I never saw this movie when it first came out and always longed to see it because it had one of my favorite actresses - Audrey Hepburn - and one of my favorite songs as its theme - Moon River. I also knew it had won and been nominated for several Academy Awards. Not too long ago, my curiosity about this movie was again piqued when I met Henry Mancini's daughter and saw a video tribute to her father using clips from the movie. After finally getting to see the movie, however, I was kind of disappointed.
Although the plot is fairly simple - two seemingly mismatched people fall in love - I had a hard time getting into the characters. George Peppard's character was believable - a good-looking writer with writer's block and a wealthy female patron, but his acting seemed stiff and uncomfortable. Miss Hepburn's acting was superb as the neurotic social-climbing, Holly Golightly, but the character was unbelievable. Why did she have to be a hick from Tulip, Texas? Does anyone really believe that intense French lessons could turn someone from a hick into a sophisticated socialite? Was Buddy Ebsen's brief appearance as her former husband a screen test for The Beverly Hillbillies a year later? Couldn't the same story been more realistic if Holly had been a smaller town New York girl and leave the hick past out? I also felt the ending was a little contrived...the rain, the abandoned cat, etc. The party scene also didn't make much sense - who were the attendees? There were no references to her having any friends. Mickey Rooney's portrayal of a Japanese person may have been funny then, but I think it would cause the movie to be boycotted today as racist. And what was the point of that character - comic relief? Wasn't it already supposed to be a romantic comedy? The 1960s gave us a lot of this genre of movie. Back then, love conquers all was an overriding theme in many of these movies. Looking back, however, I think other movies did a better job, such as The Pink Panther, Barefoot in the Park, to name a couple. Well, at least the movie still has one of the greatest theme songs.
Although the plot is fairly simple - two seemingly mismatched people fall in love - I had a hard time getting into the characters. George Peppard's character was believable - a good-looking writer with writer's block and a wealthy female patron, but his acting seemed stiff and uncomfortable. Miss Hepburn's acting was superb as the neurotic social-climbing, Holly Golightly, but the character was unbelievable. Why did she have to be a hick from Tulip, Texas? Does anyone really believe that intense French lessons could turn someone from a hick into a sophisticated socialite? Was Buddy Ebsen's brief appearance as her former husband a screen test for The Beverly Hillbillies a year later? Couldn't the same story been more realistic if Holly had been a smaller town New York girl and leave the hick past out? I also felt the ending was a little contrived...the rain, the abandoned cat, etc. The party scene also didn't make much sense - who were the attendees? There were no references to her having any friends. Mickey Rooney's portrayal of a Japanese person may have been funny then, but I think it would cause the movie to be boycotted today as racist. And what was the point of that character - comic relief? Wasn't it already supposed to be a romantic comedy? The 1960s gave us a lot of this genre of movie. Back then, love conquers all was an overriding theme in many of these movies. Looking back, however, I think other movies did a better job, such as The Pink Panther, Barefoot in the Park, to name a couple. Well, at least the movie still has one of the greatest theme songs.