Charade

Plot synopsis:
The Paris-Bordeaux express speeds through the French countryside--and suddenly a dead man, clad only in pajamas and a bathrobe, tumbles off the train and down an embankment.The scene shifts to Mégève, the premier ski resort in the French Alps, where Regina Lampert (Audrey Hepburn) is sitting at a table on a platform overlooking the mountain. Before her is food sufficient for three adults, not just one. She is totally oblivious as an automatic pistol, held by a gloved hand, takes direct aim at her. The hand pulls the trigger--and out shoots a harmless water jet that sprays all over her face. Taking off her glasses, Regina looks at young Jean-Louis Gaudet (Thomas Chelimsky), age 8, who suddenly looks very guilty. "Don't tell me," says Reggie, "you didn't know it was loaded."She calls out for her friend, Sylvie Gaudet (Dominique Minot), who sends the boy to find some other place to play while she helps Reggie to dry off. Noting the table full of food, Sylvie asks Reggie what's wrong. The answer: Reggie has decided to divorce her husband, Charles. The two stroll through the resort as Reggie says that she is frustrated with Charles' incessant secrecy and lies. Sylvie, a "modern woman" to the core, suggests that Reggie simply have affairs on her husband's money, but Reggie doesn't think that way.Just then a dapper gentleman (Cary Grant) approaches, with Jean-Louis in tow, saying that Jean-Louis was throwing snowballs at Baron Rothschild. As Sylvie takes Jean-Louis back to apologize to the Rothschilds, the mystery man, giving his name out as Peter Joshua, strikes up a conversation with Reggie. Reggie flirts with him almost outrageously, and "Peter Joshua" plays along. The two agree to reconnect when they each return to Paris.Reggie arrives home--only to discover that her apartment is totally empty, and even the maid is gone--along with every stitch of clothing, every piece of furniture, and even the rugs. After she opens cabinet after cabinet, finding them all empty, she starts to rush out--and runs pell-mell into Inspector Edouard Grandpierre (Jacques Marin) of the Police Judiciare. Grandpierre asks her to come with him to the Prefecture--and specifically to the Paris Morgue. There Reggie identifies a dead man (in fact it's the man who fell off the Paris-Bordeaux train in his PJs) as her husband.Grandpierre continues the interview in his office. He tells her that the authorities found Charles' body near the railroad tracks, and that he had a steamship ticket to Venezuela on him when he died. The authorities also know that, two days ago, Charles had sold everything in the apartment at public auction. Value: 1,250,000 NF, or $250,000 US. The problem: the authorities in Bordeaux did not find the money. Grandpierre gives back to Reggie all the items that Charles had on him: one wallet containing 4,000 francs, one pocket appointment book listing his last appointment (for the day before, 5:00 p.m., Jardin des Champs-Ëlysées), one steamship ticket, one letter (stamped but not sealed, addressed to Reggie; contents unremarkable), one key to the apartment, one pocket comb, one toothbrush, one tin of tooth powder--and, more incredibly still, four passports, one each Swiss, American, Italian, and Chilean, each under a different name. Of these, Reggie recognizes only the Swiss passport.Reggie goes home, for what it's worth, and stands in the dark, smoking a cigarette, when "Peter Joshua" arrives. He says only that he read about Charles Lampert's death in the newspapers and came to be of help. Eventually "Peter" offers to take Reggie to a modest hotel near enough to her job at the European Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization, where she and Sylvie work as translators.Charles' funeral occurs the next day. Reggie, Sylvie, and Inspector Grandpierre are the only three in attendance. Then three other men come in, one at a time: Leopold W. Gideon (Ned Glass), who sneezes at Charles; Tex Panthollow (James Coburn), who uses a pocket mirror to make sure that Charles is not breathing; and Herman Scobie (George Kennedy), a hard-bitten man wearing a hook for a right hand, who sticks a pin into Charles to make sure that he will not jump from the pain. Though the other two found seats at the viewing, Scobie stalks out. As Reggie sits and wonders what will happen next, the funeral director touches her shoulder and hands her a note from a "Hamilton Bartholomew," at the United States Embassy, asking her to come in to see him on Monday afternoon.Reggie goes to the Embassy, and there meets Bartholomew (Walter Matthau). He introduces himself as the Paris station chief of the CIA, and says that her husband, known to the CIA as Charles Voss, is wanted for the theft of the $250,000. He also reveals that Gideon, Tex, and Scobie were Charles Lampert/Voss' squad mates in a military unit that Bartholomew does not describe further. He warns her: find that money and turn it over to the American authorities, or her life will remain in danger.Reggie walks to "The Garden" (Jardin des Champs-Élysées) and takes in a Punch and Judy show, where "Peter Joshua" catches up to her. Not sure how much she can reveal, she confesses that she is frightened. "Peter" offers to take "charge of cheering [her] up," and makes a date with her. They go to a nightclub--where Gideon, and then Tex, each threaten Reggie with death if she does not turn over the money to him. Reggie asks "Peter" to take her back to their hotel, and while "Peter" wants to know what happened at the club, Reggie wants to flirt, and is scared to give any more details. Frustrated, "Peter" leaves Reggie to go into her room--and then Reggie, once inside, finds Scobie inside. He has turned the room upside down and now attacks her with his claw "hand." She rushes out, finds "Peter," and breathlessly says that "a man" tried to kill her. "Peter" rushes in, and Reggie hears fight noises, and then silence. She bursts in, and finds that "Peter" is a little the worse for wear, and Scobie fled out the window. "Peter" tells Reggie to lock herself in, while he goes out the window and gives chase--by jumping from balcony to balcony.In fact, "Peter" knows exactly where to go: to Gideon's room on that same floor. He finds Gideon, Tex, and Scobie inside. Tex and Gideon are bawling Scobie out for accosting Reggie by himself. "Peter" steps in through the window and joins in the "bawling out," and tells the "Three Marx Brothers" to stop "breathing down [his] neck" and let him gain Reggie's trust and find out whether she has the money or not. Scobie stalks out again, and "Peter" prevails on Tex to let him have his room, which is the room next to Reggie's."Peter" goes back down the hall and tells Reggie that he found "no trace" of Scobie. Now he insists that Reggie tell him what's happening. She tells him all she knows, which isn't much. "Peter" pledges that he will simply not allow any of those three to kill her. In the middle of this conversation, Reggie gets a call--from Scobie, who asks her whether "Dyle" is in the room with her. In other words, "Peter Joshua" is actually a man named "Dyle," a name she does not recognize. Reggie hangs up, and tells "Peter" that the call was simply another threat, and "Peter" says that he has "arranged" to take the room next to hers."Peter" leaves the room, but then, using a thread unraveled from his sock, prepares a trap to let him know whether she's leaving the room. Unaware, Reggie calls Bartholomew and shocks him with the revelation that "someone else," named "Dyle," is also after the money. Bartholomew instructs Reggie to meet him at once at Les Halles, opposite the St. Eustace church. Reggie leaves, figures out that "Peter" (now known as "Dyle") is behind her, and shakes him loose by paying a taxi to drive off to any old place, and waiting for "Dyle" to get into the next cab and say, "Follow that cab!"At Les Halles, Bartholomew reveals the full story as the CIA knows it: in 1944, five members of the Office of Strategic Services were ordered to go behind German lines and deliver $250,000 in gold to the French Résistance. The five were, of course, Charles, Tex, Gideon, Scobie--and one Carson Dyle. Instead of delivering the gold, they buried it, intending to report that the Germans had captured it. But on their way back to base, a German war patrol ambushed them. Scobie lost his right hand in the attack, and Carson Dyle took several rounds in the stomach. Scobie could still travel, but Dyle was presumably dead, so the four left him behind and returned to base. Charles then double-crossed the other three by stealing all the gold for himself and vanishing.Bartholomew wants to know who the man calling himself "Dyle" could possible be, because Carson Dyle is dead. Reluctantly, Reggie agrees. The next morning, she follows "Dyle" to the American Express office--where, sure enough, he goes to the "A to D" counter to check for mail, and finds nothing. Reggie then goes into a phone booth, calls the operator, and has "Dyle" paged. "Dyle" answers, and Reggie lets him know that she has him red-handed."Dyle" tells a new story: Carson Dyle is his dead brother, and he suspects Gideon, Tex, Scobie, and Charles of having murdered Carson Dyle because he objected to their plan to steal the gold. He also assurs Reggie that he is on her side, not theirs. But in the middle of their conversation, "Dyle" drops the telephone and leaves his booth.The reason: Scobie has taken him hostage at gunpoint. Scobie