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Originally posted by corsair:

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Originally posted by iron chef:
Can someone who was alive in 1961 tell me if it was common and acceptable to portray Asian people this way? Mr Yunioshi seems to be a caricature lifted straight out of 1940s era war propaganda.

It's a dark moment in the history of film making.

I think that's overstating it quite a bit.

There are much more egregious examples of such performances, and by people degrading their own race. Stepin Fetchit (that name alone. Come on) and Mantan Moreland come to mind.

The character of Mr. Yunioshi does appear in Capote's 50 page novella, but his character is quite dignified. This character, as portayed by Mickey Rooney, is an invention of director Blake Edwards and screenwriter George Axelrod. Rooney regretted it and it is somewhat cringeworthy when viewed through the prism of the present day, but I find it a fairly harmless portrayal.

What's wrong with the film is not the behavior of Capote's "American geisha", Holly Golightly, but rather, the casting of Audrey Hepburn. Hepburn exudes sophistication and in real life, she came from parents who were just this side of royalty. Capote's Holly Golightly was a completely unsophisticated barefoot minor (14 years old) with a brood of kids, living in the country and married to an adult "horse doctor", who ran away after looking through magazines and being drawn to the city. The way Hepburn speaks, the way she carries herself, her slender, graceful appearance- this was not what Capote had in mind. Capote said that he envisioned Marilyn Monroe in the role. Ahh, now we're getting somewhere. Can't you just see Monroe as that barefoot 14 year old bride, and then running off to the city and becoming what she envisioned herself to be? So, the issue is casting, not the character. And in the movie (but not the novella), there is a happy ending- Hepburn, Peppard and the cat in the rain, Andy Williams crooning Moon River. A very enjoyable film, thanks to Edwards and the very capable screenwriter George Axelrod.

I do love character actor John McGiver's charming portrayal of the Tiffany's salesman. This scene belongs to screenwriter Axelrod and does not appear in the novella.



Read the novella. It's so well-written, really, it is, and the movie does not do it justice. Nevertheless, I do like the movie.

And if you’re really that hung up on the ‘horrors’ of a different era, just watch Roman Holiday instead.

Breakfast at Tiffany's is one of my favorites. No, neither of the characters are good people at the start of the movie. To me, that's kind of the point. These two people find something in each other that turns them from the people they were in to the people that hunt in the rain with each other to find Cat.