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samreviewsmovies · 3 years

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Breakfast at Tiffany’s

Year: October 5, 1961

Director: Blake Edwards

Screenwriter: George Axelrod

Actors:

Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly George Peppard as Paul Varjak Patricia Neal as Mrs. Emily Eustace "2E" Failenson Mickey Rooney as I. Y. Yunioshi Buddy Ebsen as Doc Golightly - Holly's former husband Martin Balsam as O.J. Berman José Luis de Vilallonga as José da Silva Pereira John McGiver as Tiffany's salesman Dorothy Whitney as Mag Wildwood Stanley Adams as Rutherford "Rusty" Trawler Elvia Allman as the librarian Alan Reed as Sally Tomato Orangey as Cat

Production Company: Jurow-Shepherd, and Spinel Entertainment

Synopsis: Based on Truman Capote's novel, this is the story of a young woman in New York City who meets a young man when he moves into her apartment building. He is with an older woman who is very wealthy, but he wants to be a writer. She is working as an expensive escort and searching for a rich, older man to marry.

Rating:

IMDb: 7.6/10

Rotten Tomatoes: 89%

My Rating: 8/10

Platform: TN Theatre

My Thoughts:

O.J. Berman: Well answer the question. Is she or isn’t she?

Paul Varjak: Is she or isn’t she what?

O.J. Berman: A phony.

Is this the kind of movie that is iconic and deep or is it just a movie that thinks that it is iconic and deep?

This isn’t my first time watching this movie, but it’s one of those movies that the more you see it, the more you get from it each time. (I also forget how long it is until I watch it.) I find more depth, more parallels between characters, and more emotion. The movie doesn’t change. If anything, it continues to saunter at it’s leisurely pace, much like Holly does at the beginning of the movie as she window shops at Tiffany’s and waits for us to catch up.

The story isn’t overly exciting or overly deep. I don’t think I could ever personally relate to Holly or Paul’s backgrounds or situations (as much as I would like to have a sugar person that would take care of my every need while I was supposed to be writing.) It feels a bit like we’re Nick in the Great Gatsby, watching the absurdity and grandeur and phoniness of New York socialites. We’re like Paul Varjak at the party, trying to figure out what is going on, and getting swept up in the charm of it all. The movie hinges around Holly Golightly, probably one of Ms. Hepburn’s most iconic roles. One of the most simple, yet fickle characters I can think of. No matter how much I watch her, I don’t think I will ever completely understand her. She’s, in a way, one of the first manic pixie dream girls, though somehow the term doesn’t feel right for a nineteen fifties socialite.

Paul’s character helps us figure her out. They play mirrors of each other. Both are taken care of by other wealthier people in exchange for their company. Both of them never really reaching their full potential. Paul chafes under it, and Holly seemingly thrives in it, but not really.

Do I think that Paul will ever truly understand Holly? No. I don’t think she can ever be completely understood, because she doesn’t even begin to understand herself. Do I think that Paul and Holly could have a happy ending after the credits? Maybe. I definitely root for them. I don’t think that any person, and by extension character, should exist only to support another character. Which is kind of the crux of a manic pixie dream girl. Honestly, it should irk me a little, but yet, I think Paul and Holly are good for each other. They both support each other. Holly a muse; Paul to ground her.

Paul Varjak: Holly, I’m in love with you.

Holly Golightly: So what?

Paul Varjak: So what? So plenty! I love you. You belong to me.

Holly Golightly: No. people don’t belong to people.

Paul Varjak: Of course they do.

Holly Golightly: I’m not going to let anyone put me in a cage.

Paul Varjak: I don’t want to put you in a cage! I want to love you!

Holly Golightly: It’s the same thing.

Paul Varjak: No, it’s not! Holly!

I think a lot about this exchange at the end. I think of the contradictions about owning someone. I don’t want to be owned, but I do want to be owned, because being owned is belonging. Belonging to a place and another person, and that person belongs to you. It’s a cage and it’s freedom.

The movie plays with this question and contradiction from the beginning. It’s not the most perfect movie I’ve ever seen, but it keeps me thinking and asking questions. Reflecting on the characters and reflecting on myself. I might get a different answer every time I watch it. I might never get an answer.

The invokes real emotions. The cage conversation above with Paul and Holly, when Doc comes and visits (on a side note: Buddy Ebsen played that part so well. It should have been weird but instead it was so touching), when Holly mourns Fred’s death.

Is this movie a phony? It’s a phony. But it’s a real phony. Know what I mean, kid?