and "Dyle" ride to the top floor, where Scobie holds Dyle until the AmEx staff close for the day, then orders "Dyle" to the roof. There Scobie demands that "Dyle" hand over the money. "Dyle" says that he does not have it, and wouldn't surrender it if he did. Scobie orders "Dyle" to step off the roof, but gets too close, so "Dyle" knocks the gun out of his hand. The two struggle with might and main--and then Scobie falls onto the steeply inclined mansard and ends up hanging by his prosthetic hook from the gutter. "Dyle" cheerfully advises him to write "Love Thy Neighbor" on the wall 100 times."Dyle" goes back to Reggie and tells her that he "ran into someone with sharp fingernails." Reggie treats his badly-scratched back, and from him learns his "new" last name: Alexander. The two start flirting again, and then Reggie gets another horrifying call from Tex, saying that the three men have Jean-Louis as a hostage.Reggie and "Dyle" both show up in Tex's new room. There "Dyle" tells the men that of course the boy doesn't have the money, and neither does Reggie. He then offers a new theory: that one of the three found Charles first, cornered him on the train, killed him, and then, without telling the other two, took the money and returned to Paris to blend in until they gave up. He proposes that the three can search his room and Reggies, and he and Reggie will search their rooms. The three men grudgingly agree. Gideon and Tex find Charles' effects in Reggie's room, and don't find anything worth $250,000--whereupon Tex wonders aloud whether "Dyle" was right. Reggie and Jean-Louis search Scobie's room and succeed only in finding Scobie's spare prosthetic. Then "Dyle" leads them all back to his own room--where they find Scobie, drowned in the bathtub. Gideon and Tex agree to take Scobie back to his own room and dry him off.After the hotel maid (Claudine Berg) makes the inevitable horrifying discovery, Inspector Grandpierre summons Reggie, "Dyle," Gideon, and Tex to his office. He tells them quite severely not to leave Paris until he has found out how these two men died.Reggie and "Dyle" spend one-third of their time trying to figure out which of the two remaining cutthroats killed Scobie and Charles, and the rest of the time flirting, first near L'Île de la Cité and then back in her room (where "Dyle" famously takes a shower with his clothes on). While this is going on, Bartholomew calls Reggie to tell her that Carson Dyle had no brother. Reggie still agrees to go out to dinner with "Dyle," but at a place with a lot of people: one of the floating restaurants of the Seine.There Reggie tells her mystery man that Carson Dyle had no brother. Whereupon the mystery man, giving the name Adam Canfield, says that he is, quite simply, a thief, and was simply trying to con the three cutthroats out of money they themselves stole. "Adam" also tells Reggie, speaking very clearly about such things for the first time, that he is very attracted to her.That night, Gideon takes a call at 3:30 a.m. to come down to the lobby. He gets on the elevator, which then stops between floors, the lights going out. Then the elevator starts again--and goes all the way to the basement. Gideon keeps sneezing--and then lets out a blood-curdling scream that causes the concierge (Bernard Musson) to wake up and call the elevator back to street level--only to find the dead Gideon inside, his throat cut.An angry Grandpierre notes that three men have died, all in their pajamas, and that Tex has disappeared. Grandpierre questions Reggie and "Adam" about their whereabouts, and accepts their alibis (for why would they invent the story that each was in his or her room, asleep, and alone?). Satisfied that Tex took the money and ran, "Adam" tells Reggie to go back to bed. But then "Adam" gets a call from Tex, who now is threatening to stalk "Adam," still known to Tex as "Dyle," for the money!"Adam" asks Reggie to go over Charles' effects with him one more time; they conclude that their search is at a dead end. But the next morning, "Adam" breathlessly goes to see Reggie at the EURESCO offices. He has found the torn-up remnants of the list that Grandpierre prepared of the effects, pasted it back together, and realized that Tex has made off with the appointment book. Reggie recalls the last appointment: Thursday at 5:00 p.m. The two abruptly leave EURESCO and rush to The Garden to look around. They don't know what to look for, but neither does Tex, who also is skulking around.The two then split up. "Adam" follows Tex, who wanders into the stamp market, and suddenly realizes the significance! He brushes past Adam, who then also realizes that stamps are the key! The two then race each other back to the hotel. There "Adam" catches up with