Last week I had a very fun grown-up sleepover, and we decided that we should watch some movies — ideally some that our husbands wouldn’t want to watch. One of my friends suggested Breakfast at Tiffany’s. None of us had seen it and we all agreed on it.
I didn’t know anything about it. It is a classic to be sure, and I felt like it was a movie I should see. After watching the movie, I decided to read Truman Capote’s novella so that I could compare the two.
In this case, I can say without reservation that I liked the movie better. For one thing — George Peppard — he was totally dreamy! The iconic Holly Golightly was appropriately flaky, and beautiful as played by Audrey Hepburn. I found her to be more likable in the movie than the book. As they say in the movie (and the book), “She’s a phony. But she’s a real phony.” There were actually many lines that made it word for word into the film.
The framework of the story is the same, but I found the characters to be more fleshed-out in the movie, especially Paul Varjak (Peppard), who is the first person narrator of the novella and about whom we learn little in that work. Henry Mancini provides the perfect soundtrack, most notably the Academy Award winning song Moon River.
In my opinion you can skip the novella and get to know these iconic characters and images of the 60’s by watching the movie. I’m not particularly a fan of old movies, but this one is worth a look.
Managing Editor Jennifer Donovan likes a good story, no matter whether it’s told on screen or in the pages. She blogs at Snapshot.
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I like the movie, but I detest Mickey Rooney’s embarrassing and offensive portrayal of Holly’s landlord. I still preferred the book, though it’s more depressing.
I have never seen the movie or read the book. I need to do both!
I haven’t read the book but have seen the movie – love Audrey Hepburn! It was nice to see this because a friend and I had an Audrey Hepburn marathon over the weekend, lol. My favorites were Charade (with Cary Grant) and How To Steal A Million (with Peter O’Toole). Sabrina is worth seeing as well. 🙂 I am a fan of old movies, though. Certain old movies. Not so much musicals. I barely made it through My Fair Lady, LOL.