Charade

Rating:
Summary: Classic Mystery
Review: This movie begins to misdirect you from the very beginning. There are a number of plot devices that the avid mystery fan will recognize, but their reuse in this film provides only a minor distraction from the fun.

Reggie Lampert, very convincingly played by the always beautiful Audrey Hepburn, is informed her husband has died at the beginning of the movie. Reggie quickly becomes the target of a group of nefarious individuals played by James Coburn, George Kennedy and Ned Glass. While the role of these three is clear, what is less clear are the roles of Mr. Bartholomew (Walter Matthau) and Peter Joshua (Cary Grant). Both the latter appear to want to help Reggie, but in very different ways.

Adding to Reggie's initial confusion is why everyone is after her. As the movie slowly reveals, her husband was not all that he appeared. Her husband conspired with a group of others to steal a quarter of a million dollars during World War II. However, Reggie's husband apparently decided he wanted all the money for himself and took it without the other's consent. Naturally the other partners were a bit upset and took out their frustrations on Reggie's husband.

The question everyone asks of Reggie is where the money is located. Unfortunately, Reggie's husband neglected to advise her where he hid a quarter of a million dollars in stolen loot. Reggie must find the money to save her life.

This movie intentionally misleads the viewer from the beginning. Cary Grant consorts with the characters we know are criminals, yet he initially appears to be a good guy. Walter Matthau is much less helpful than he should be given that he has an office in the U.S. Embassy. There are even brief moments at the beginning of the movie where I wondered whether Reggie might know more than she revealed.

Paying attention to the movie, you may find that you guess the location of the cash before Reggie and Peter. The plot is prepared for your guess, and both characters lose the money just when they discover where it is hidden. You may guess the other secrets of the movie as well, but the fun is trying to guess before everything is revealed in the final minutes.

This movie combines moments of humor and fear in a style that borrows much from Alfred Hitchcock's movies. The plot and cinematography do not quite achieve that lofty peak, but rise high enough and move along quickly enough that this film is thoroughly enjoyable. I recommend this movie for the collection of any Cary Grant or Audrey Hepburn fan, and for those who liked movies such as "To Catch a Thief."

Rating:
Summary: Execrable DVD of delightful film
Review: An extremely inferior transfer to DVD; the picture quality is dreadful, the audio is worse, the "special features" are biographies full of sloppy errors (Matthau misspelled, Hepburn's bio under Coburn's link), and the chapter headings give away the mystery. The film itself is still a treat.

Rating:
Summary: Charade
Review: This is my favorite alfred hitchcock film. I highly recomend it this movie is awsome it is so much better then the remake the truth about charlie. They have made alot of remakes of old films but I don't know how they thought they could improve upon the steller casting and acting of Cary Grant, Audrey hepburn, and Walter Matthau

Rating:
Summary: The perfect movie!
Review: This film was the very first prerecorded videotape I bought for my new VCR back in the mid-eighties. It's now the first DVD I'll buy for my new DVD player, upholding a new tradition.

There is nothing to fault in this movie....nothing!! The two leads, Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant exude what has to be a charisma critical mass as they charm the bejesus out of you from beginning to end. Hepburn is casual elegance personified and Grant is witty, charming and throws off that priestly/uncle-y thing he was so famous for throughout his entire career, a career that had NO clunkers, movie-wise! Hepburn would have had similar status if Sidney Sheldon just hadn't gotten his hooks into her!

The plot is VERY Hitchcockian, with all kinds of O. Henrys all through it...for half the movie, you're almost sure Grant is the culprit as the villains are picked off one by one as they wait to find out where Hepburn's secretive, (and apparently crooked,) husband hid money that he, James Coburn, George Kennedy and Ned Glass and a man named Carson Dyle took from the Vichy French during WWII. Hepburn's husband is now dead, having been thrown from a train as the movie begins. Grant tries to charm the location of the loot from Audrey beginning with their second meeting and throughout the film. Coburn, as a character named Tex, tries to SCARE it out of her early on, but the George Kennedy character, Scobie, goes straight for Grant, thinking he's their fifth, the man named Carson Dyle. Reggie, (Audrey,) suspects he's Carson Dyle too, until he tells her his name is Peter Joshua...

Just what is going on here? Rent this movie or buy it, and find out....between the MAJOR charisma Hepburn and Grant provide, the witty, sophisticated script and the menacing acting of Coburn and Kennedy, not to mention the wizard cinematography for its day and one of Henry Mancini's best scores, I guarantee you, you will be bewitched by this film!

Rating:
Summary: Don't look for objectivity here
Review: What high was God on, or what prayer did he answer, to have created a woman so exquisite as Audrey Hepburn? It boggles the mind.

