Review of Charade (1963) by Sebastián C — 12 Jul 2010

Quite simply, this is one of my absolute favorite movies and is perfect in every sense of the word. I think it combines all my favorite things and wraps them together in a nice package. Cary Grant probably has to be my favorite actor of all time, I idolize him completely and think he defines the term leading man.

Audrey Hepburn is probably my favorite actress of all time, she resembles every quality an actress should have and then some. The supporting cast also has some of my favorite people, including James Coburn, crazy George Kennedy and Walter Matthau as a surprisingly scary and believable villain.

I'm a huge fan of capers and true romance stories, this happens to be the best of both worlds. You are involved in the love story just as much as the mystery of what happened to the late Charles and his $250,000.

The twists are beautifully done and better than anything like it. I often wonder why people throw this under the category of "Hitchcockian", that's completely ridiculous. Alfred Hitchcock would never spend this much time with his characters and never would he have managed to do this without making it more tragic and shot-oriented.

Stanley Donen may not have the legacy of other directors at the time, but this is a masterpiece and everyone should admire him for doing something so beautiful and original. Now movies like this are more common, but this still remains the best.