Loosely based on the Truman Capote novella of the same name, 1961’s Breakfast at Tiffany’s remains one of Audrey Hepburn’s portrayal of Holly Golightly remains one of the most iconic characters in movie history. Though Audrey always said that Breakfast at Tiffany’s was one of the best experiences of her professional career, she also admitted it was one of the hardest. Naturally an introvert, it was difficult for Audrey to step into the shoes of the extroverted Holly.
Holly is a carefree girl who seems to relish the party lifestyle she’s created for herself. While it’s obvious from that start that Holly is an escort, that fact is never mentioned. While I’m sure the oversight had a lot to do with 1960’s sensibilities, Hepburn plays Holly with such a vulnerable sweetness, making it possible for audiences then and now, to not fully acknowledge her profession. We soon find out the reason for the vulnerability: she not really the glamorous sophisticate she pretends to be, but rather a small-town girl from Tulip, Texas, who has gone to the big city of New York to find herself. She ends up accepting money from men for “going to the powder room.” When she gets a case of the “mean reds”–that is, she gets really depressed–she heads off to do some browsing a Tiffany’s. After all, as Holly says, ” nothing very bad could happen to you there.”
Holly meets a new neighbor in her apartment building, Paul Varjak (George Peppard), a would-be writer being “kept” by a wealthy older woman (Patricia Neal). The two immediately feel a connection and the film chronicles their up and down relationship. Essentially, Breakfast at Tiffany’s is the story of a female escort and a male gigolo falling in love. However, because of the changes that screenwriter George Axelrod (Bus Stop, The Manchurian Candidate, 1962) made to the Truman Capote novella and the seemingly genuine romanticism both leads brought to the story, few would describe Breakfast at Tiffany’s in that way.
Aside from Hepburn, Peppard and Neal, Breakfast at Tiffany’s is blessed with a marvelous supporting cast. Buddy Ebsen plays Holly’s former husband, a patient but not-too-understanding veterinarian from back home in Tulip. Martin Balsam is a fast-talking Hollywood agent who’s trying to get Holly into movies. Jose-Luis de Villalonga is a Brazilian millionaire Holly tries to marry. And Alan Reed is mob boss, Sally Tomato, whom Holly visits on a weekly basis in Sing Sing Prison.
The only sore spot in the whole film is Mickey Rooney’s portrayal of Mr. Yunioshi, the landlord of Holly’s building. The character is a racially stereotyped Japanese-American. While that portrayal may have struck audiences as humorous back in the 1960’s, every minute he is on screen is cringe-inducing today. As I watched those scenes, I couldn’t help but think Breakfast at Tiffany’s still would have been a classic without them, as their not pivotal to the story at all.
Almost fifty years later, there’s still something tremendously appealing about Breakfast at Tiffany’s. Sure the characters smoke and drank like there was no tomorrow; but even so, there’s an innocence about it all that has been lost in the intervening years. While I’m glad we now know about the dangers of excessive drinking and smoking, there’s something comforting about watching a movie like Breakfast at Tiffany’s and seeing a glimpse of days gone by.
The video quality on Paramount’s earliest DVD release was sharply etched, with colors extremely vivid. Those qualities remain in this new Centennial Edition. However, the early version was quite grainy, with occasional age flecks and lines, which are now mostly gone, thanks to a digital remaster and what seems to be the application of some DNR and edge enhancement. In the present edition the screen is much cleaner than before. The anamorphic widescreen measures a 1.85:1 ratio, with solid black levels.
The audio choices are Dolby Digital 5.1 and Dolby Digital monaural. DD 5.1 is the default at startup. It projects a reasonably wide front-channel stereo spread, but only on some musical tracks does it utilize the rear speakers for ambient reflections. It’s fairly clear sound, limited only in dynamics and frequency range compared to newer releases.
Disc one of this two-disc Centennial Collection edition contains the feature film, plus an audio commentary by one of the original producers of the film, Richard Shepherd, whose remarks are informative and authoritative if a bit dry. Also on disc one you’ll find English, French, and Spanish spoken languages and subtitles, along with fourteen scene selections.
Disc two contains a range of items pertaining to the film, the star, and the studio, most of them featurettes, some of them newly made in 2008, others made for the 2005 DVD edition. First up is “A Golightly Gathering,” a 2008, twenty-minute segment in which many of the actors from the movie’s cocktail scene reunite to reminisce. Next is “Henry Mancini: More Than Music,” a 2008, twenty-one-minute piece on the composer. After that is “Mr. Yunioshi: An Asian Perspective,” seventeen minutes, 2008, in which various Asian filmmakers comment on Mickey Rooney’s atrocious Japanese stereotype and on the role of Asian actors and filmmakers in Hollywood through the years. The final newly made featurette is a four-minute tour of the Paramount studios, “Behind the Gates: The Tour.”
After those items are several 2005 featurettes. The first of these is “The Making of a Classic,” sixteen minutes on the adaptation of the Capote story for the screen; followed by “It’s So Audrey: A Style Icon,” eight minutes on Ms. Hepburn’s delicately simple style; “Brilliance in a Blue Box,” six minutes on the history of the famous jewelry story; “Audrey’s Letter to Tiffany,” two minutes on a letter Hepburn wrote to preface a book about the Tiffany store; an original theatrical trailer; and galleries of production, movie, and publicity stills.
Paramount also provides an illustrated booklet insert and an elegant slipcover for the double slim-line keep case.
