be extremely boring!!!! In fact the only part I did enjoy was the music. Perhaps I went into it with too high of expectations since it is such a revered movie, but good acting or not, it was very slow paced and I fail to see why this was such a hot movie.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Explores the human soul
Review: Many viewers and critics have said that this film doesn't have much of a plot, mainly because there isn't a lot of "action." However, most of the action occurs in the characters' souls, and that is where the plot of the story lies.

Audrey Hepburn, my favorite film actress, stars as Holly, a call girl searching for the ultimate sugar daddy. George Peppard is Paul, the kept man upstairs who becomes Audrey's brother-figure. When Paul begins to fall in love with Holly, he begins to see her superficiality. Is she really who she says she is? Or has she just tricked herself into believing it? Paul attempts to uncover the layers of Holly's soul, and in the process he discovers some secrets in her past. Simultaneously, Paul realizes the sickening situation in his own life, and ends the liasion with wealthy matron Patricia Neal, turning his energy to writing a book about Holly.

The main point of the film is this: genuine love is tangible, but many people desire the wrong kind, the easy kind, the physical kind, and forget about the love of the soul and heart. Paul is patient with Holly's flighty ways, something that many viewers should take notes on and apply to their own relationships. Paul gives love, not necessarily expecting it in return ... and I won't spoil the end (although it's in direct contrast to Capote's novel). Overall, this is a sweet, tender film about love, and the talented actors envelop us into their plight. Great classic romance, but not sappy.

Rating: 1 stars
Summary: morally relativistic and superficial
Review: The two main characters of this story are a gold digger and a male prostitute. They're shallow and unlikable which, of course, is what you would expect. The whole thing romanticizes the whatever-floats-your-boat mentality that Hollywood was beginning to peddle to the public in the 1950's and continues to peddle to this day. Its ending was clearly contrived to manipulate the emotions of the audience almost as if to force them to accept the two unrepentant morally bankrupt main characters. The attempts at wit throughout the film were just embarrassing; even the name Holly Golightly makes me cringe. After seeing Audrey Hepburn in great movies like Sabrina and Roman Holiday, this was a heartbreaking disappointment.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best Movie Ever
Review: I've always loved Audrey Hepburn. I remember watching Sabrina and Roman Holiday at a really young age but this is the movie that really struck me. There is something so unique about Holly Golightly thats not found in any other book/movie. The movie starts with Audrey Hepburn stepping out of a taxi early in the morning with pearls, dark glasses and a fancy black dress holding a bag of pastries and staring at the window of Tiffany's. That image is stunning, plain, naive and thoughtful all at the same time. And the movie is the same.

The only gripe I have about this movie is the ending. The book ends it so appropriately because shes a wild thing who can't be tamed and she ends up doing what shes...supposed to do (?). but here, the ending contradicts the MAIN theme of the movie by making it too happy go lucky...(don't want to spoil it) This movie is too ideal, too plastic and that detracts from its originality. Holly Golightly is NOT a socialite. Shes a call girl. Her apartment is not that luxurious. She shares it with Mad Madge. Rusty Trawler was not her suitor because Mad Madge stole him from her and he turned out to be gay.
Also, most importantly, the book is written in terms of the narrator looking back. Paul received a postcard from Holly and thinks about her. Its a story of nostalgia and freedom and the movie fails to establish that.

Still, a very good movie in itself.

Holly (on viewing a stripteaser): Do you think she's talented? Deeply and importantly talented?
Paul: No. Amusingly and superficially talented yes, but deeply and importantly, no.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Audrey Hepburn at her finest
Review: What a terrific vehicle for Audrey Hepburn's quintessential charms. This lovely and giddy romance adapted from Truman Capote's novella casts Hepburn as the urban sophisticate Holly Golightly, a lovely and wacko neurotic living her many gentleman friends. George Peppard, a writer who is supported (ahem) by a controlling older woman, is Golightly's upstairs neighbor. When their friendship turns to love, their tiptoe relationships with the moneyed people who support them is thrown off balance. Did you know Henry Mancini's haunting Moon River came from this movie? Perhaps I did, once upon a time, but I'd forgotten. At any rate, actors, score, screenplay, and especially Audrey Hepburn's charms combine to make Breakfast at Tiffany's a great movie romance and an insider's peek into the world Capote knew as few of his viewers do: the world of chic, high society bohemia.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Before there was Sex and the City...
Review: Breakfast At Tiffany's Holly Golightly is a timeless and wonderful character. Hepburn's performance as the flighty and sometimes eccentric Manhattanite is delightful and engaging, which is why this film is one you can watch again and again all these years later. The girls from Sex and the City could definitely get some pointers from the stylish and savvy Holly.