Tex and demands that Tex hand over the stamped-but-unsealed letter. Tex hands "Adam" the envelope--but the stamps are torn off, and Tex doesn't have them either.Reggie, meanwhile, has caught up with Sylvie, who tells him that she has brought Jean-Louis to the stamp market, where Jean-Louis hoped to trade the three strange-looking stamps that Reggie gave him. Reggie now realizes that the stamps are the form into which Charles had converted the money! They barely catch up to Jean-Louis, who identifies Monsieur Félix (Paul Bonifas) as the man to whom he sold the stamps. Félix receives them gladly and agrees to sell the stamps back for an amount of money more in line with the collection of tourist-grade stamps he gave Jean-Louis in exchange. The reason: Félix knew that someone had made a mistake, and was just as glad of the honor of owning three of the most valuable stamps in the world, even for five minutes.Reggie rushes back to tell "Adam," but then finds a terrible sight: Tex, bound hand and foot to the two radiators in his room, with a plastic bag over his head, and obviously dead. But worse: he has written the word DYLE on the carpet. To Reggie, DYLE means "Alexander," therefore "Adam." Upset, she calls Bartholomew to tell him about finding Tex, and about the stamps. Bartholomew tells her to meet him at once at the center garden at the Palais Royal, near the colonnade.But as Reggie leaves, "Adam" is on his way back. So now "Adam" gives furious chase to Reggie. She, not able to hail a taxi, tries to shake "Adam" in the Paris Métro. She manages to get to the district where the Palais Royal stands, and to shake "Adam" long enough to call the American embassy and ask for Hamilton Bartholomew. The operator informs her that Bartholomew has left for the day, so Reggie leaves a breathless message for him.The embassy operator then calls the home of Hamilton Bartholomew (Colin Drake), who is not the man whom Reggie saw in an embassy office! The real Bartholomew is totally mystified and advises the operator to call the French police. But the man who posed as Bartholomew is waiting for Reggie to come to him, with "Adam" in hot pursuit.Upon seeing the poseur, "Adam" draws his gun and shouts, "Reggie, stop! That man is Carson Dyle!"How "Adam" would know who Carson Dyle is, Reggie has no time to figure out--because the man she thought was a CIA station chief admits that his name really is Carson Dyle, and that he stalked Charles, Scobie, Gideon, and Tex in revenge for having left him for dead. He threatens to kill Reggie if she does not hand over the stamps right then and there--but "Adam" has moved from column to column to get closer to Dyle. He takes aim--and misses, but distracts Dyle enough for Reggie to bolt for it.Reggie takes refuge in the Paris Opera House. Dyle follows her in the front door, and "Adam" gets in through the stage door and walks down to the lower backstage level. Reggie has taken refuge in a prompt booth, while Dyle walks through the orchestra seating section and then gets up on the stage. "Adam" makes a serious mistake: he tries the prompt booth door, and that only lets Dyle know where she is. Slowly he walks, with clumping footsteps, toward the prompt booth--and "Adam" realizes that the stage is composed of trap doors. All that "Adam" has to do is wait for Dyle to stop walking, identify the right trap door, and throw the switch. And that is how he kills Dyle just as he is drawing back the trigger to kill Reggie."Adam" and Reggie go back to the hotel, where Reggie wants "Adam" to prove his love to her by telling her to go to the American Embassy and turn in the stamps. "Adam" protests that the US government would barely miss the money, but Reggie insists. A Marine directs her to the office of "Mr. Cruikshank," Treasury attaché. She goes there, and "Adam" excuses himself, saying that he can't stand the sight of "all that money being given away." Reggie goes into the office, announces herself, and then goes into the private office to meet Mr. Cruikshank face-to-face. And he turns out to be none other than the mystery man.Reggie protests strongly at such deception, but the man, whose full and true name is Brian Cruikshank, cheerfully answers all her questions, explaining especially how Carson Dyle could pass himself off as a CIA station chief. (The answer: 12:30 is the lunch hour, and Dyle took the office belonging to none other than the chief of Embassy security!) Reggie still wants more satisfactory identification, and Bryan almost casually says that if she could wait a week, he would "put it on the marriage license." Whereupon she breathlessly tells him that she loves him, "whatever [his] name is," and promises to bear him lots of sons and name them all after him.

