Synopsis
Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) is a New York party girl who embarks on a wildly entertaining, comedic adventure to find love in the big city. Paul Varjak (George Peppard) is the struggling and “sponsored” young writer who finds himself swept into Holly’s dizzying, delightfully unstructured lifestyle as she determinedly scours Manhattan for a suitable millionaire to marry.
The best thing about Breakfast at Tiffany’s is the worst thing about Breakfast at Tiffany’s, it emulates Holly’s life perfectly. It’s an unstructured mess that is struggling to find its way, but eventually comes together at the end. Of course, that’s what makes Truman Capote’s novel and George Axelrod’s screenplay so brilliant; the movie literally lives Holly’s life. I know what you’re thinking, “Duh, that’s the movie.” To an extent you would be right. Although, if you step back and look at the film, you understand that Holly Golightly’s life is more complicated and lost than one might think. Because the movie moves from Point A to Point B to Point T to Point J to Point C in the blink of an eye is the brilliance behind it all. It’s making the audience participate in Holly’s non-stop fun fest and, much like Paul in the film, you’re waiting for that one definitive stopper that will satisfy Holly’s hunger, so that she can just slow down and feel satisfied with things. The mixture of comedy into this mess makes it a fun, never know what you’re getting ride, but it also hides the very sad tone to the film, which we see towards the end.
The choice to bring in Audrey Hepburn as the lead was great. In the 60s her career really started to shape into something special. Hollywood knew that this lady could play pretty, but she really showed a strong, dramatic side that makes Golightly a very real, rich character. This was a perfect transition to My Fair Lady, which was made three years after. You could she how well Hepburn could take a very fun, innocent character and slowly change them into someone serious and thought-provoking. She not only did this with her character, but this transition also shifted the movie’s tone with it. It truly was a very powerful performance from the actress. Playing opposite of her was the living gimmick, George Peppard (most people know him from The A-Team). I call him a gimmick because his character, Paul Varjak, was placed in the film to lure Holly away from her non-stop thrill ride of a life. He was the deciding factor to stop all her entertaining madness, and someone who acted as stability for her. He does end up falling in love with her, but he was the catalyst and the stop sign in her life, which makes him a fun gimmick in my eyes. Peppard’s performance was witty, brilliant and a perfect opposite for Hepburn’s Holly.
With all this said, is the movie as classic as people make it out to be? Absolutely, but it will cause people to scratch their heads an hour into it wondering when the brilliance will bloom. Like I said in the first part of my review, the best thing about the film is the worst thing. The first part of the film will be underwhelming until Holly starts transitioning her life once Paul enters the scene. Stick with it, though, and you’ll find a fantastic conclusion to a beautifully messy film.
Again, it’s just a brilliant, fun film that reveals a very powerful romantic drama at its pinnacle.
Since this year marks the 50th anniversary of the movie there had to be something special for it. Paramount released this on Blu-ray for the first time and folks it’s probably the best clean-up job I’ve seen on a classic movie. A Star is Born (1954) held that title for almost a year, and now it appears that Breakfast at Tiffany’s has taken over the number one spot. Paramount went back and cleaned up frames for the transfer to HD. The end result is no grain, no artifacts, no color banding and a gorgeous picture. You get very deep, rich blacks, reds, whites, blues (see Peppard’s eyes for details) and pretty much every wonderful 60s colors in their zenith. If you’re a fan of the film and you’ve been waiting for this to come out on Blu-ray then you’re going to be happy. It’s the best version of the film and it’s the highest quality Blu-ray I’ve seen to date. Everything about it looks and feels very much HD. To boot, you even get a beautifully remastered Academy Award winning score in 5.1 DTS-HD. It’s impressive in both the audio and visual category; definitely brings what it advertises.
As for features, here’s what you’re looking at:
· Commentary by producer Richard Shepherd
· A Golightly Gathering
· Henry Mancini: More Than Music
· Mr. Yunioshi: An Asian Perspective
· The Making of a Classic
· It’s So Audrey: A Style Icon
· Behind the Gates: The Tour
· Brilliance in a Blue Box
· Audrey’s Letter to Tiffany
· Photo Galleries:
o The Movie
o Production
o Publicity
· Original Theatrical Trailer
The Henry Mancini, A Golightly Gathering, Mr. Yunioshi (glad they included this) and the theatrical trailer are all in high-quality HD. That’s a huge plus because most classic films released on the Blu-ray format generally don’t get HD features attached to them. Hell, classics from the 70s and 80s don’t get this much love. The features are very good, just like the film, and the time you’ll spend with them is going to be impressive. Paramount did a great job with putting these together, and even more so with including commentary from producer Richard Shepherd. The features won’t disappoint.