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The Bargain Nexus - Breakfast at Tiffany's (Special Aniversary Collector's Edition)
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List Price: $12.99
Our Price: $6.02
Your Save: $ 6.97 ( 54% )
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Manufacturer: Paramount
Starring: Stanley Adams, Elvia Allman, Martin Balsam, Dick Crockett, Buddy Ebsen
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Average Customer Rating:  
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Aspect Ratio: 1.85:1
Audience Rating: Unrated
Binding: DVD
Brand: Paramount
EAN: 9781415718117
Format: NTSC
ISBN: 1415718113
Label: Paramount
Manufacturer: Paramount
Number Of Items: 1
Publisher: Paramount
Region Code: 1
Release Date: 2006-02-07
Running Time: 114
Studio: Paramount
Theatrical Release Date: 1961-10-05
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating: 
Summary: Overrated
Comment: The movie is a classic, just a bad one. It's been a while since I've seen it, but the other reviews really helped jog my memory. The movie was shallow and contrived. The main character of a movie should be liked by the audience, but Holly failed to catch my attention or respect. Her unhappiness and lack of self confidence is no excuse for her selfishness. I might have given this move a 3 star if not for the hype. The over the top praise this movie has recieved is unbelievable! I can't help being disappointed in the people who gave it a 5 star. Everyone is entitled to their opinion, but still. I agree with a reviewer who wrote that Breakfast at Tiffany's is so beloved because Audrey Hepburn is in it and because the movie is in color. It's pretty irritating that some people would judge a movie by it's actors and CGI, color, cinematography, etc. Shouldn't the story have some kind of plot or lesson? I guess that I'm just the type of person who likes a movie with a purpose. I don't need symbolism, just some kind of goal in mind. Maybe I need to learn how to enjoy a movie for what it is instead of analyzing everything. Actually, I'm not even sure why I watched it in the first place. Curiosity, I guess, and I felt that I should since I like watching classics. It really wasn't a terrible movie, just disappointing. And also, like another reviewer said, it felt like the beginning of Hollywood's apathetic or "whatever-floats-your-boat" phase.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Breakfast at Tiffany's
Comment: It's the classic opening scene of a timeless romantic comedy that many would recognize, Audrey Hepburn gets out of a big yellow taxi cab, while Henry Mancini's Moon River plays in the background, in a long elegant black evening gown with her diamond tiara, fabulously large pearl necklace and elbow length black gloves, she walks to the Tiffany's store window to look at the gorgeous jewelry and chandeliers all while enjoying a croissant and a cup of coffee then heading home after a night on the town. In the film Breakfast at Tiffany's, Audrey Hepburn plays the strong-willed and glamorous female lead, Holly Golightly, who easily captivates viewers through her charming wittiness and saddening desperation. For Holly Golightly Tiffany's represents the high expectations that she has set for her life, "I don't want to own anything until I find a place where me and things go together. I'm not sure where that is but I know what it is like. It's like Tiffany's.' `Tiffany's? You mean the jewelry store.' `That's right. I'm just CRAZY about Tiffany's!' (Breakfast at Tiffany's).
Next we meet the nonchalant and attractive Paul Varjac (who Holly calls Fred because of his resemblance to her brother), a struggling writer who is Holly's new neighbor. From their conversation we quickly learn that they have something in common, they both take money from wealthy admirers. Ms. Golightly is a very social woman who goes out with many rich men and uses her looks and charming personality to get money from them, whether it be through them giving her fifty dollars for the powder room, or going to visit an ex-mobster in Sing Sing prison and delivering the "weather report" to his lawyer. She always knows when a rich man is present and is ready to seduce him, "that's Robert Trawler, he just happens to be the ninth richest man under fifty in America...I keep track of these things" (Breakfast at Tiffany's). Paul, on the other hand, is having an affair with a very affluent married woman whom he met in Rome and she is paying for his apartment and its decorations and giving him an allowance to live off of. The intriguing aspect of this shared lifestyle is that they actually acknowledge their need to use lovers "Holly: Fred, darling...I'd marry you for your money in a minute, would you marry me for my money? Paul: In a minute. Holly: I guess its lucky neither of us is rich, huh?" (Breakfast at Tiffany's). Ultimately Paul's feelings for Holly move from friendship to love causing him to end his affair, but Holly has her heart set on marrying Jose, a suave, wealthy South American. This leaves the viewers rooting for Paul and yearning for Holly to just give into the feelings for him that we all know she has.
