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Roman Holiday (Special Collector's Edition)

Roman Holiday (Special Collector's Edition)

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Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Whe a legend finds her start.
Review: Now this is a movie that I can never get enough of. It could have something to do with the fact that I believe Audrey Hepburn to be the most elegant beauty to ever grace the silver screen, but I do believe that the movie stands on it's own merits as well.

The pairing of Hepburn with Peck was perfect in the fact that their opposites play off each other. Peck was charming and debonair, while Mrs. Hepburn was young and had that spark of innocence that just made you fall in love with her. Together they turned a classic story idea into a fun movie that endears itself on your heart and in the process gave birth to the legend that is Audrey.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Fun Roman Romp!
Review: God bless Audrey Hepburn! And whoever wrote this movie: "I will enter her sickroom disguised as a thermometer!"

She and Gregory Peck make a beautiful couple at the end of this lovely movie, the story of a sheltered, frustrated young princess who breaks loose for a single day. This is a beautiful, romantic movie with a bittersweet tone and lots of comic moments.

Young Princess Anne is touring Europe to promote trade relations, but she is also slowly starting to crack under the pressure of her regimented, scheduled lifestyle. Every word she utters in public has been scripted for her.

Everything that she wants to do can't be done, from wearing pajamas to leaving without an escort to going to a window without her slippers on. One touching scene shows Anne staring out at a bunch of ordinary young men and women dancing in the streets of Rome. But when a doctor sedates her during a fit of hysteria, it produces odd effects-Anne seems to be drunk, and heads out of the Embassy to have fun.

But soon she bumps into a hardened journalist who takes the seemingly-soaked girl under his wing. And as he advises her to enjoy herself for a day (including cutting her hair and driving a motorcycle-badly) he begins to fall in love with her.

The funny bits are scattered throughout this-Hepburn's "drunk" scenes alone are worth the movie. But also there is the cab driver giving Peck his family history, the ad-libbed scene at the "mouth of truth" where you can see the idea forming in Peck's head (Hepburn's voice drops for a moment-presumably she didn't think they'd use that take), the scene where Anne loses her shoe, the scene where the cleaning lady finds Anne showering in Peck's apartment, and so on.

I don't think Elizabeth Taylor and Cary Grant could have handled the waifish, wide-smiled princess and the rough-edged reporter the way these two can.

This is a fairy tale about a princess and a poor reporter with a realistic ending-if Peck and Hepburn had sprinted off into the sunset to pursue true love, then the movie would have been forgotten. But they chose to make it real, and so made it a classic.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: An Essential Film for Anybody and Everybody
Review: You simply cannot go through life without rewarding yourself by viewing Audrey Hepburn's amazing film, Roman Holiday. Both a Classic and Contemporary love story, it will draw you in alongside Hepburn and Peck; celebrating with them one glorious, free-spirited day inside the magnificence of a life without bounds. You'll find yourself wishing them long lives of happiness and love, before you ever admit to yourself that it's only a brilliant film. The ending will leave you with joy, longing, and tears, but you'll not only know it has to be that way, you'll want it that way. Indeed, the ending encases all of the magic of the film, and will leave you with the same strong impression that it has given to millions.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Simply Elegant
Review: There is no other way to describe this bittersweet Fairy Tale than Simply Elegant. Audrey Hepburn is magicalas the Princess who wants a break, and Gregory Peck is absolutely awesome as the Hard Boiled reporter who finds himself falling for this precocious child who grows into a woman before his eyes. Eddie Albert gets a wonderful supporting role as Peck's friend.

Rating: 4 stars
Summary: Rome gets the royal treatment
Review: Gregory Peck and Audrey Hepburn star in this 1953 classic. With two actors like that "Roman Holiday" hardly needs more selling points. Although at the time Audrey was not a well known actress. In fact some people at the time thought casting her was a bit of a risk. Well, history has proven them wrong.