It’s more than an aesthetic. It’s more than a historic moment in cinematography. It is those things, but it’s also got a story that keeps you thinking, keeps you feeling between witty, fast deliver lines.

Extras:

The film is considered "culturally, historically or aesthetically" significant by the U.S. Library of Congress and was selected to be preserved in the National Film Registry in 2012.

Won Best Original Score and Best Original Song for "Moon River"

Nominated at the 34th Academy Awards: Best Actress (for Hepburn), Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Production Design

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakfast_at_Tiffany%27s_(film)

#breakfast at tiffany's #blake edwards #george axelrod #audrey hepburn #george peppard #patricia neal #mickey rooney #budd ebsen #martin balsam #jose luis de vilallonga #john mcgiver #dorothy whitney #stanley adams #elvia allman #alan reed #orangey #jurow-shepherd #spinel entertainment #paramount pictures

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papermoonloveslucy · 6 months

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THE FACE IS FAMILIAR... BUT I CAN'T PLACE THE NAME!

Same Actor / Different Character ~ Part 1: "I Love Lucy"

It used to be quite common for actors to be cast in multiple roles on the same series. Not in principal parts, certainly, but in supporting and minor characters. Lucycoms were no exception. Although the world created by these shows was representative of reality, the characters who populated them often gave viewers Deja vu.

For the purposes of this discussion, we won't include background performers (aka extras) as they were nearly always drawn from the same pool of actors. Also, those who played multiple characters need to have at least two of them identified by name. We will, however, include "the "The Lucy-Desi Comedy Hours" in our discussion of "I Love Lucy".

FRANK NELSON

A busy character actor, Frank Nelson has the distinction of being the only performer to play more than one recurring character (a character seen in more than one episode) on "I Love Lucy": Quizmaster Freddie Fillmore and Westport neighbor Ralph Ramsey. In addition, he played a nearsighted waiter, a TV host, a policeman, a a talent scout, a customs officer, a cruise director, and (perhaps most famously) a train conductor. His turn as the conductor was so memorable, he reprised it on "The Lucy Show" in 1963. Lucy has worked with Nelson on her radio show and new that audiences loved him - so she had no problem engaging him time and time again.

CHARLES LANE

Another familiar face was veteran character actor Charles Lane. Instead of radio, Lane came from the world of film, having done several pictures with William Frawley. He played a total of six characters, including Mr. Stanley, father of nine girls when "Lucy Goes to the Hospital." He followed up with Mr. Hickox "The Business Manager", a casting director, a passport office clerk, a uranium claims officer, and (like Nelson) a customs official, this time at the Mexican border. Lucille Ball created a role for him on "The Lucy Show", only to let him go to make way for a similar character when Gale Gordon finally became available. But that didn't stop Lane, who kept acting until he died at the age of 102!

MARY JANE CROFT

Before settling into the role of Betty Ramsey (with Frank Nelson as her husband Ralph), Croft played the role of Lucy Ricardo's old chum Cynthia Harcourt, who's request for a charitable donation forces Lucy to take a job as a woman from Mars. She returned to new mother Evelyn Bigsby, who sits next to Lucy on the plane home from Europe. Interestingly, Frank Nelson is also in this episode. Just a few months later the pair are back as the Ramseys. Viewers didn't need to have long memories to think the Ricardos' Westport neighbors looked familiar.

ELIZABETH PATTERSON

Viewers fondly remember Patterson as Mrs. Trumbull, the lovable spinster who babysat Little Ricky. On her first episode in 1953, the character was irascible, but grew more likeable over the seven more appearances that followed. Many forget that when Lucy and Ricky renewed their vows in Greenwich Connecticut, Patterson played Mrs. Willoughby the mayor! Mr. Willoughby was played by....

IRVING BACON

Bacon wore many hats (literally) as the man who greeted the Ricardos in Greenwich. But he must've done something right because he was asked back to play Will Potter when the gang drove through "Ethel's Hometown" on their way to Hollywood.

KATHRYN CARD

Best remembered as the scatterbrained Mrs. McGillicuddy, Card was nearly unrecognizable when she was first seen on the series, as Minnie Finch's brusque neighbor in "Fan Magazine Interview" (1954). Mother (she never had a first name) was seen in seven episodes in 1955 and 1956.

HERB VIGRAN

Busy character man Herb Vigran started on "I Love Lucy" playing Jule, Ricky's music agent in two 1952 episodes. But when Lucy's washing machine goes on the fritz, Vigran shows up as Joe, a repairman who also happens to be Mrs. Trumbull's nephew. He also was seen as Hal Sparks, the publicity man who convinces Lucy and Ethel to dress as women from Mars at the top of the Empire State Building.