Tags: romantic, humor, murder

Review:
Let's see: what we got here is one of the best romantic-comedy/thriller scripts ever made, one of the best Hollywood directors from 50's and 60's, the more elegant and classy actress ever (Audrey Hepburn), the more elegant and classy actor ever (Cary Grant), two of the best "tough guys" from the big screen (G.
So if you liked North By Northwest or Breakfast At Tiffany's, if you think that there's never been a more classy actress than Audrey Hepburn, if you do believe that Cary Grant's been one of the more talented actors ever (and one of the funniest ones)...
Starring the classiest of actors in both Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn and directed with continental style and flare by the incomparable Stanley Donen, this film is not to be missed.
With romance, sophisticated comedy, and stylish suspense (including a smattering of graphic-for-its-era violence) balanced out deftly, CHARADE is the movie that made me a fan of both Peter Stone and Stanley Donen (yes, I actually saw this before I ever saw one of Donen's musicals!).
Every other line is sparklingly quotable, and Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn are among my favorite screen couples; pity this was their only big screen teaming (I liked the wry way they kidded the age difference between them, too).
Just one of the many marvelous moments in "Charade", one of Cary Grant's and Audrey Hepburn's best films.
Filled with running jokes, colorful and eccentric oddities (such as trenchcoat-wearing George Kennedy with his hook and the little guy who won't stop sneezing), funny set-pieces (like the funeral scene, and Audrey's priceless exaggerated reactions) and suspenseful sequences, not to mention Audrey and Cary looking smashing together.
Its tasteful humor, colorful characters and intelligent plot make "Charade" one of the best mystery movies ever made, but it's not well known even among classic films."Look for it.
With her life hanging in the balance, she enlists the aid of Cary Grant--but since all is not what it seems, you're in for some surprising plot twists along a very merry ride.Just relax and let Cary and Audrey do all the work--with the help of a great supporting cast including Walter Matthau, superb in a surprising supporting role.
Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy, Ned Glass, among others, were perfect."Charade" offers a melodious musical score and gives the film a dimension and adds to the action.
"Charade" is an excellent film no matter how many times one watches it thanks to the inspired direction of Stanley Donen and the gorgeous Audrey Hepburn who is irresistible in it..
Regina (Audrey Hepburn) comes Paris from a vacation where knew Peter (Gary Grant) and finds that her husband Charlie has been murdered and which he was more than he seemed , as the police (Jacques Marin) produces several passports that show Charlie with a different name and disguise .
Regina on the run from crooks and double agents who want the loot her husband stole during WWII .This is a sparklingly sophisticated comedy/thriller/romance with Donen's stylish direction and full of plot twists and red herrings .
Thanks to Grant and Hepburn, and a devotion by the screenwriters to make their characters great, the film is fun to watch.
The others are James Coburn, George Kennedy, Ned Glass, and Walter Matthau.Charade boasts a fast moving plot and great location photography in both Paris and the Swiss Alps.
