3. Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

The posts that I am making aren't just all facts about the movies and what nots, this also includes my feedback and how I understood the story line, so if you do not want to read the facts, then you can skip them. :)

"I'm like cat here, a no-name slob. We belong to nobody, and nobody belongs to us. We don't even belong to each other." 

- Holly Golightly, Audrey Hepburn

Movie Poster

Fun Facts about Breakfast at Tiffany's:

• Tiffany's opened its doors on a Sunday for the first time since the 19th century so that filming could take place inside the store. 
• Author Truman Capote envisioned Marilyn Monroe in the part of Holly Golightly. Monroe was originally cast as Golightly, but her drama coach, Lee Strasberg, told her that playing a call-girl was not good for her image. The film went on to be a huge success, with Monroe's replacement Audrey Hepburn receiving Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations for Best Actress. (Sadly, she did not win)



Danish pastry, anybody?

• Audrey Hepburn hated Danish pastries, making filming the famous opening scene a bit of a chore for her. 
• Although not visible on camera, hundreds of onlookers watched Audrey Hepburn's window-shopping scene at the start of the film. This made her nervous and she kept making mistakes. It wasn't until a crew member nearly got electrocuted behind the camera that she pulled herself together and finished the scene. 
• Audrey Hepburn said the scene where she throws Cat into the rainy street was the most distasteful thing she ever had to do on film. 
• Elements of Holly's character in the original novel, such as her flirtation with bisexuality, were omitted to make the part more suitable for Audrey Hepburn. 
• George Peppard was a student of Method acting, a style Hepburn found difficult to work with. Nonetheless, the two actors remained close friends until her death. 
• Audrey felt that she was miscast as Holly Golightly in this film, although it was one of her most popular roles. 
• At a post-production meeting following a screening of the film, a studio executive, in reference to "Moon River," said, "Well, I think the first thing we can do is get rid of that stupid song." Audrey Hepburn stood up at the table and said, "Over my dead body!" The song stayed in the picture. (Feisty Audrey, I tell ya!)
• The song "Moon River" was written especially for Audrey Hepburn, since she had no training as a singer. The vocals were written to be sung in only one octave. (Oh, wow!)
• Audrey Hepburn's salary for the film was $750,000, making her the second highest paid actress (behind Elizabeth Taylor) per film at the time.
• About nine cats were used throughout the film as the role of Cat. 
• Holly Golightly is supposed to be just nineteen years old when she meets with Paul. Audrey Hepburn was thirty-one years old when playing Holly. 

Story line as understood by a fifteen-year-old girl:

Cuddling up, eh?

A young rather naive girl Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn), lives by her own on an apartment. One day, she meets her new neighbor Paul Varjak (George Peppard) while she was getting ready visiting a drug lord who she gives regular "weather reports", she became fast friends with him and she decided to later call "Fred" because he reminds her of her brother, he introduced her to 2E (Patricia Neil), his decorator. Later that night, she went by his window to find 2E leaving Paul some money and kissing him goodnight (they have an affair) and as they chatted she found out he is a writer and hasn't published anything other than one book. They fell asleep together, and Holly woke up, kind of frantic, because of her nightmare about her brother and leaves. She gave him a typewriter ribbon and invited her to her party as an apology to her behavior.

Introducing Cougar 2E

Paul later found out that Holly was in fact married to an older man, named Doc (Buddy Ebsen), and wanted Holly to go back home with him since her brother is coming back from the army. Paul reunites the two but Holly said to him that the marriage was annulled but Doc was still acting delusional. She asked Paul to accompany them to the bus station, where she told her last goodbye to Doc and said that she was planning on letting Fred live with her.

Stealing masks, Breakfast at Tiffany's style

The two spends time together, taking turns on doing stuffs they never did and eventually spending the night together again but as Paul woke, he found Holly gone, that day he ended his relationship with 2E. Holly schemes on marrying a rich Brazilian dude which upset Paul, since he finally concluded he loves her, and after Holly trashes her room because of a telegram about her brother's death, Jose was disturbed about her reaction.

Months later, Holly invited Paul to one last dinner before she leaves for Brazil but Holly was arrested because she had been used as a messenger of a drug lord, but bailed out the next day receiving a telegram from Jose that he did not want to marry her anymore. Holly let Cat, her unnamed cat, out of the rain which made Paul confront Holly, and left the cab they were riding on the way to the airport, throwing the ring (which he asked to be engraved at Tiffany's) onto Holly's lap. She then followed him and together they looked for Cat.

Feedback of a fifteen-year-old girl:

Audrey Hepburn being fabulous

One of the best Audrey Hepburn movie EVER, she even became a fashion icon with her little black dress! (By the way Audrey Hepburn and Katharine Hepburn are not related to each other so do not be confused.) It was a really different love story and though the writer of the novella to which it was based on was not entirely pleased with Audrey's casting, for me, she did really good and Truman Capote should be happy with what happened to his novella!

Audrey singing Moon River

The script was witty and fantastic, and I like following the flow of the dialogues. The cast was kind of well-picked but what I really adored about the movie was Audrey, just her, but you know, this is my opinion. Of course, there are several scenes that I loved, as per usual: The opening of the movie, well I don't know why but it has a really good symbolism thing going on; the part where Audrey sang Moon River with a guitar in hand, well I liked her voice and though she was not the best singer, she really owns a rich voice that you wouldn't get tired of hearing; I also like the library scene and the dialogue there and I liked the ending, though I would have preferred it more if they kissed (Oh right they kissed!!!). Haha!

CAT: This is awkward.

Well, overall the movie got a 7.8 on IMDb, I am giving it an 9 (the dialogue was just fantastic!).

References:

• The movie
• IMDb
• Wikipedia
• Google Images