Directed by William Wyler
Written by Ian McLellan Hunter, John Dighton
Starring Audrey Hepburn, young hot Gregory Peck, Eddie Albert, a whole host of actually Italian people
Synopsis
A princess from an unnamed European country (which was probably a joke 50 years ago that I don't get today) gets pissed off at all the bullshit and runs away. She intends to go for a couple of hours, but since her handlers drugged her she ends up being away for a full day. She meets a reporter and he takes her around the city, starting as a bottom feeder (promising the story to his editor and a piece of the dough to his photographer friend) they end up falling in love. (spoiler alert?) Bittersweet ending.
Woman
i have seen this before and i disliked it then, aaaaaand i still dislike it. i grrrrrred and pouted when moster put it on the queue, and i grrrred and pouted when it came to the house. i don't know why. i just find it stupid. they fall in love in less than a day. eye roll. she has a taste of life, wonderful life. then she, boo-hoo, goes back to her life of obligation not as a child, but as a woman. somebody please hand her a cross. slumming it is so attractive.
MOster
I don't know why Leila hates this movie so much. I thought it was very nice and actually bittersweet. The story is simple, but that doesn't matter. The little things they do and the sights they see make for a bunch of fun scenes in a row. While it's unlikely that they would have a nice long life together if they had even tried, I buy that they felt the love that they showed, and I really liked the looks in the last couple of scenes.
Hepburn here does a great job as little more than "herself," Gregory Peck just smolders, and Eddie Albert has fun as the photographer, getting what little "zany" there is to be had. The ass-sticks in the castle really come off as they should, and the little bit of local flavor also does a good job... especially since for many of them English isn't necessarily their first language.
The directing here was competent, if not mind-bending; but it doesn't have to be mind-bending. There were some really cool shots in a couple of spots, with the best sequence being the party-on-a-barge which turns into an all-out brawl. The rest of the production was also admirable, and again I appreciate how much of this was filmed in Italy with Italians.
I think this was a fine move and I do recommend it. It would make a good date movie with 95% of the female population, I think.
I will fight for the 3 on this one.
This is one of my all-time favorite movies. Largely due to the fact that it's one of the rare films that actually ends on such a down note...
ReplyDelete'SW:ESB' and more recently '500 Days of Summer' being two others. 500DOS not being an amazing movie... just the most recent I have seen.
I hate all the pandering to the audience, and the 'they have to come away with happy-good-time-feerings' mentality of Hollywood.
Maybe it's just that it's unusual that attracts me (sad ending)? Who can say?
That's what I liked about it, too. Who cares if they would make it or not in the long run? They made a connection but they both (she a little more, but not really) decided that the bigger picture was more important and just dealt with their sadness.
ReplyDeleteI also tend to like movies which end badly for their characters.