Audrey Hepburn Review Series Part 1

My ever-brilliant mother correctly observed, one summer, that me and my siblings were wasting away our time watching crappy movies like... So to sort of lead us to the right direction (read: movies that made sense, to say the least) without literally telling us to what to watch, she bought this Audrey Hepburn movie collection. My siblings refused to be fooled. I did not. I was as curious as a moth to a flame. For some reason I cannot recall, I watched Charade first. And the rest is... well, you'll read about it here, here and here.



Breakfast at Tiffany's. When you say "Audrey Hepburn" it automatically relates to this movie. This is like her one-time big-time thing, which was, in her case, did not turn out to be one-time big time. Too many one-time-big-times, I guess. Her portrayal of Holly Golightly is the most talked-about, even up to now.

Well, I don't know how to judge or criticize films made during those times, that era. Should I be as critical as I am of movies today? Or should I be er, nice since they haven't had the technology and maybe, technical skills, in making movies (as we do now, I suppose)?

Pero sige, I'll be..nicer. The 1961 movie's plot is somewhat shallow compared to.. let's say, Priceless which starred another Audrey (Audrey Tatou opposite Gad Elmaleh). But then again, I have think of the fact that things that appear to be common sense (like the organizational chart and car bearings, perhaps, by Alfred Sloan Jr., or the assembly line by Henry Ford) like the movie's plot need to be invented or thought of in order for an improvement to happen. (In Tagalog, Pa'no ka mag-iimprove kung walang ii-improve? Right?)

It's an okay movie if you're into kissing in the rain, cats, and, uh, high fashion. (I feel like I'm watching 27 Dresses [though I haven't watched it], sa dami ng dress ni Audrey Hepburn.) Also, its a film adaptation of the novella by the same by Truman Capote. (Ah, so he is a writer.) One thing I loved about the movie is its OST (May OST na ba dati?) especially the song "Moon River." Hepburn is as good a singer as an actress. (Oops, almost forgot to mention that George Peppard co-stars. :) )

What's not romantic in kissing in the rain in black and white? None.

Charade. A relatively older (and it shows in this 1963 film) Cary Grant is paired with a fresh (Hahaha) and much younger looking Audrey Hepburn. I feel like he's her uncle or something. But having conditioned my mind that this is just like um, Brad Pitt being paired with Anne Hathaway (Angelina Jolie despite being younger than Brad in theory--hehe--looks mature but not old.) or Richard Gere and Julia Roberts (in Pretty Woman) perhaps.

I liked this movie better than I did Breakfast. According to Wikipedia (which is a not-so credible but is always available source of quick info), it "spans three genres: suspense thriller, romance, comedy" and is "the best Hitchcock movie that Hitchcock ever made". So, I guess, I picked right when I chose to watch this one first, amongst the many Audrey Hepburn movies we have at home.

Reggie (Audrey) and her old man. Literally.

I liked the witty jokes used in the movie. Especially the last one, in the last scene, where Reggie (Audrey Hepburn) says something like "I love you Peter, Adam, Alex, Brian" to Cary Grant's multi-named character, and as she said that, screencaps from the movie showing Grant while he was using the said names. For me, that's a bright idea for an old movie. Kudos to Director Stanley Donen and scriptwriter Peter Stone. Of course, to Mr Grant and Ms Hepburn, and Walther Matthau as Carson Dyle aka Hamilton Bartholomew.


Paris When It Sizzles. In this 1964 film, a screenwriter takes centerstage. Scriptwriter Richard Benson (William Holden) has two days to write a script (The Girl Who Stole the Eiffel Tower) for Alexander Meyerheim (Noel Coward) which he should have done 19 weeks ago. Enter typist Gabrielle Simpson (Hepburn). And, yes, as the cliche goes, they fall in love while working together, creating a love story which mimics their own.

A writer and typist love story

Clever jokes, film cliches and good on-screen chemistry makes this film click, for me, at least. I like William Holden as an actor. He is, in filmspeak, very effective. But again, I am bothered by the age difference between Hepburn and Holden (Or Holden just looks old. Hehe). Pero sige, let's see this as Billy Bob Thornton and Angelina Jolie, when they together, but waayyyyy better. Hahaha

Holden and Hepburn in one of their onscreen kisses.

Again, nice movie.

Overall: Audrey Hepburn is growing on me with every movie that I watch.

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PS: Curiously, there is no article on Audrey Hepburn in the 1994 Britannica Encyclopaedia (which we have at home) when I looked her up. But there are articles for Katherine Hepburn and Cary Grant. Goes to show how old they are and how outdated our Encyclopaedia is.