Breakfast at Tiffany’s

MPAA Rated – Unrated
It’s 1:54 Long
A Review by:
The Dude on the Right

Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Movie Stats & Links
Starring: Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen, Mickey Rooney
MPAA Rated: Unrated
Released By: Paramount Home Entertainment
Release Date: 1961
Kiddie Movie: They might get all squishy with the kissing, or wonder what job Holly has.
Date Movie: It’s perfect for your romantic dudette.
Gratuitous Sex: Hinted at talk.
Gratuitous Violence: Nope.
Action: Nope.
Laughs: Some cute moments.
Memorable Scene: The party is a lot of fun.
Memorable Quote: Nah.
Directed By: Blake Edwards

I have to admit that prior to watching the DVD, the only thing I really knew about “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” was from a song by a band called Deep Blue Something that had a hit titled, well, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” in the mid 1990’s, and from the song, they both kind of liked it. Then I watched the DVD and realized that A) Audrey Hepburn is quite a hottie; B) Hey, that looks like the dude from “The A-Team”; and C) I kinda liked it, too.

Here are the basics of the movie…

Audrey Hepburn is Holly Golightly. Without saying as much, well, she’s an escort, getting paid to “go away” at the end of the evening. She loves Tiffany’s (and what dudette doesn’t?), especially in the morning, but is desperately looking for Mr. Right, especially a very wealth Mr. Right, to sweep her away from the life she is leading. Enter Paul “Fred” Varjak (George Peppard). He’s a writer, but actually appears more like a male escort, under the payment of “2E” (Patricia Neal). He finds himself living in Holly’s building, the two of them become acquaintances, and Paul takes it upon himself to watch over Holly, and also fall in love with her.

And so their relationship grows, there is a wild party, Paul protects Holly from her deserted husband, they spend some quality time together, at Tiffany’s no less, and Holly gets wrapped up, unknowingly, in a narcotics ring thanks to Sally Tomato (Alan Reed), who she visits regularly in jail. In the end, wouldn’t you know it, both Holly and Paul realize they love, and are meant, for each other.

Yes, this is a chick-flick. Yes, this movie is before my time. And yes, this is the movie that put the song “Moon River” on the map. But more than that, yes, this movie holds up from the 1961’s it was filmed in to these 2009’s that I saw it. Well, it almost holds up, because if this movie were made today, it would get crucified for Mickey Rooney’s portrayal as Mr. Yunioshi, which even I found kind of disturbing.

In terms of romance, “Breakfast at Tiffany’s” is nearly perfect, so for the romantic in you, and if you want your honey to get all lovey-dovey, it’s a 4 ½ star “snuggler” for the two of you. If you’re a dude, you might not want to admit to your friends that you liked it.

As far as the DVD, which for the version I saw was the Centennial Collection, 2-Disc version, and I know this might sound dude-ly wrong, I enjoyed the extras. There was a nice look at how the Golightly party scene was put together, I always love back-stories on musicians and the Henry Mancini ranks up there, you get a little bit of history why Tiffany’s is such an icon, you will find out how important George Takei was to the shift in Asian perception on film during the “Mr. Yunioshi: An Asian Perspective” feature, and there is also a great “Making of…” which for a change, I really liked.

If you are a fan of “Breakfast at Tiffany’s,” may I highly recommend the Centennial Collection 2-Disc version, because along with the movie, which is great, there is a ton of historic material sure to delight you. And if all you know about the movie is a song from the mid-1990’s, it holds up well into these 2000’s, so go ahead and snuggle together about one of the original “pretty women.”

That’s it for this one! I’m The Dude on the Right!! L8R!!!