Quarterly Cinema Scan - Volume XXX

In 1963 Universal Pictures released a movie featuring an actor and actress considered two of the most charming, elegant, chic, suave and attractive stars ever to have graced the silver screen, Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn.  The movie was Charade, a cleverly written combo comedic/romantic mystery set mostly in Paris.  The script offered several opportunities for both stars to display those assets for which they were best known.  For Grant, that included bright wit, calmness in the face of danger, a cosmopolitan aura and a countenance that belied his age (59).  For Hepburn, sheer femininity, grace, sophistication and beauty.  

Sadly for those of us who love the movies, Charade was the only film which paired those two lovable English actors, although Grant was famously quoted later to proclaim, "All I want for Christmas is to make another movie with Audrey Hepburn."  It was not to be.  Perhaps their twenty-five year age difference accounted for some of it.  In fact, that age span was of such concern to Grant that he insisted some romantic aspects of the script be modified, changing his character from pursuer to the pursued (by Hepburn); less of a creepiness factor that way.

Hepburn plays a woman, Regina Lambert, whose husband is murdered -- thrown off a rapidly moving train in the opening shot.  Of course she is upset, even though she confided to a friend that she was contemplating divorce.  But what really rankles Reggie is that her Paris apartment has been ransacked.  (Note: This does not prevent her from wearing Givenchy clothes to die for in virtually every scene thereafter!)  Things get very peculiar at the funeral when a trio of bad guys shows up to make sure the husband is really dead, going so far as jabbing a sharp object in the decedent's side and sticking a mirror under his nostrils.  They even verbally threaten the widow, demanding to know where she has stashed the loot her dead husband has stolen from them.

The rationale for that trio's "concern" is explained but, in this kind of story, unimportant.  What really matters is that Grant's character, Peter Joshua, shows up at just the right times to come to her aid.  The title of the film hints of and points to many twisting developments, the true identity of Joshua being among them.

The supporting cast is star-studded with many well-known names such as Walter Matheau, James Coburn and George Kennedy.  It is hard to think of a character who is not harboring a secret.  Add to this a memorable score and theme song by Henry Mancini and one of the best closing lines ever uttered in a movie, and what you've got is one hundred thirteen minutes of sheer entertainment.

Charade has many of the hallmarks of an Alfred Hitchcock film: Cary Grant (who appeared in four Hitch films), a beautiful leading lady, clever dialogue, suspense, romance, smart villains, an international setting, and a surprise ending.  There's even a cameo appearance by the director, a la Hitchcock.  But, alas, Charade is not a Hitchcock film; the director was Stanley Donen, who is best known for dance musicals such as 1952's Singin' In The Rain.  Nevertheless, Charade has sometimes been referred to as "the best movie Hitchcock never made."

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Here are the movies I viewed during the last quarter of 2017 in the cozy comfort of the Quentin Estates:      

1. Blazing Saddles (1974 western spoof; State Attorney General Harvey Korman's plans to take over the little town of Rock Ridge backfires when the black sheriff he installs, Cleavon Little, surprisingly becomes a local hero to the all-white townsfolk.) B+

2. Charade (1963 dramedy; Audrey Hepburn, a recent widower, is in the line of danger due to her late husband's nefarious associates, but Cary Grant, a man with a mysterious past, is there to hold her hand.) A- 

3. The Dirty Dozen (1967 war drama; Lee Marvin leads a group of hardened military prisoners in a do-or-die mission to take out a French chateau being used by German officers.) A-

4. 89 Blocks (2017 football documentary covering the East St. Louis High football team's 2016 season.) B-

5. The Hero (2017 drama; Sam Elliott, having just been handed a terminal cancer diagnosis, tries to reconcile with his estranged adult daughter and falls for a much younger stand-up comic, Laura Prepon.) B-

6. Monterey Pop (1968 music documentary covering the May 1967 Monterey Pop Festival, with many excellent performances, including those by Otis Redding and Janis Joplin backed by Big Brother & The Holding Company.)
A-

7. Room At The Top (1959 drama; government office worker Laurence Harvey falls in love with an older woman, Simone Signoret, but can't avoid dreaming of having an easier life with Heather Sears, the young adult daughter of the city's tycoon.) B

8. Rope (1948 drama; John Dall and Farley Granger strangle a former classmate in their apartment and hide the body in a living room chest shortly before hosting a formal party to which they have invited several guests, including their former prep school house master, Jimmy Stewart.) A-

9. Table 19  (2017 comedy; Anna Kendrick, recently dumped by the bride's brother and consequently replaced as maid of honor, is relegated to sitting at the least desirable reception table along with other random guests, including Lisa Kudrow and June Squibb, all of whom the bride felt would be bad fits with the folks at the eighteen more desirable tables.)  B