The story is simple and not at all original. In fact if you were just to look at the script it is likely that you would think the film not worth making. What made this film great was superb performances by the whole cast and a fresh piece of directing from William Wyler. Of course shooting the film in Rome was an added feature of not inconsiderable weight.

Audrey Hepburn plays a young princess from an undisclosed nation. She is visiting Rome as part of a European tour and is starting to feel a little claustrophobic. She decides to escape the confines of her local residence and her hangers on by sneaking out in a delivery van but not before one of her keepers has given her a little something to help her sleep. The drug does not take effect until she is well out of bounds and this is where our hero comes into the picture.

Gregory Peck plays Joe Bradley, a disreputable news paper reporter who is largely down on his luck. He stumbles across Princess Anne as she is nearly sleeping by the side of a road. Despite his better instincts he eventually decides to save this bedraggled and presumably drunk, young lady by putting her in a cab. Unfortunately she is unable to give a lucid response when asked for an address and thus ends up in Joe's one room abode.

Naturally the disappearance of the princess is hushed up but not enough to prevent Joe from eventually coming to the correct assumption, that his poor lost sheep is in fact more than she seems. And so we are launched on an opportunistic tour of Rome care of Joe and for the benefit of his clandestine photographer, Irving. Joe's intentions are to gather as much information and photos of the princess slumming as to make a world front page story and propel himself back to New York.

It isn't long before the naive and yet heart warming affections of the princess start to thaw Mr Bradley's self interest. As a result, he misses out on his story but feels much more richly rewarded in a moral sense. A good message for the kiddies, yes?

OK, it is a bit corny, however it is still strangely believable, even after so many years. Have you had a chance to watch Roman Holiday in the last few years? If not, then why not do yourself a favour and give it another run through. There are worse ways to kill a couple of hours.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: Best Romantic Comedy
Review: I'm not a fan of romantic comedies but I'll have to say Roman Holiday is the only film in that catergory I liked. It is audrey Hepburn's greatest performance, and it is easily one of the best films of all time.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A wounderful movie!
Review: Roman Holiday was such a a wounderful movie. I've seen all of Audrey Hepburn movies, from this one to Always. She is a wounderful actress, she and Gregory Peck made such a cute couple in this movie. Even my dad was laughing when he pretended to get his hand stuck in the statue. Even though there was sad ending it seemed to fit this fairy tale so well. I hope any one who saw this movie enjoyed it as much as me.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: If only...
Review: As a long-time Gregory Peck/Audrey Hepburn fan, I watch Roman Holiday every now and then. The measure of its hold on this viewer is the fact that no matter how many times I watch this, when the bittersweet, but logical, ending comes, I always hope that maybe this time, just this once, the princess will come back into the hall and stop Joe as he's on his way out the door. Now that's movie-making, to make me hope for that which will not happen. As a writer, I did figure out a logical sequel for those of us who want the happy ending. How about this? Princess Ann is from one of those little bitty Eastern European countries overrun by the Communists around the time this story takes place. Why not have Joe meet up with her again when he's in the war-torn country doing a story? She's on the run and out of the princess line now, and there he is. Works for me, except that only Peck and Hepburn could have played the roles. Ah, well.

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: A must see
Review: It is a wonderful movie worth seeing for its story, acting and location....

Rating: 5 stars
Summary: I fall in Love with Audrey Hepburn everytime I watch this
Review: What a wonderful movie. Wonderful storyline, and believable as well. Any man would fall for Miss Hepburn in this movie. Not only do the actors deliver great acting, but the location scenes are hard to beat, eternal Rome is always a wonderful film location. Sometimes I just turn the audio down and put on Henry Mancini's "Moon River", even though it is made for Breakfast at Tiffany's, somehow I think it enhances the beauty of Audrey in this movie. I highly recommend this to any fans of love and romance. I miss Miss Hepburn's beauty and spirit. The world loss a wonderful sparkle when she passed away.


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