Charade

Charade (1963)

Runtime: 113 minutes

Directed by: Stanley Donen

Starring: Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy

From: Universal

I am under the weather so that is why I did not post this yesterday. I will have another review up tonight. This film is worth seeing, as I explain below: 

Monday the first of January (2018) Turner Classic Movies had an evening/late night devoted to “Stylish Capers” and as that sounds appealing to me, I hope to see at least one more of those via TCM's on-demand service on their website. I went with this as it was one of those highly-rated films I hadn't seen before. I can't be embarrassed as we all have those movies we should have watched sooner, no matter what age we are or how prolific we are at watching them.

The plot: Audrey Hepburn is in the French Alps with a pal when she meets up with Cary Grant and as it's Cary Grant, of course she is charmed by him. She has a husband but they don't even really know each other. Hubby dies, she discovers he had a large sum of cash that goes missing, and a trio of bad guys that hubby knew from the past wish to acquire the cash and don't believe she don't know where it is. Grant shows up again and there are plenty of twists & turns I dare not spoil. I'll just say the title of the film (and book it was based on) is quite apt.

A film starring Grant & Hepburn and the main co-stars being James Coburn, Walter Matthau and George Kennedy was appealing to me, and I was correct as I enjoyed all of their performances. The lady that Hepburn played was kind of cold but that was how the character was written. The rapid-fire banter between her and Grant was a treat; it was straight out of a screwball comedy of yore. Between the plot, the exotic French locations (mostly in Paris) and the darkly humorous moments-such as one at a funeral-the oft-repeated mantra of this being Hitchcockian was accurate. Those that love Hitch, this film is right up your alley and definitely needs to be seen.