Seeing this film on DVD does not detract from the beauty of the New York scenery or the intricate expressions of Hepburn and George Peppard, who plays Holly's writer/kept man neighbor. If anything, watching the two onscreen is a magical experience. Hepburn's performance is larger than life.

Watching images of New York in the early 1960s always fascinates me and reminds me that times weren't as simple as we like to think they were. However, Breakfast at Tiffany's embodies the style and elegance modern audiences still crave, and Holly Golightly never goes out of style. Share this DVD with your friends one night--They'll thank you for it!

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: A Simple Classic
Review: Based on Truman Capote's novel, this is the story of a young woman on her own making her way in the big city. The movie starts by introducing us to Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) as she window shops her way through Manhattan. Paul (George Peppard), an author with a bad case of writer's block, is the new tenant in her building. The two meet on the morning Paul moves in, when he drops by to use Holly's phone. Soon after, they become friends. One night, when a drunk man is banging on Holly's door, she climbs the fire escape and slips into Paul's apartment. As thanks for "rescuing" her, she invites him to a party, which turns into a loud, rowdy affair. He again comes to her aid when a figure from her past shows up in New York. And for one memorable day, they go out on the town together doing things that they have never before done, like shopping at Tiffany's and checking out a book from a library. Ultimately, their feelings end up running more deeply than normal friendship but, when Paul confesses his love, Holly rebuffs him. She has set her heart on marrying a rich South American so that she will have enough money to support herself and her brother, whose tour of duty in the army is nearly over.
While this is a great film, the inclusion of the stereotyped Asian character of Mr. Yunioshi (Mickey Rooney) is racist and offensive. Mr. Yunioshi's sole purpose is to provide cheap comic relief. What might have been funny in 1961 has long since lost its humorous edge. Yunioshi's role is a double blow to the Asian community - not only is he dense and scornful, but he is played by a caucasian actor in heavy makeup.
(On a sidenote.. the main role was originally intended for Marilyn Monroe)

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Introducing little black dress and partying New Yorker
Review: This is an Audrey movie, her charisma alone carries the movie-well with her style. She represents the ultimate urban chic that is being told in almost all fashion books-the huge sun glasses, the trench, black little dress with pearls. Surely, the movie is more than that, a lonely lost woman who feels she does not belong to anywhere and anyone,but still partying and charming men fulltime-very elegantly. That is really outstanding-Holly's pursuing men seems so effortless and carefree, but still persistent. The opening scene is so striking-Audrey having breakfast at Tiffanny's with her party clothes looking at the windows displaying jewellery. However, I found the movie a bit slow paced. I also could not help but think that "Sex and the City"and the character Carrie (mostly the book)adopted a lot from this movie. This may be the movie starting it all.

Rating: 3 stars
Summary: "We're alike, me and cat. A couple of poor nameless slobs."
Review: Has there ever been a more charismatic actress than Audrey Hepburn? So strong is the aura she creates that she can elevate problematic films like "Breakfast at Tiffany's" to quasi-classic status. If someone summed up Blake Edwards' film to you by describing its fatalistic characters and its cynical outlook on life, you would probably think this film would have no mass appeal whatsoever. Yet, "Breakfast at Tiffany's" is a film that is still talked about and fondly remembered to this day - all thanks to Audrey Hepburn.

The film opens with a magical sequence where Holly Golightly (Hepburn) exits a cab and stares dreamily into the display windows of Tiffany's while Henry Mancini's "Moon River" plays in the background. The opening sequence hints that this film might be a fairy tale with the elegant Holly in the lead. However, it soon becomes obvious that her life is not the stuff of which dreams are made of. Rather we soon discover Holly is a woman with troublesome self-esteem problems who enjoys ignoring the realities of her troublesome existence in favor of reveling in the possibilities that the future might hold for her. Into the mix comes Paul Varjak (George Peppard), a writer who himself is plagued by his own set of troubles. Paul is instantly smitten with Holly but their romance blooms slowly and painfully.

To call the characters of "Breakfast at Tiffany's" flawed would be an understatement. Holly finances her lifestyle by serving as a go-between between a mob boss and his lawyer and while Paul finances his by being a "kept man" to a wealthy woman (Patricia Neal). Further tainting Holly's character is the revelation that she married the much older Doc Golightly (Buddy Ebson) at the age of 14. Such unappealing characters along with the stereotypical Mr. Yunioshi (Mickey Rooney) should make this film tough to swallow. Yet Mancini's rousing "Moon River" and the screen presence of Hepburn herself are such strong elements in the film that it tilts the scales in favor of "Breakfast of Tiffany's." So memorable is Hepburn that she elevates the film several notches higher than where the film should actually rank in light of all its problems. Such a feat is a testament to the enormous star power Hepburn wielded in her time and continues to wield in the present day.


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