Breakfast at Tiffany's

Rating:
Summary: "I'm just CRAZY about Tiffany's!"
Review: "Breakfast at Tiffany's" is flawless blend of a crowd-pleasing star-vehicle for the effortlessly charming Audrey Hepburn and a bittersweet, painfully beautiful look at love, life, and happiness. Director Blake Edwards, the man behind "The Pink Panther" series, "The Party", "Operation Petticoat", "Victor/Victoria", etc., has crafted a truly timeless film based on the novella by Truman Capote. Though numerous elements of Capote's story were altered, the film still has a strong core and message that urges audiences to examine their own lives, loves, and happiness.

Everything about this film is classic. You have the timeless Hepburn and her defining performance as Holly Golightly, a sophisticated, sassy call-girl with a secret past who is ultimately one of the most vulnerable characters Hepburn ever played. Then there's George Peppard, a vastly under-appreciated actor who manages to hold his own next to Hepburn while playing a struggling writer living off an older married woman. Peppard's boyish good looks and surprising depth make him the ideal match for Hepburn's Golightly.

Then of course there's Henry Mancini's wistfully romantic score and the tremendously popular theme-song, "Moon River", a true gem of a song that capture's the film's essence perfectly. In addition, you have Hepburn's fabulous, style-setting wardrobe courtesy of her lifelong friend Hubert de Givenchy. In this one film alone, Hepburn and Givenchy practically invented the "little black dress", popularized ballet flats, and introduced capris as a stylish alternative to regular pants.

My favorite quote:

Holly Golightly: You know those days when you get the mean reds?
Paul Varjak: The mean reds, you mean like the blues?
Holly Golightly: No. The blues are because you're getting fat and maybe it's been raining too long, you're just sad that's all. The mean reds are horrible. Suddenly you're afraid and you don't know what you're afraid of. Do you ever get that feeling?
Paul Varjak: Sure.
Holly Golightly: Well, when I get it the only thing that does any good is to jump in a cab and go to Tiffany's. Calms me down right away.

Rating:
Summary: Weird but wonderful
Review: Audrey Hepburn, plays a very confused charcter, very unsure of herself and scared or real love relationships. See's money as a means to an end. In waltzs Peppard a sort of gigilo for one older lady, but secure in everything else, he develops a fondness and love for Audrey's character and ends up being stabbed a few times by revelations, but still manages to love her.

Rating:
Summary: Great Love Story
Review: Perhaps the first and finest love story on the post-WWII era. During the war it was Casablanca, before the war it was Gone With the Wind, and BAT captures the exactly right tone and tenor of New York in the post war era when it was on the verge of becoming the Athens of the 20th Century. Yes, Mickey Rooney's portrayal is a discrace but the fact that Holly is a hooker only adds to the charm in my eyes. Actually, this film was very risque for 1961. A "kept" man, and hooker who was born a hillbilly named Lulu, and narcotics subplot, and just about every plot turn copied in every love story since. The theme song is still haunting and appropriate which stays with you for days to come. In fact, the entire film stays with you for awhile after viewing. A real feel good movie about lovers which should be watched by lovers. Viewing alone is not recommended.

Rating:
Summary: I can't help it
Review: I like this movie. Yes, she's a materialistic playgirl and he has a sugar mama, but there's about it that is appealing. Maybe it's the hopeful optimism or Holly's strange sweetness that just makes you want to fix her life. There's some comic relief (especially in the party scene), despite Rooney's ridiculous portrayal of a Japanese guy. And, who would have thought one could live without sterling silver telephone dialer? What a great concept. Too bad my cell doesn't have a rotary dial.

Rating:
Summary: A classic!
Review: I enjoyed this movie. I've seen it about 5 times. The story is pretty simple. I didn't know that this movie deviated so far from the book, so my next step is checking out the book.

I can see where those calling the movie simple and dated are coming from. B/c it really is. But on the good side, at least a remake wouldn't work. I practically loathe remakes. There's no way that this story can really be "updated" without turning it into a Hollywood yuckfest.

All in all, check it out. Worth several viewings. But read the book also.

