Colazione da Tiffany

There are movies that are loved because of the cast, the music and style, not for the interesting plot, wonderful characterizations or snappy dialogue. This famous movie, Breakfast at Tiffany, has been lovingly regarded for years because of the wonderful Audrey Hepburn and the talented Henry Mancini. Moon River is one of the best movie songs ever. But there is, surprisingly, not much to say overall about this movie.

Two prostitutes become friends. George Peppards' role could have been played by anyone breathing and Micky Rooney was too ridiculous to be funny. The always superb Patricia Neal did not have much to do. Only Buddy Epsen moved me.

There are a few noteworthy scenes. But, Breakfast at Tiffany's is the best example I've seen of a lovely cake with a big hole in the middle.

This film is an amazing achievement for Audrey Hepburn. The part was clearly written for Marilyn Monroe. (To think of Hepburn as a backwoods girl is absurd.) Monroe would have made a meal of this and it would have been her signature role. But she was in the midst of her emotional troubles at this time and the role was given to a very different actress in Hepburn who produced a very different Holly Golightly. And yet she did it so well that it became HER signature role instead. It's not unusual for an actor to make a role his own such that you can't picture someone else in the role even thought there are actually many who could have played it. But to take a role intended specifically for another, one for which one does not appear suited, and make that your own…well, that's a great acting achievement. It certainly is Audrey Hepburn's greatest role, a performance with many more complexities than any other she ever gave.

It's also a fabulous film. I love beauty emerging form contradiction, like a rhapsody emerging from apparently unrelated themes and musical noises. Here we have something that is at times a wacky comedy, a breezy romance and yet is full of depth and drama. So many things have happened and we have been introduced to so many characters at the end, it's amazing they all fit together. I also like the bravery of doing a story about two people who are basically prostitutes in 1961. It's daring yet there's nothing sleazy about he film because it concentrates on who these people are as people- what they are, not what they do.

And the film has the most eclectic cast I can imagine. Romantic heroine Audrey Hepburn. Method actor George Peppard. Sleek man-killer Patricia Neal. Actor's actor Martin Balsam. Old reliable Buddy Ebsen, just before he hammed it up as Jed Clampett, playing a subtle and touching version of the same thing. Mickey Rooney provides the only jarring note with his scenery chewing performance as the Japanese landlord, something we could surely have done without. Did you know that Audrey's gangster sugar daddy is played by Alan Reed, the voice of Fred Flintstone? And don't forget John McGiver's delicate turn as the clerk at Tiffany's.

You can debate the virtues of a film into the night. What really counts in the end is: Does it stay in the memory vividly years later? Would you like to watch it again? And when you watch it again, does it take you back to when you first saw it? Breakfast at Tiffany's certainly does. It will always be the prize in the cracker-jack box.

Often listed as a top 100 film of the 20th Century, Tiffany's features a flighty socialite who I became more frustrated with than anything else. We all have watched clips of Hepburn signing Moon River, but really the story plot is not that deep. The Rooney character, as the annoying Japanese neighbor is cringe worthy in today's standards, but it was made to be comic relief in its time.

Decent film , but I wouldn't rank it as iconic for the century.

BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY's is an exciting and entertaining romantic comedy about a charismatic girl from high society and an unrealized writer. Film is loosely based on Truman Capote's novella of the same name.

A young and elegantly dressed lady walks around and looking in a shop windows in an early morning. After looking into the shop's windows, she strolls home. Outside her apartment, she fends off her date from the disastrous night before. Later, she meets, a pleasant and somewhat confused writer, the new tenant in her building. They develop a special relationship. She wants to marry a rich man. However, her new friend slowly falls in love with her. Both must give up of some important goals in their lives for the sake of love...

This is an unconvincing and provocative story with a touch of an inappropriate comedy, romance and melodrama. However, this distorted reality has a certain depth. The story of a nobody's-but everyone's girl is, given her past, a naive and painful at the same time. A quiet and insecure writer with an obvious problem of writer's block and hands of a beautiful and rich older lady around his neck enters in her life. It is a quite confusing situation in life.

Costume design is exquisite, the song "Moon River" is haunting as a reflection of fears, turmoil and friendship.

Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly / Lula Mae Barnes is an irresistible, irritating, bumbling and gentle woman with two names. She constantly flees away from itself. Holly is "the real fake" and "a wild thing" at the same time. Lula Mae is a person from whom Holly escapes. Ms. Hepburn is a beautiful and gentle actress, exceptional comedienne, who is an ideal choice for this role. George Peppard as Paul Varjak is often set aside as an observer. He was not the right choice for this role. George just can not follow a "twisting" step of the unreliable Holly. Mr. Edwards has tried to equalize their characters. They are unhappy, unfulfilled and they differ from some moral standards. Their relationship is based on an unconditional friendship. There is no a chemistry or love sparks. He has, in an elusive and unreliable girl, found an inspiration in his life. She has found a man who will, regardless of her excesses and lies, always be beside her and lend her a hand when she falls.

Their support are Patricia Neal (Mrs. Emily Eustace "2E" Failenson) as a cool rich woman with a beautiful smile and a magnetic gaze. Martin Balsam as O.J. Berman is very funny as a Hollywood agent. Mickey Rooney as I.Y. Yunioshi is an inappropriate and hackneyed cliché.

This is an odd collection of turbulent and false feelings, which is a comic and melodramatic at the same time, and even occasionally pleasant to watch.

A lot has been said about this film, so I won't repeat too much of it. I just thought the following points stood out for me as wonderful:

-The telephone Holly keeps in a suitcase so she won't hear it. Holly. Ahhhh... Holly. Like some kind of female opposite of James Bond (stick with me here), men all want her, women all want to be her. We need to see *more* eccentric women in leading roles, as opposed to the dull boring stodge of overpaid 'sex symbols' like Julia Roberts or Nicole Kidman who can be pretty or serious but never interesting.

-George Peppard in his finest role, and brilliant it is too. It's a real shock to my generation that has been more accustomed to seeing him tragically underused on trash like the A-Team. It made me want to see more of his early films, and wonder what happened in the intervening years (alcohol, apparently :-( ). An icon of male sensitivity, and there are few enough of them around too.

-That chap who sells them the telephone dialler in Tiffany's. A tiny role that achieves its aims perfectly and makes life seem better, which is what you want really.

Many have said Tiffany's is too saccharine and cheerful, but I think it actually hits the perfect balance of cynicism and sentiment. There are moments of intense depression (which people often forget) as well as hopeful optimism, and these two working together are what make the film so uplifting and memorable.