Perhaps one of the most original scenes in the movie is the party scene, in which Holly throws a party in her apartment that gets extremely out of control. The people who attend this party are swanky and chic and come across as carefree and looking for a good time. The party quickly becomes extremely crowded and turns into an amusing drunken circus, occurrences range from hats accidentally getting set on fire to women literally hanging on men. The police are called to break up the party however both of our main characters escape any consequences.
At first Holly comes across as very simple but we later find that she has a great deal of depth. She is not just a swanky socialite with an easy life, she has had a rough past, involving being orphaned at an early age leaving her to fend for herself and her younger which causes her to marry a rural doctor, who is much older than her, that she does not love romantically. Another character that deserves some analysis is Mr. Yunioshi, the buck-toothed simple-minded Asian man who lives upstairs. "The inclusion of the stereotyped Asian character of Mr. Yunioshi (played by Mickey Rooney) borders on offensive. Mr. Yunioshi's sole purpose is to provide cheap comic relief, but, what might have been funny in 1961 has long since lost its humorous edge. The character's presence is a double blow to the Asian community - not only is he fatuous and uncomplimentary, but he is played by a Caucasian actor in heavy makeup" (Berardinelli).
This is one of my all time favorite movies because it is the sort of movie that you can watch when you are having a terrible day and are in need of an emotional boost or when you are in a great mood and simply want to laugh and continue your cheerful mood. Perhaps this makes me a little bias but I believe there is no doubt that this is a captivating film, which successfully remains simple while still having strong underlying meanings and has very intriguing characters.
Customer Rating:
Summary: There's such a lot of world to see
Comment: Audrey Hepburn had a lot of memorable, glamorous roles as highly individual, sensitive young women.
But her most iconic turn was as Holly Golightly, a frivolous young woman with a highly sensitive core. Hepburn is a ball of shimmering charm here, whether she's setting hats on fire or chasing nameless cats through the rain, and she's able to shine brightly enough to obscure a few flaws (such as Mickey Rooney). The other actors do serviceable jobs, but she's undeniablythe star.
"Breakfast at Tiffany's" is a daily ritual for Holly Golightly (Hepburn), a social butterfly who hosts parties, entertains drunken men for their fifty-dollartips, and dreams of owning a horse farm in Mexico with her brother. When kept-man Paul Varjak (George Peppard) moves into a neighboring apartment -- courtesy of his rich patroness -- he is instantly enchanted by the ditzy, sweet-natured Holly.
But for all Holly's fun, Paul starts to realize that all is not well with her. She's desperate to marry a spectacularly wealthy man, parties with wild crowds, visits a notorious gangster in jail, and hides that she was an illiterate teen bride to a hick doctor. As Holly's life starts to deteriorate, Paul sets out to show her what her life will be like without real love.
Reportedly Truman Capote wasn't happy with the movie version of "Breakfast At Tiffany's" -- they changed the ending from his short story's, and he didn't like Hepburn as Holly Golightley. But this is one case where the movie's quality is not reflected by what the author thought of it -- taken on its own merits, it's a fine chocolate with a bittersweet center.
Much of the movie is devoted to the friendship (and unspoken attraction) between Holly and Paul, and how it disrupts their comfortable shallow lives. Paul spends the whole movie unravelling the unhappy tale of Holly's life as she starts spinning out of control. Things climax nastily with Holly's already-questionable reputation being sullied, but the finale is an exquisite mix of brutal honesty, true love and a very unglamorous rainstorm.
That said, it's a pretty hilarious movie -- witty dialogue ("... if you like dark, handsome, rich-looking men with passionate natures and too many teeth") and plenty of kooky humour ("TIMBER!" Holly yells as a drunken model keels over, followed by the crowd parting like the Red Sea). And there are plenty of charming, warm'n'fuzzy moments, like the cute day trip through New York.
One thing that will make viewers cringe: Mickey Rooney's caricatured Japanese landlord who objects to Holly's parties. Not. Funny.
