Breakfast at Tiffany's

The BBQ Pit
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OMG! I’m a little slow, since this move came out in '61, but I saw it for the first time today on AMC. Mickey Rooney’s character was the most racist portrayal since Amos 'n Andy. What was up with the buck teeth?

The Chicago Tribune movie critic gives it 4 stars, along with a recommendation by a little “film” sign.

WTF?

Good Lord in Heaven, what were these people thinking? The producers, directors, actors, Mr. Rooney? GAH! This is seriously the most offensive racist thing I have ever seen. And it gets four stars?

Lame rant, I know. But I don’t get the whole “it was 40 years ago” arguement. Four stars? for racist bullshit? So it was Ok to be racist in the 60’s? My brain hurts.

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Probably because everything else about the movie was so damn good, IMO.

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milroyj, I understand how you feel. I love Breakfast at Tiffany’s but I cringe everytime Mr. Yunioshi appears on screen. Yes, Roony’s portrayal of the Japanese neighbor is jarring, to put it mildly. It does detract from an otherwise fine, fine movie.

Griffith’s Birth of a Nation ushered in many cinematic firsts and therefore has been hailed as one of the best movies of the twentieth century by some critics. It’s a movie I’ll probably never see, however.

I’m not sure what else to say. Breakfast at Tiffany’s is a great movie, in my opinion. I can understand, though, why you don’t think it deserves four stars.

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Thanks, JuanitaTech, that was the word I was looking for. It was “jarring” to say the least. I’ve heard how great that movie is, there is even a song about it, so I thought I’d watch it. The first time I saw Mr. Yunioshi, though, forget it. Such blantant racism, EGADS! Thank God it’s still not 1961.

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[sub]until I saw this thread, I didn’t realize it was Mickey Rooney[/sub]

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That character is an embarrasment even taking into consideration that it was portrayed by that no talent hack, Rooney. It’s the epitome of one thing ruining an otherwise excellent movie.

Haj

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And he got a special, large credit at the beginning of the movie for his atrocious character. BLEH. But it is otherwise a very good movie.

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Thank you, Juanita. That’s how I feel.

But I ADORE that movie. As most of you know, I am a HUGE fan of Audrey Hepburn. I always sob my eyes out at the end, when she goes back for Cat. If you ask me, Cat is the best part of the whole movie. Then I have to go and hug Buffy-my orange tabby.

In fact, Audrey Hepburn had grown quite close to Rhubarb-aka “Cat”. She HATED having to toss him out the door.

But yeah, they had an Absolutely Audrey marathon today. I watched My Fair Lady and Roman Holiday. I wonder if you can get a MFL soundtrack? I do have a sound clip of Audrey singing “Wouldn’t It Be Loverly?” that was added to the recently restored version-at the end credits.

Okay, I’m rambling. But c’mon-it’s AUDREY. And of course, Roman Holiday with SIGH! Gregory Peck. Where all the men like Greg nowadays? Can’t we clone him?

I want a dress just like the one she wears to the ball in My Fair Lady. ANd I WILL make the BAT ensemble-the long black dress, tiara, ciggie holder?
Sorry! Carry on!

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Oh, another reason it’s a great movie and a classic?

Two words: Henry Mancini.

Two more words: “Moon River”.

'Nuff said.

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Two more words: Martin Balsam

Two more words: Patricia Neal.

10 out of 10 in my book, despite “the Mickster”'s contribution.

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Except for the Mickey Rooney thing, it is an excellent movie. Look at the forrest, not the trees.

I know people are up in arms “oh, it’s racist!”

But what’s wrong with a little racism every now and then?

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Ok, that came out a bit wrong. What I meant to add to that before I hit submit too early is: Sometimes portrayals in the past show how racist things were back then. Knowing how things are now, we can gain a subjective appreciation for the social progress that has been made.

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Yuk, I hate that whole movie. It’s way creepy and depressing. Audrey Hepburn creeps me out too. Too freakishly skinny. Nice eyebrows though.

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Are you freaking SERIOUS!!!

Actually, Audrey was skinny due to malnutrition as a young girl during WWII. The colitis (sp? colitus?) she suffered from would later manifest itself in the colon cancer that killed her. That and she was trained as a ballet dancer and smoked like a chimney. That being said, she wasn’t skinny out of some need to be perfect, nor was she anorexic.

Audrey is NOT creepy!