PARLEY BAER

Baer’s first collaboration with Lucille Ball was playing MGM’s Mr. Reilly in "Ricky Needs an Agent” (1955). He returned to the series as Connecticut furniture salesman Mr. Perry in "Lucy Gets Chummy with the Neighbors” (1957).

SHEPARD MENKEN

Menken did four different characters from season one to season six. He adopted a French accent to teach Lucy to Apache dance as Jean Valjean Raymond, sold Lucy clay as art store salesman William Abbott, examined Lucy's vision as an eye doctor, and reverted to his French accent to sell Lucy mass-produced art as Parisian con-man Charpontier.

DAYTON LUMMIS

Also in "Lucy Has Her Eyes Examined" (1953) we see Dayton Lummis for the first time as producer Bill Parker ("Parker Preps Prod for Pittsburgh Preem"). He returned the following year as publisher Mel Eaton when "Lucy Writes a Novel" (1954) and yet a third time as MGM producer Mr. Sherman in "LA at Last!" (1955).

LOU KRUGMAN

Viewers didn't meet Lou Krugman until season four, when he played the film director coping with Lucy and her unwieldy headdress. Ball was so impressed by him that she immediately cast him as the FBI agent on the train back to New York. When Lucy reprised her heavy headgear routine on a TV special, Krugman was again at her side. In season six, he was cast as the manager of the Club Babalu, formerly the Tropicana. The job lasted just two episodes before the action of the show shifted to Connecticut.

JAY NOVELLO

Novello was one of Lucille Ball's favorite performers from her radio show, playing Mr. Negley the postman and other quirky characters. On "I Love Lucy" he was first (perhaps best) remembered as theatrical producer Mr. Merriweather, who longs to talk to his beloved Tilly in "The Seance" (1951). He returned to play Mr. Beecher, the skittish tenant in "The Sublease" (1954), and "The Visitor From Italy" (1956), who arrives looking for his brother Sam Franchesca. Or maybe San Francisco.

JOHN HART

Another actor to score a trifecta was John Hart. Producer Jess Oppenheimer didn’t want to pay too much for the actor who would play Tom Henderson in "Lucy Changes Her Mind" (1953), a character who only says two words at the very end of the show. He wrote in the script that he wanted “the most handsome hunk of man anyone ever saw for $15.56.” Hart was cast. He returned (hopefully with a pay raise) to play the lifeguard who saves Lucy (despite her best efforts) in "The Hedda Hopper Story," and to play Jim Stevens, a studio executive meeting with Dore Schary poolside (the same pool he guarded in the previous episode) in "Don Juan is Shelved" (1955).

ELVIA ALLMAN

Another of Lucy's favorites from her radio sitcom was Elvia Allman. Even the most casual fan of "I Love Lucy" will recognize her as the barking foreperson at the chocolate factory ("Speed it up a little!") but she also returned to play one of Minnie Finch's neighbors ("Do you wanna see Minnie or don't ya?"). In a change of pace, she played Nancy Graham, the prim columnist who thinks Lucy should "cherish" Ricky. She also encountered Lucy Ricardo as Ida Thompson of the Westport PTA, and as Milton Berle's officious secretary.

HANS CONRIED

Perhaps no other performer was as beloved by Lucy and Desi as Hans Conried. He was seen on all of Lucy's TV and radio shows as well as in a film with her. On "I Love Lucy" he had time to do just two roles: the foppish English tutor Percy Livermore and the unscrupulous used furniture dealer Dan Jenkins. These two diverse characters showed Conried's range as an actor, so viewers can be forgiven for not noticing that they were the same actor - even though their airdates were just a month apart!

BOB JELLISON

Most viewers remember Jellison as the bell hop at the Beverly Palms Hotel. He played the portly luggage jockey for six episodes in 1955. Jellison was so convincing in the role that in "Lucy Hunts Uranium" (1958), he was once again cast as the bellboy, this time named Henry. But few remember him in his first series appearance, as the milkman (or “cow juice peddler”, as Bill Foster called him) in "The Gossip" (1952).

JOSEPH KEARNS

Kearns was another veteran of Lucille Ball's radio series. He found fame as Mr. Wilson on "Dennis the Menace". He played Dr. Tom Robinson, a psychiatrist, in "The Kleptomaniac" (1953). He returned to the show in its final season as the Theatre Manager in "Lucy's Night in Town" (1956). "If four people are seeing the show, then four have got to pay!" He died while still playing Henry Wilson so instead of recasting, George's brother arrived in town, played by...