Though she was no party girl, Audrey Hepburn is pitch-perfect as Holly -- she can be flaky and adorable ("I'm CRAAAZY about Tiffany's?"), chattery and glamorous, with a cat she refuses to name because they're just a pair of "poor slobs who don't belong to anybody." But she can just as easily flip the switch to show the wounded, almost childlike side.
George Peppard is just as good -- albeit less winsome -- as a writer-turned-kept-man-turned-writer-again, whose protective affection for Holly grows as the movie goes on, but who has to get through her ironclad defenses. And Patricia Neal rounds out the cast nicely as the icy, cynical woman whom Paul gives his non-literary services to.
The Centennial Edition of this movie is, like all the others, a two-disc affair. There's a boatload of extras here -- a producer commentary, the original trailer, featurettes about the "making of" and about Audrey herself, such as "Brilliance in a Blue Box" and "Audrey's Letter to Tiffany." And there's also insights into Henry Mancini's score, Asian perspectives on Mr. Yunioshi, and the "Golightly Gathering." And so on, and so forth.
Hepburn is the flawed diamond at the heart of "Breakfast at Tiffany's," and her charm and acting ability elevate this beyond just another adorable romantic comedy.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Frothy
Comment: Blow away the froth from the top of this movie, and what do you have? Just more froth and more froth. The one saving grace is Audrey Hepburn. She simply looks great.
Hepburn's character in the movie is little more than a high class prostitute. She is willing to sell herself to the highest bidder. George Peppard's character is nothing more than a male prostitute who lives comfortably on the donations of a rich woman played by Patricia Neal. Mickey Rooney is embarrassing as a Japanese neighbor, complete with thick glasses and buck teeth.
Well, it doesn't take a genius to predict that Hepburn and Peppard will give up their sinful ways, with an ending as sweetly sentimental as the tune that won the Academy Award, "Moon River."
Realistic, the movie isn't. It's a sort of urban fairy tale, and in that it is somewhat successful--that and Audrey Hepburn's charm.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Two amoral, shallow people find love? Yeah, right.
Comment: I really found this movie quite the antithesis of "charming." Now, admittedly, Hepburn and Peppard were two very attractive, physically appealing people. However, I couldn't stand their characters. Let's see -- she makes her living by leading rich men on, taking their money and then dumping them at the last minute. He's a "kept man", sleeping with a married woman. Why should I like these people?
Furthermore, while people seem to find Holly's dialogue cute, I found Hepburn's performance flighty and really annoying. Her attempt at a Southern accent during her big scene with Buddy Ebsen is quite laughable.
There's a high pitched, gossipy tone to a lot of the film's dialogue (particulaly, during the party scene) that drives me up the wall. I get the sense that Capote was indeed writing from his personal experience, but why should anyone care about these people's amoral, superficial lives? The development of the romance between the two leads is pretty unrealistic (the shoplifting scene is especially lovely! How romantic!), and Holly's big epiphany at the end of the film is not the least bit believable.
Much has been said about Mickey Rooney's potrayal of Mr. Yunioshi. Even given allowances that Americans were less sensitive about racial depictions 50 years ago, it's impossible to watch Rooney's antics here through 21st century eyes without feeling totally appalled and embarassed. (By the way, Mr. Rooney, I don't need to be "forgiven" for hating your performance). It's enough in and of itself to toss the movie into the historical trash bin. This just adds some extra sour frosting to this stale cake of a film.
Even if Rooney's scenes were edited out, you'd still end up with a ridiculous movie that would barely past muster as a TV movie on the Lifetime Channel. To any men out there: your significant other will owe you BIG TIME if she makes you sit through this.
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Editorial Reviews:
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Winner of two Oscars®, the romantic comedy that sparkles like diamonds! From the opening strains of Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer's haunting, Oscar®-winning song "Moon River," you'll once again be under the alluring spell of that madcap, carefree New York playgirl known as Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn) in this 24-carat romantic comedy based of Truman Capote's best-selling novella. George Peppard is the struggling and "sponsored" young writer who finds himself swept into Holly's dizzying, delightfully unstructured lifestyle as she determinedly scours Manhattan for a suitable millionaire to marry. The sparkling special features on this Anniversary Edition DVD only add to the luster of director Blake Edwards' timeless film classic. Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen, Martin Balsam and Mickey Rooney co-star; Mancini won an additional Academy Award® for his enthralling musical score.
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