You've got the dream pairing of two of the classiest and most charming stars ever to grace the screen, a suspense thriller that IS worthy of Hitchcock, despite what other reviewers would ahve you think, a very witty script by Broadway librettist Peter Stone, some hilarious comedy, sexy romance, direction 'with flair" by Stanley Donen, a wonderful supporting cast, and music that (As in just about any Henry Mancini film score) is almost as entertaining as the film.
Cary Grant is delightful and suave as ever, audrey was probably never sexier or more chic, (Though some individual "bits" of her acting are unconvincing at times, overall she is great), and Walter Matthau (In an unconventional role for him), James Coburn, George Kennedy, and Ned Glass (The one who was allergic to Hepburn's husband) couldn't be better.
"Charade" seems to exist in a parallel universe, where it is not only humanly possible for a man to be as dapper, sexy and urbane as Cary Grant, and a woman to be as chic, adorable and beautiful as Audrey Hepburn, but for them to be a romantic couple, to boot (the mind reels at what the children would look and sound like).
It all has to be magic, and Charade is.To watch this film is to lament the loss of true movie stars; the Audrey Hepburns and Cary Grants.
When critics talk about a romantic affair in which a couple "lights up the screen," they might as well cite, in parenthesis, "like Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant in 'Charade.'" As another commenter has noted, this is quintessentially a Hitchcock film -- and I feel confident it would have been significantly better if Hitchcock had made it.
The film also brings together three later stars -- Walter Matthau, James Coburn, and George Kennedy -- as foils for Hepburn and Grant.
Stanley Donen directed this romantic mystery set in Paris that stars Audrey Hepburn as Regina Lampert, who was about to divorce her husband when he is found murdered, and learns that not only had he converted their(now missing) fortune into cash, but that he got it by stealing a payroll back in WWII.
Shocked, she is befriended by a mysterious man(played by Cary Grant) who offers to help her, which she will need since she is pursued by a group of criminals(played by George Kennedy & James Coburn, among others) who are also after the money, and don't mind murder to get it.
Or if they do, they don't do it well.This movie is all about misdirection from the opening scene when you see a gun being raised and the next scene where a boy 'shoots' Audrey Hepburn's character with a water gun.The cast is perfect and the comedy works well - not overpowering like many modern movies.
This is a Hitchcock like film--hard to believe he didn't make this.The acting is very good by Hepburn and Grant and Coburn is fun.
Charade is directed by Stanley Donen, written by Peter Stone and Marc Behm, and stars Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn.
When her husband is murdered, just prior to seeking a divorce from him, Regina Lampert (Hepburn) finds herself pursued by a number of men who seem to think she knows the location of a quarter of a million dollars in stolen loot.
Trouble is is that his name keeps changing and she's finding it difficult to determine who exactly are the good guys and who are the bad guys; especially as the corpses start to mount up.Pure Hollywood entertainment featuring two of its most endearing and classy performers, Charade shows how a multi genre spliced film should be made.
Cary Grant as his usual tongue in cheek lead character with as much authority as lightness, Audrey Hepburn the adorable spoiled brat whiny lead female role, and the supporting cast all very good.This film has rhythm, dialog, acting, all top drawer.
Bumbling director Donen somehow managed to get two fabulous actors like Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant with Paris as a backdrop and still comes up with a turkey that is such an insult to smart audiences that I couldn't watch this til the end.
The plot then becomes very complex, and Regina begins to doubt whether Joshua is who he says he is or whether she can trust him.Like another film from 1963, Mark Robson's 'The Prize', 'Charade' owes an obvious debt to the work of Alfred Hitchcock- not the dark, sinister Hitchcock of 'Psycho' or 'Vertigo' but the lighter Hitchcock who could blend suspense with humour in films such as 'North by Northwest' and 'To Catch a Thief' (both of which also starred Cary Grant).
There is the casting of the two leading roles, Audrey Hepburn as Regina and Cary Grant as Joshua.
Should have been great - two of the greatest actors of all time in Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant, a superb supporting cast (Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy), an intriguing and original opening plot and some fairly witty and snappy dialogue between Hepburn and Grant.
Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn are reduced to being vehicles delivering the writer's one-liners one after the other.Hitchcock would have spent time developing believable characters rather than wasting these great actors..
Producers could not have picked two lead performers more suited for such a pretentious film: the annoyingly suave Cary Grant and the annoyingly sophisticated Audrey Hepburn.
It conveys the impression that both Peter Joshua (Cary Grant) and Regina Lampert (Audrey Hepburn) are both plagued either by ten second attention spans, or worse, self-deception, wherein multiple deaths in two hours function merely as inconvenient intrusions into their budding love affair.All that said, the mystery element is pleasantly reminiscent of Agatha Christie's film "And Then There Were None".
Not to mention the remarkable performances of Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn, without whom the main characters would be nothing.An excellent movie..
Later Reggie gets the shock of her life in finding that the police did in fact find Charles dead from being thrown from a speeding train.With this mysterious Peter Joshua, among his many other aliases, played by the very cheerful charming and witty Cary Grant popping up all over the place we're, both Reggie and the audience, walked through the movies very complicated plot that has to do with a missing 250,000.00 dollars in gold.
The three surviving former OSS agents, or spies, Tex Herman & Lenny, James Coburn George Kennedy & Ned Glass, are now out looking for the stolen gold and feel that Reggie being that she was married to Charles, a member of the gang of four who suspected of stealing the money , knows where the missing cash is and will go so far as to commit murder to get it.The movie "Charade" has so many twists and turns that by the time that its over you feel like a pretzel in trying to follow them.
Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn were perfectly cast in the elegant lead roles of "Peter Joshua" and "Reggie Lambert." Whether or not those characters were written to be particularly chic, they attained that status by association (or perhaps osmosis) as a result of being played by those two great stylish actors.
George Kennedy, James Coburn and Ned Glass nailed the "less than loyal mean natured old Army partners of the deceased (murdered) husband of the pretty widow who is thought to be hiding a small fortune which is really 'theirs' parts." The CIA/mystery villain of the story was played to a comic, confusing, and at times terrifying tee by Walter Matthau.
He gathered together a fantastic cast: Grant and Hepburn, Walter Matthau, a wily trio of thugs including: James Coburn, George Kennedy and Ned Glass and a smattering of excellent French supporting actors.
After repeated viewings, I didn't feel so negative about it anymore, but I still experience it as an uneven combination of light comedy and suspenseful mystery that suffers from some badly misplaced elements.Firstly, the three villains played by Coburn, Kennedy and Glass really seem to belong in another movie, as they are way too quirky characters for this kind of glossy flick.
It's the first time I've watched a Cary Grant movie and he plays a good part and looks a bit like George Clooney.
Audrey Hepburn is adorable and also plays a good part in this great film.I love a movie with a great ending and this is one of them.9/10.
But the film owes its reputation largely to the crackling repartee between its leading stars - the always elegant 32-year-old Audrey Hepburn and the always charismatic 60-year-old Cary Grant.
With a plot that includes mysterious murders as a background it has a romantic story and humor too.Action takes place in Paris and Stanley Donnen's direction achieves a most entertaining product aided by a very good cast with Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn in the leading roles.
George Kennedy, James Coburn and Ned Glass are the villains that threaten Hepburn.If not regarding Grant and Hepburn's future, the ending of the film doesn't lack a surprising twist regarding the mysterious murders and the solution of the plot.An excellent film most complete and enjoyable as a thriller, a light comedy or a romantic film.
ladies, never let your husband or boy friend to watch that movie and never hope to know someone like Cary Grant who with nothing wrong.
Starring Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant, 'Charade' is one of the best-known mystery-drama-romance films of the 1960s.
This film is just a simple unpretentious entertainment that works brilliantly.Every one of the very talented participants is in peak form.Cary Grant as the suave romantic leading man echoes his famous Hitchcock roles.