Rating:
Summary: Must See film
Review: This Blake Edward adaptation of Truman Capote's classic novella is ideally cast. New York playgirl Holly Golightly, played by Audrey Hepburn, puzzles a writer who moves into her building, played by George Peppard.

Holly has her life planned out. She plans to marry a rich man who is under 50 years of age. Her and the writter, Paul Harvak, start off being friends. And over the course of the movie, he falls in love with her. She of course has planned to run off and mary a man of means. Their relationship bounces back and forth, but is always leading to what we hope will be the inevitable ending. Here we have a romantic movie that moves from the cute to sweet.

This movie is extremly well cast, directed and scored. A most memorable song is Henry Mancini's "Moon River". Which is just perfect for this movie. And even until this day, their is not an actress that could possibly replace Audry Hepburn. She is this movie, and it has to be her most stellar performance of all time. George Peppard is also very good as well. Worth watching.

Rating:
Summary: Delightful Hepburn in Dated NY Bohemian Rhapsody
Review: Premiere Magazine just named Mickey Rooney's over-the-top impersonation of the pompous and sexually obsessed Japanese neighbor upstairs as one of the fifty most offensive things in movie history. I don't disagree, and as a Japanese-American myself, I have to admit I find Rooney's Asian make-up a bit much. But it's hard to take his sideshow character too seriously, as his casting is consistent with the loopiness of this film. This 1961 film classic must have been considered quite daring in its day, but as with most such attempts, it feels dated in certain ways, as director Blake Edwards tries awfully hard to capture the upscale bohemian atmosphere of early sixties New York. The party scene, for example, plays on a bit too long, I suppose to show how decadent those creative types truly can be.

At the time, Audrey Hepburn was at a crossroads in her career having spent most of the fifties playing innocent, dewy-eyed ingenues, so the role of self-proclaimed hedonist Holly Golightly (aptly named but hardly a "no-name slob" as she puts it) must have had great appeal. After all, Truman Capote, the author from whose novella this movie is based, wanted to cast Marilyn Monroe. But it is hard to imagine how Edwards could have pulled this off without the inimitable Hepburn, a sheer delight as she dances quite flagrantly around the fact that her character is a high-priced call girl by exhibiting her trademark sense of style, fun and vulnerability. Holly's fear of commitment is the crux of this story, even though she is hopelessly drawn to failed writer Paul Varjak, "Fred" to Holly, played by George Peppard. A kindred spirit whose feelings for her are more than mutual, his character is not above taking a few dollars himself, as well as a Baroque monstrosity of an apartment, from a wealthy, married interior decorator played with conniving sophistication by the always wonderful Patricia Neal. I still think Peppard is the weak link here as he doesn't have the requisite light touch to keep up with Holly's shenanigans, although he does well in capturing the pained look of a novelist with semi-permanent writer's block.

The rest of the cast can be best described as eccentric, in particular, Buddy Ebsen (pre-Jed Clampett) as Holly's backwoods first husband, Martin Balsam as her fast-talking agent (for her apocryphally explained acting career) and of course Rooney, whose accent is actually surprisingly accurate if you can get past the make-up. Designer Givenchy is also at work here, and here you'll see the debut of the classic black cocktail dress that launched a million copies to this day. Henry Mancini's romantic music provides the perfect accompaniment, and Hepburn's plaintive, ukelele-strummed version of "Moon River" is still the most definitive. The film does end on the most romantic of notes with a rain-soaked kiss in the alley, just about as lovely a scene as you are likely to see in movies. Sadly there are no extras on this DVD other than the trailer.

Rating:
Summary: Can I eat Breakfast here?
Review: My all-time favorite movie! Aubrey Hepburn shines in the adaptation of the Truman Capote novella as the flighty Holly Golightly. Living in a small New York City apartment, Holly earns her living by going to visit a convicted criminal in Sing Sing, and spends her mornings wandering down 5th Avenue window-shopping at Tiffany's. Her love affair with the handsome author who lives in the apartment upstairs is the core part of this movie. This is a must-see classic; one of Audrey Hepburn's best.