BEFORE: I'm presented with a quandary tonight - surely I must have seen this before, right? This is the kind of film that a young man watches with his wife or girlfriend because it's her favorite film, right? My advice to men is, never date a woman who says that this is her favorite film - more on that later. Anyway, since I covered NYC relationships in the 1800's, and then the 1930's, it's on to NYC in the 1960's.
I sort of feel like I've half-seen this one, or perhaps I watched it and didn't pay much attention, because I remember almost nothing about the plot, except for Mickey Rooney's incredibly racist portrayal of a Japanese man. I've tried hard to avoid films that I've seen, but isn't remembering almost nothing about it the same as not having seen it? I think I'm going to have to start the film, and if it all feels too familiar, I'll just have to cross it off and move on to the next film. Linking from "It Happened One Night", Clark Gable was also in "Manhattan Melodrama" with Mickey Rooney.
THE PLOT: A young New York socialite becomes interested in a young man who has moved into her apartment building.
AFTER: Nope, it didn't feel very familiar, so I kept going - I was determined to cross this film off the list tonight, for one reason or another. The main reason for putting this film here was for the linking, but now that I have watched it, I see where my unconscious brain was going with this - it's right there in the synopsis, with the word "socialite". Joan Crawford played a socialite in "Love on the Run", and Claudette Colbert played one in "It Happened One Night". Now technically Holly Golightly is NOT a socialite, but she acts like one, and she runs in the elite social circles and dates upper-crust men. I ain't sayin' she's a gold-digger, but....
Anyway, she seems at first to be just as clueless as the other women this week - with no real idea how to function in the real world, how to pay the rent or her other bills without the help of various men. (Why does she need $50 for the powder room? What do you women do in there?) When a writer of no fixed income moves into the apartment upstairs, they bond over the fact that they're in similar situations - he's living in an apartment bought and furnished by his married older girlfriend.
Holly's agent friend calls her a "phony", but also a "true phony". What does this mean? This doesn't seem to be as much of a contradiction as one might think. So she manipulates men and takes their money, but at least she's honest about it? If Paul is a writer who doesn't write, is he a phony too? What about everyone at the party - aren't there any genuine, honest people in NYC? If not, I have to admit I'm not very surprised. "Fake it 'till you make it", right?
Of course, later in the film we find out just how much of a phony Holly Golightly is. You mean that name's not even real? Do tell... And she's always got some scheme to marry the 9th richest man in America, or some Brazilian minister or something. Which prevents her from having a real true relationship, even when it's right there in front of her. The IMDB plot summary calls her character "a sweetly vulnerable bundle of neuroses". Really? What's wrong with "delusional clueless bitch"? If she needs money, why can't she just get a job? Learn to type, maybe.
To me, this film now feels like an anti-romance. So maybe THAT is my theme for the week - films that are considered as romances, but considering how people mistreat each other, love doesn't even seem to be part of the equation, or not any type of love you'd want to be a part of. Reading the notes on IMDB, this is another film greatly influenced by Hollywood's production code - in the novel this was based on, written by Truman Capote, Paul is gay, and Holly was a prostitute who had an abortion and flirts with bisexuality. See, if you cut out all that, you've got two characters who are perfect for each other! Sure, just sweep everything you find distasteful under the carpet and call that "art".
NITPICK POINT: If Mr. Yunioshi doesn't like to buzz Holly in when she's lost her keys, why doesn't he just NOT buzz her in? Let her stand outside for a few hours, I guarantee next time she'll remember to have a key made and not lose it.
Also starring Audrey Hepburn (last seen in "The Lavender Hill Mob"), George Peppard, Patricia Neal (last seen in "The Day the Earth Stood Still"), Martin Balsam, Buddy Ebsen, with cameos from John McGiver (last seen in "Fitzwilly"), Alan Reed (that's weird, the guy who played the mobster in jail was also the voice of Fred Flintstone...)
RATING: 5 out of 10 Cracker Jacks
No comments:
Post a Comment