Some critics have complained about the age difference between these romantic leads, but to me that's as important as the mole on Cary Grant's cheek.The supporting cast of Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy, and Ned Glass is brilliant.Likewise, the script by Peter Stone, music by Henry Mancini, and direction by Stanley Donen are top notch.I've enjoyed watching this film over and over as much as I have "Singin In The Rain".
That's how Stanley Donen plots "Charade", stressing dialogue, plot twists, and most importantly the dynamite chemistry between Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn.
The irreplaceable Cary Grant and the irrepressible Audrey Hepburn are in a life-and-death situation they never seem to take seriously, pitted against bad guys George Kennedy, James Coburn, and Ned Glass.
But instead, he chose to successfully mix drama, romance, suspense, and comedy into a classic movie featuring two of the best actors of all time, Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn.
This film is a combination thriller/romantic comedy and has a great cast, an excellent script and some lovely locations.
I started out thinking that this was just too much of a takeoff on the classic Hitchcock style, but as it progressed, I became completely wrapped up in the combination of suspense, mystery, and classic comedy.It did start as almost a steal from Hitchcock with the innocent woman (Audrey Hepburn) caught up with crooks, (such as James Coburn and George Kennedy each at his most formidable) the CIA, and a mysterious attentive male in the person of Cary Grant..
Charade has a wonderful blend of suspense, romance, adventure, and mystery.Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn have wonderful chemistry.
The on-screen chemistry between Hepburn and Grant makes for a delightful romance, and the search for the murderer and stolen money is exciting and takes many unexpected twists and turns.
This is a great whodunnit, using two of our most charismatic actors ever: Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn.
Apart from Hepburn and Grant, we have future Oscar winners in the shape of James Coburn, George Kennedy and Walter Matthau.Maybe some of the Paris backdrops looks a bit dated now but this is one hell of a fun thriller..
Director Stanley Donen's 1963 mystery "Charade", starring Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn, has often been considered the best film that Alfred Hitchcock never made.
In the end, I'm not ready to consider "Charade" a great film yet mainly because it didn't quite blow my mind like some of Hitchcock's best work.
Nonetheless, Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn together for the first (and only) time is a treat not to be missed.
Without the star power and some of the clever dialogue of Donen's film I am afraid the plot contrivances would be embarrassingly exposed, although the idea of getting a quarter of a million dollars past customs in the form of very expensive (hint: small) art objects that appear to be ordinary objects, is a nice device that would probably work.See this for Cary Grant whose rugged good looks and smooth and effortless delivery made him a Hollywood legend and the epitome of a suave leading man..
Regina Lampert (Audrey Hepburn, charming and elegant as usual) is spending vacation in some skiing station, when she meets Peter Joshua (Cary Grant) for the first time.
Well if your starting line-up is Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant being directed by Stanley Donen, you know going in you have a fairly good shot at creating something great.
The similarities with Hitchcock's movies are too numerous to mention, other than to comment that CHARADE may well be the best Hitchcock film that he never actually made (that honour goes to Hepburn mainstay Stanley Donen).
This is a witty and affectionate comedy/romance/mystery featuring impeccable performances from Cary Grant and Audrey Hepburn as two people thrown into a mystery involving a hidden fortune and some deadly foes.CHARADE has a lot going for it, not least the crisp, neat, early '60s style.
Film fans will be in their element with the presence of numerous soon-to-be-famous actors, including George Kennedy, James Coburn, and Walter Matthau.The story twists and turns at a merry place, ably mixing romance with murder and coming off well as a result.
Cary Grant referring to Audrey Hepburn's apartment "on the street where you live" is the kind of fun little reference to the musical work of his stars that Stanley Donen would probably be interested in.
And of course, there is Walter Matthau, an American agent (or spy?), who represents the US government's interest in retrieving the money.What saves the movie is the clever banter between Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant.
and Audrey Hepburn as Regina Lampert) and supported by folks like Walter Matthau, James Coburn and George Kennedy, you expect fine performances all round, and basically you get that.
It's a classic whodunit film which has a lot of comedy elements because of the performances of Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant.
Charade is a forgotten Masterpiece, it has a stellar cast, (screen legends Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn, Walter Mathua), great characterization, and of course a great plot.