(Just teasing! But I heart Audrey)

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Guin, of course you can get a soundtrack of My Fair Lady, but Marni Nixon is dubbed in for Audrey Hepburn’s singing voice. Is that what you were asking? The Broadway recording, with Julie Andrews, is better IMHO.

I wonder … is it fair to judge Breakfast At Tiffany’s by today’s standards, as far as racism? Of course racism is horrible in any time period, but in 1961, before the civil rights movement heated up, they just didn’t understand how horrible such a thing as Mickey Rooney’s portrayal of a Japanese man was. It’s instructive how “innocent”, as it were, Americans were at that time, and how much things have changed for the better.

Still, great movie, but the Rooney scenes are unwatchable. As with so many movies.

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Huge fan of the Breakfast at Tiffany’s, Audrey Hepburn and Truman Capote as I am…

And having seen the film in question over 100 times…

I can understand the reaction that some of you have to Rooney’s portrayal of Mr. Yumioshi.

However, this has to be seen in the light of two things. First of all what has been pointed out already, it was 1961 and the standards were different. Second of all and maybe more importantly, the whole film is full of caricatures, it is one of the premises for making Holly Golightly a.ka. Lulamae Barnes (Hepburn) and Paul Varjak a.k.a. Fred (Peppard) seem normal, when in fact they are so screwed up that it is frightening. Sally Tomato is almost offensively ‘Eyetalian’ (just the name… Sheesh), Jose da Silva Pereira is so South American Old Money that it is laughable and Doc Golightly is the epitome of the benevolent, but backwards Hick, just to mention three others. Mr. Yumioshi fits right into that crowd.

The mild incense that the OP expresses has crossed my mind at times, but when I look at it in the greater scheme of things, it’s actually not that bad. First of all Mr. Yumioshi is written as a voice of reason, an angry choleric voice of reason, but still. His physical appearance sure does leave something to be desired as regards good taste, but otherwise I’d say he is no more slanderous to Japanese people than the other weirdo characters of the film are to their ethnic and/or social groupings.

Funny that this topic should pop up. I just spent two soooo Breakfast at Tiffany’s days for the umpteenth time in my life (maybe that’s why I love the film so much… and it’s funny how not funny it is when reality trumps fiction). Quote from a very Holly Golightly like close friend of mine (yes, I had a crush on her once, and we had a ‘thing’, but me struggling artis is not able to keep her expense account needs up), while hobnobbing with the jetset (you gotta love those 60s labels) in a nightclub post social gathering bash, to me while buying her a drink: “Oh don’t do that daaaarling. There are so many incredibly rich people here that can buy us drinks and afford it.”

Some day I just wish it would end with Cat in an alley in the rain, but I fear that I have become one of the caricatures myself, and the cocktail party is forever.

To the tunes of Moon River.

Sparc

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BaT is in my top 10 but Hepburn bugs me alot in it. “Oh it CANT be thursday, that’s just too gruesome!” Shut up bitch. I own the soundtrack on DVD which is in my top 3 movie soundtracks.

As far as the racism thing, is the Simpson’s any fucking different? Oh wait that’s postmodern.

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Good enough movie, but Holly Golightly should have been played by Monroe. It’s the role she was born to play.

Read the book. It’s a much more satisfying experience, and a good way to get into the work of Capote, wherein much golden treasure is to be found.

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Another plug for the book: Capote goes into the theory of the Mean Reds much more. And it’s really a Novella. Very short.

But I love the movie, too. Adore it. And Rooney annoys me a lot in it. However, I also love Holiday Inn, and anyone who has seen THAT movie unedited and has seen the “Unca AAAAAABraham” Lincoln’s Birthday number can tell you it makes Tiffany’s seem like a NAACP rally. I had only seen the edited version before, and when I saw that section, my jaw literally dropped. I mean, here it is, 30 years AFTER Birth of a Nation and it was STILL perfectly acceptable to have whites in black face and yarn hair? Good God.

Not to mention Sixteen Candles with Long Duk Dong. That one’s almost worse, because you have someone who actually IS Asian portraying offensive stereotypes.

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How DARE vou call Audrey Hepburn a bitch??? I don’t see you feeding thousands of starving african children while dying of cancer. I don’t see you surviving the German occupation of Holland by eating grass and tulip bulbs. I don’t see you winning an Oscar and a Tony by your 20th birthday. After you do that, feel free to throw around all the names you want.