CHARADE pairs man's man Cary Grant with the incomparable Audrey Hepburn. (Cary who?) Audrey plays "Reggie" Lampert, recently widowed when her mysterious husband was tossed off a speeding train. Besides leaving behind four different passports and an unused getaway ticket to South America, he left two-hundred and fifty thousand ill-gotten dollars stolen from the Office of Strategic Services, precursor of the CIA, at the end of World War II. But nobody knows where it is, including Lampert's three accomplices in the crime: Tex (James Coburn), Scobie (George Kennedy), and Leo (Ned Glass). But the three crooks want it back, and are willing to hurt Reggie to get it. To whom is a poor girl to turn? To Hamilton Bartholomew (Walter Matthau), ostensibly the CIA's man in the Paris American embassy? Perhaps to the chameleon-like Peter Joshua (Grant), whose identity changes every fifteen minutes, much to the confusion and distress of Reggie, desperately in need of a knight in shining armor.

When Ms. Hepburn breaks into a smile, its radiance could raise the dead, halt the world's spin, or part the English Channel. The profile of her face and neck, from any angle, makes the Nefertiti Bust look kitschy. I could lose myself forever in her eyes. When it comes to delicate beauty, no living actress is in the same league, not even the winsome Gwyneth Paltrow. Perhaps the only one to come close is Audrey Tatou (AMELIE and HE LOVES ME, HE LOVES ME NOT).

The storyline and pacing of CHARADE is that of a typical 1960s whodunit, tinged with a bit of humor and a little romance. The script and its plot twist aren't even that clever when compared with such modern mind-benders as THE OTHERS, IDENTITY, FEMME FATALE, or SIXTH SENSE. In Audrey's absence, I wouldn't give more than a grudging four stars. But she's there, I'm overwhelmed, and, alas, my objectivity is shattered.

Rating:
Summary: A keeper. Good suspence. I likey.
Review: The only thing wrong with this movie is the overdubbed voice they used for the small child. Extremmely annoying kid. Everything else kept me interested in the movie

Rating:
Summary: Entertaining, But Definitely a 1960s Movie
Review: "Charade" is enjoyable, but not as much as one would expect. Having seen the film for the first time on DVD, I thought it was a generally well-crafted tale, but wondered why on earth would Hollywood want to make a re-make of this film that is clearly a product of the 1960s. It's no wonder that "The Truth About Charlie" died a quick death at the box office last year.

First of all, "Charade" requires the audience to accept a lot. The film's credibility rests squarely on Cary Grant's shoulders. We are to assume that the man called Peter Joshua (Grant) is so dashing and charming that Reggie (Audrey Hepburn) will side with him no matter what. That might have worked for 1960s audiences, but for contemporary audiences that's pushing things a bit.

However, if you are willing to accept that (or simply overlook it), you're in for a nice ride. The film has plenty of plot twists and turns with some great set pieces. The scene with the trap doors is a classic.

With the exception of Grant and to a lesser extent Hepburn, the performances are rather broad. The supporting players generally fall into familiar "types." George Kennedy is a classic "heavy," for example.

The DVD includes audio commentary by producer/director Stanley Donen and screenwriter Peter Stone. The bickering that goes on between them is quite amusing at times. It starts off with Donen's insistance that Stone not reveal any of the "clues" in the film. Meanwhile, Stone argues that anybody listening to the audio commentary has already seen the film and wants to know how the clues were set up. Another example is when Donen gets into a disagreement with Stone about whether or not Stone "wrote" a particular shot in the morgue scene.

Between the bickering, there are several intriguing anecdotes about the making of the film including how the original studio passed on the film. Also included is an abundant supply of trivia about the film. For example, in one scene we see Peter Stone, but it's actually Donen's voice we hear coming out of his mouth.

Overall, "Charade" is a very entertaining film, if a bit dated. If you're a fan of the two leads, it's a must-see. If not, it's still worth serious consideration because of the craft in which it was made.

Rating:
Summary: A classy caper.
Review: The two stars of 'Charade', Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn, radiate class and chemistry in this espionage caper and practically carry the film on their star power alone. Stanley Donen's classy take on the suspense genre offers a twist on the Hitchcockian formula by incorporating irony and light humor into an otherwise sordid and serious tale of stolen money and petty thievery amidst glamorous European settings and Hepburn's trademark fashion sense. Criterion's DVD (now sadly out of print) presents a pristine transfer and greatly improved sound, although few extras.

Rating:
Summary: a great film!
Review: Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant make a great couple in this film. It's adventurous romantic and wonderful to watch. I highly recommend it.

Rating:
Summary: Hitchcock, Audrey, Cary...what else could you ask for?
Review: This is a classic drama for everyone. One of Hitchcock's best plots is combined with the winning duo of Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn. She's at the peak of style, he's as his handsome, charming best, and the story will keep you on the edge of your seat. If you loved him with Grace Kelly in To Catch a Thief, you'll love him even more with Audrey.

I also found it helpful in convincing those boys who just won't watch a "chick flick" like Breakfast at Tiffany's that an Audrey Hepburn film has a lot to offer. It's simply one of best classic films out there.