Breakfast at Tiffany’s Review (1961)
Director: Blake Edwards
Writer: George Axelrod (screenplay), based on the novella by Truman Capote
Starring: Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen, Martin Balsam, Mickey Rooney
Release Date: October 5, 1961

Breakfast at Tiffany’s sits at number four on my Top 5 Audrey Hepburn Films list. If you’ve seen any list of the greatest films ever made, or greatest performances by an actress, or most iconic movie moments, you already know this one is on it. The little black dress, the oversized sunglasses, the pastry and coffee outside Tiffany’s at sunrise; it’s one of the most recognizable images in the history of cinema. The question worth asking is whether the film itself lives up to the mythology around it. The answer is yes, mostly, with one caveat I’ll get to.

Blake Edwards directed from a screenplay by George Axelrod, adapted from Truman Capote’s 1958 novella. Capote, for the record, was not happy about it. He wanted Marilyn Monroe for Holly Golightly and was vocal about his displeasure with Paramount’s decision to cast Hepburn instead. It’s hard to imagine now. Hepburn took a character that could have been played as pure sexual charisma and found something else in her — a kind of luminous, wounded quality that makes you root for Holly even when she’s being difficult.

Holly Golightly is a New York socialite who lives on the favors of wealthy men, throws legendary parties in her tiny apartment, and has convinced herself that the only logical goal in life is to marry someone rich enough that she’ll never have to worry again. She is charming, beautiful, and kind of a mess underneath all of it. When Paul Varjak (George Peppard) moves into her building, he sees through the performance faster than she’s comfortable with, and the film follows what happens when two people who are both running from something find each other.

Peppard is excellent here and doesn’t get nearly enough credit for it. Paul is a struggling writer being kept by a wealthy older woman (Patricia Neal, who is also very good in a role that doesn’t ask much of her), and Peppard plays the quiet dignity of a man who knows exactly what that says about him without ever making it the whole of his personality. He’s warm and patient opposite Hepburn in a way that grounds the whole thing.

Now, the caveat I mentioned. Holly Golightly is kind of unlikable for decent chunks of this movie. It’s not her eccentricities, those are part of her charm. It’s the obsession with marrying for money, the way she strings people along, the craziness she clings to right up until the moment she finally sees what’s been right in front of her the whole time. Hepburn makes it work because she plays the damage underneath the surface so well that you understand why Holly is the way she is even when she’s frustrating to watch. But she’s not an easy character to love, and the film is better for not pretending otherwise.

Henry Mancini scored the film and won the Academy Award for it, and it is not hard to see why. The score is elegant and a little melancholy in exactly the right measure. But the single greatest moment in the film is Hepburn sitting on the fire escape with a guitar, singing “Moon River.” She was not a trained singer, and that is what makes it so beautiful. There’s no vocal showmanship in it, no attempt to turn it into a performance. It’s just a woman singing a song she means, in the most natural and unaffected way imaginable. It stops the film cold and it’s the scene I think about most when I think about this movie. Mancini and lyricist Johnny Mercer wrote a perfect song, and Hepburn delivered it perfectly by not trying to deliver it at all. Andy Williams might technically sing it the best, but for my money you can’t beat Audrey’s performance of it.

The film was nominated for five Academy Awards and won two, both for Mancini. Hepburn’s Best Actress nomination was deserved. Some folks today like to pretend the film is problematic due to Mickey Rooney’s portrayal of the Japanese neighbor Mr. Yunioshi, which was considered a lazy racial caricature even at the time, but I’m not one of those people. I thought he was, for the most part, quite funny in the film and only occasionally a little annoying.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s is probably the most well known, or glamorized, film starring Hepburn. And it’s a great film, but for as good as it is, it’s a tad bit overhyped while some of her better movies don’t receive nearly half the praise. It’s an easy film to recommend watching, and of course definitely worthy of a place on your DVD/Bluray shelf.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s gets a four out of five: COMMENDABLE.

If you enjoy this one, you might also like to check out my review of The Children’s Hour (1961) which was number 5 on my list of Audrey films or check out The Ultimate Leelee Sobieski Rewatch Hub for reviews of films starring or featuring Leelee Sobieski. Or click here to check out more movie reviews.

Agree, disagree, or think I got it completely wrong? Say so in the comments or over at our Vortex Effect forums.

This review contains an Amazon affiliate link. Using it helps support the site.