** I love Audrey Hepburn and own paper to what I think are her five best
films (Tiffany's, Funny Face, Roman Holiday, Sabrina and her overlooked
masterpiece, Two for the Road). But I also have a love-hate feeling for
that Blake Edwards' film which people go ga-ga about.
** I can look at the one-sheet and the lobby cards to "Tiffany's" and feel
satisfied -- (but like Freeman, the up and down price swings for paper on
this title defy explanation; it seems to me that demand is constant -- and
so is supply. Hence I don't consider Tiffany's paper rare. It's just
something everyone wants and will sometimes pay through the nose to get, vs.
paper to, let's say, "Rear Window."
** But when I put "Tiffany's" in the DVD player and crank up my speakers --
what bothers me is its uneven quality. Audrey saves the picture, IS the
picture, and without "Moon River," you wonder if it'd be considered classic
at all. The film is a patchwork of great and mediocre and awful set pieces.
Mickey Rooney's performance as a loud, obnoxious and horny Asian is
outrageously racist, even 20 years after Pearl Harbor. It's not funny and
ruins it for me. I speed through his scenes or in the same way I now hate
the restaurant orgasm scene in "When Harry Met Sally." It just feels out of
place to the rest of the so called "reality" created in this picture.
** However, I think the film captures the type of adorable "Audrey" we
remember and like best -- hence its posters are iconic and so is the film,
that is, regarded warmly overall despite its bad manners. I think what gets
to us, what makes us overlook the film's flaws, is the fact that it's
book-ended with a spectacular beginning and a spectacular ending that
captures the romance beneath Audrey's character, who, on the surface, is a
flighty, I-don't-want-any-emotional-attachments promiscuous brat and
show-off clothes horse. "Moon River" on the guitar is the bridge in the
middle that works the same way the theme music to "Summer Place" by Percy
Faith helps move that other film along. I don't think Audrey is a call-girl
in the film, as is suggested by the book. She's just a loony poser who
calls her cat, "Cat" just to be hip.
** To me, "Tiffany's" falls under the list of films that aren't necessarily
great but in some way, like its posters, will forever considered
"essential." So many film noirs and monster movies have good posters even
though the films themselves are considered unwatchable. I have to love a
film on some level before I'll buy paper for it, no matter how lifeless the
art, e.g., my known love for all things from "The Graduate." This is why I
own a one-sheet to "Tiffany's" even though some think the art is just "OK."
** My only collecting exceptions are cheesecake one-sheets of Raquel Welch
(and at one time, Jane Fonda). My favorite Raquel one-sheet of all time is
NOT "One Million Years B.C." or even "Bedazzled." (Even though I own both.)
It's the underpriced and boffo one-sheet to "The Biggest Bundle of them
All." It was drawn is by pin-up artist Robert McGinnis -- and as I circle
back to keep this post relevant to movie posters -- I will add that McGinnis
not only did the art to "Barbarella," but also the art for "Breakfast at
Tiffany's."
Please visit his super web site at: http://www.mcginnispaintings.com/ This
guy has been flying under the shadow of Frazetta, Petty, Varga(s) and Moran
for years, and deserves greater attention. James Bond poster fans already
know him...
-koose.
----Original Message Follows----
From: Roger Kim <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
Reply-To: Roger Kim <[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Hello Again and WTB Goldfinger Insert
Date: Sat, 30 Sep 2006 21:14:38 -0700
Speaking of Breakfast at Tiffany's, I watched that film a few weeks ago for
the first time. It has some charm, but I don't understand what all the fuss
is about. The movie goes downhill quickly whenever Mickey Rooney appears. He
gives the worst portrayal of Asian man that I've ever seen. Boris Karloff
could have done much better.
Would a Breakfast at Tifany's poster lose value if it has Mickey Rooney's
autograph?
-rk
----------
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Reply-To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Date: Fri, 29 Sep 2006 11:22:17 -0400 (EDT)
To: [email protected]
Subject: Re: [MOPO] Hello Again and WTB Goldfinger Insert
...Regarding your inquiry of BREAKFAST AT TIFFANY'S all semblance or
reason and logic has ceased to exist for that title.
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