Breakfast at Tiffany's

It was classic movie weekend at our place last weekend. Little girl rented Hitchcock's The Birds and I grabbed Breakfast at Tiffany's. The young man grabbed Safe Men featuring Sam Rockwell, Steve Zahn, Mark Ruffalo and Paul Giamatti. I tried to explain that Safe Men didn't qualify as a classic, however I could not sell the idea and so out we walked with two classics and some brain candy.

I love the opening scene of Breakfast at Tiffany's where Hepburn's Holly Golightly gets out of the cab in front of Tiffany's at daybreak. She crosses the deserted sidewalk to peer into Tiffany's window display and stares at the jewelry as she dines on her pastry and coffee. The moment is perfect in its simplicity. I watched it a half dozen times at least.

I didn't read the book by Truman Capote but I'm thinking that I may. I am much better at grasping plot lines and subtleties in the written form. Authors use narratives to thoroughly explain things that are not always as easily conveyed through movie dialogue. I say this because ....

...I had NO idea that Holly Golightly was a prostitute. I have long considered myself to be naive but, once again, I was shocked to learn that this fact totally escaped me for 111 minutes and not less than 3 viewings of this movie over the years. Blake Edwards was kind enough to enlighten me during his interview in the DVD's Bonus Features. He explained that Audrey Hepburn had serious misgivings about playing a prostitute and I'm like, "What? Say again." "A whore," said Blake Edwards. Hey, the cover said a socialite. What the heck?

I mean, sure, the fact that she was paid $50. by her date for each visit to the washroom wasn't entirely lost on me. I thought she was a little loose for 1961. I mean she did crawl up the fire escape and slide into bed with George Peppard after all. She had only met him a couple of times in the hall. Cheeky sure, but c'mon. Yeah, yeah, her dates gave her money and expensive gifts but isn't that a benefit of being the focus of a rich man's attention? That's still quite a stretch from whore, isn't it? The cover said socialite.

I'm not sure how I feel about the movie now. It's changed my perspective and the way I feel when I watch the movie. I guess Breakfast at Tiffany's was the 1961 version of 1990's Pretty Woman.

Regardless, the opening scene is magic. The three minutes spent on Fifth Avenue at daybreak as Moon River plays in the background are well worth the cost of admission in my opinion.