Charade- 1963
March 5th, 2010 § Leave a Comment
Searching Hulu for a movie worth watching is sometimes a horribly arduous task. I flip through pages and pages of old westerns and crappy documentaries until I finally find something that I’ve either heard of before, seen, or is just too weird to pass up. This has led me to some pretty good first-time viewings: His Girl Friday, Blame It on Rio and The Big Sleep. But every once in a while, I start watching something and about half way through, I realize that somewhere along the line, I’d seen it before. In most cases, I promptly stop watching, saving myself the lack of sleep staying up till 3 am on Hulu brings, but the other night, the sleep I lost watching Charade for the second (maybe third?) time was well worth it.
Starring Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant, set in Paris and with Hepburn’s clothes provided by Givenchy, this movie’s a swinging sixties beauty-fest. I know, I know… I should probably stop judging how much I enjoy a movie by its aesthetics so I’ll try to be fair. The film is sometimes kitschy to a fault (I love me some kitsch!) and the script is filled with predictable sexual innuendos. But I have to admit, I loved it! Watching Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant flirt for 112 minutes isn’t the worst thing… especially when Walter Matthau provides buffoony comic relief here and there.
I’ll admit, the story line’s kind of far-fetched and ridiculous. Audrey Hepburn plays a woman planning to divorce her husband when she finds out that he’s been murdered. A series of plot twists (sometimes more like plot spirals) unfold and poor Audrey, as Regina Lampert, finds herself dazed and confused with no one to trust and no one to turn to. Except for Cary Grant, of course. Graying here and there but still as debonair as ever, Grant plays Peter Joshua, a gentleman as mysterious as he is playful and charming. Lampert and Joshua are fast friends but throughout the film, their witty repertoire is met with threats to Lampert’s life and a few pretty suspenseful scenes.
When Lampert and Joshua first meet, Hepburn does a wonderful job of playing the coyly disinterested, unhappily married woman telling Grant, “I already know an awful lot of people and until one of them dies I couldn’t possibly meet anyone else.” With so many movies to add to that proverbial top ten list, it’s easy to have the same attitude about Charade. You’ve already seen a bunch like it, so why waste your time?
Spy film? Maybe. Romantic Comedy? Perhaps. But get passed the silly dialogue and Hepburn’s role as a hopeless damsel in distress and the movie’s just pure fun. As far as I’m concerned, Charade was so worth watching again!