GALE GORDON

Gordon's relationship with Ball goes back to 1938 on radio. She spent the rest of her career casting him on her various shows. She had intended for him to play Fred Mertz, but he was too busy - and too expensive - so Desi cast William Frawley. Lucy, however, wanted Gordon on the show, so the role of Mr. Littlefield, manager of the Tropicana, was created. The character appeared in two episodes. He wasn't seen with Lucy again until 1958, when he played a Judge that is tasked with deciding a case between the Ricardos, the Mertzes, and the Williams', in "Lucy Makes Room for Danny".

PHIL OBER

Ober was Vivian Vance's husband, so it makes sense that he would make at least one appearance - and he did - as the fake husband sent to the Ricardo apartment by "The Quiz Show" (1951). Ober's marriage eventually ended when Vance accused him of cruelty, but before that could happen, he was a last minute replacement for Dore Schary when "Don Juan is Shelved" (1955). Schary was a real-life MGM movie producer who was scheduled to appear as himself. He either got sick or (more likely) got cold feet. So Ober played Schary instead, leaving many unsavvy viewers thinking that Ober WAS Schary! Speaking of bad marriages and "The Quiz Show"...

JOHN EMERY

...played Harold the Tramp that was confused for Ober's character. Emery had been married to tempestuous Tallulah Bankhead from 1937 to 1941. Their four short years together were compared by Emery to "the decline of the Roman Empire". He played a Doctor in Lucy and Desi's 1956 film Forever Darling. It wasn't long before he was back at "I Love Lucy" to play the pet-hating Mr. Stewart when "Little Ricky Gets a Dog" (1957).

MADGE BLAKE

Blake is best remembered as Batman's Aunt Harriet, but after her notable role of the gossip columnist in Singin' in the Rain (1952), she was cast on "I Love Lucy" as Mrs. Mulford, the owner of the hat shop when "Ricky Loses His Temper" (1954). Lucy and Desi were introduced to her talent when she played Aunt Anastacia in The Long, Long Trailer. She was asked back in late 1956 to play Martha, the acrophobic prospective tenant for apartment 3B in "Lucy and Superman" (1957).

VERNA FELTON

Felton is probably best remembered as Lucy's demonstrative maid Mrs. Porter, but she first appeared as Mrs. Simpson, a housewife living without electricity but with lots of "Sale Resistance" (1953). The two roles aired just three months apart. A few months later Lucy and Desi cast her as series regular Hilda Crocker on their new sitcom "December Bride" (1954-57).

HAZEL BOYNE

A former dancer, Boyne was born on Independence Day 1883 and was 68 years old when "Men Are Messy" (1953) was filmed. She charmed audiences as Maggie, the Tropicana's Irish cleaning woman, dancing with Ricky during his rehearsal. She would go on to play one of Minnie Finch's neighbors in "Fan Magazine Interview" (1954) and a (don't blink) passenger on "The Great Train Robbery" (1955).

HAL MARCH

March had been an original cast member of "My Favorite Husband." In the first season of "I Love Lucy" he played an actor named Hal March who Ricky asks to masquerade as a doctor when "Lucy Fakes Illness" (1951). At the end of the show, announcer Johnny Jacobs says “The part of Hal March was played by Hal March.” March returned to the show to play womanizing lingerie salesman Eddie Grant in “Lucy Is Matchmaker” (1953).

WILL WRIGHT

Wright did two films and a radio show with Lucille Ball before being seen on "I Love Lucy." First, he played Mr. Walters, the locksmith from Yonkers, in “The Handcuffs” (1952). He returned to the series to play Bent Fork Sheriff (and father of Teensy and Weensy) in “Tennessee Bound” (1955).

ALBERTO MORIN

Morin was Carlos, one of Ricky's "Cuban Pals" (1952). He had appeared in some of Hollywood's most cherished films: Gone with the Wind (1939), Casablanca (1943), and Key Largo (1948). He was invited back to play Robert Dubois, waiter turned tutor in "The French Revue" (1953).

HY AVERBACK

Averback played two different Charlies on "I Love Lucy": Appleby and Pomerantz. Charlie Appleby was seen twice on the series, but was only played by Averback on his first appearance in 1953. Charlie Pomerantz was Ricky's press agent in Hollywood in 1955, coming up with the brilliant idea for Ricky to save Lucy from drowning in the hotel pool.

Naturally, there were many other actors whose did double (or triple) duty on "I Love Lucy", chief among them Bennett Green and Hazel Pierce, Lucy and Desi's camera and lighting stand-ins and were omnipresent throughout the series, although not always with specific character names.

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