Breakfast At Tiffany's: Book vs Movie

Hello!? You People Are Crushing Me

By Preston Sinclair

 

   Orangey, the animal actor who plays the role of Cat in the film adaptation of Truman Capote's novella Breakfast At Tiffany's, chews up the scenery in a way that would make even Meryl Streep proud.

    Holly Golightly vapidly purrs, 'Poor slob, poor slob without a name,' as she tickles Cat's head.  Holly Golightly has been forever glamorized and romanticized by the movie starring Audrey Hepburn.  She plays it cool as a mid-century modern glamour puss. Really, she's kind of a bitch. I mean, who wouldn't name their own cat?  If you think the scene where Holly kicks Cat out of the cab is heart wrenching in the movie. It's even more brutal in the book. When they go back to look for him, he's gone. Smart cat.

     Speaking of pets, let's dish about kept men like Paul Varjak, played by George Peppard. Talk about the Pillsbury Dough Boy, this movie was made back in the day before you needed six pack abs to be sexy. He reminds me of a Golden Retriever puppy, always smiling and drooling in an eager to please way. As the narrator of the book he's more of a crisp cool hipster wanna-be.
    

Holly throws shade {c} LA Times

One problem I have with this movie is that the character played by Patricia Niel doesn't even appear in Capote's novella.  This sub plot in the movie just doesn't jive,man. It's almost like she was written in as a 'beard' for Varjak.

    While we don't know for a fact that Paul is gay, his sexual preference is at best ambiguous. Capote's dialog and innuendo in the novella imply that he is. Paul does profess a certain plutonic love for Holly. Actually, it's more of an obsession.
    As a result, Holly's moral recrimination of Paul in the movie rings hollow and false to me when she says 'You have four seconds to leave, I'll give you two...' It's as if she's saying that,'It's worse to be a gigolo, or gay, than to be a whore like me.'
     The opening line of Capote's short novel is, "I am always drawn back to places where I have lived..." This sense of nostalgia permeates the story and it translates well in the film thanks to Blake Edward's deft direction.  The scenes of New York City are beautiful and haunting at the same time.
     This is what makes Breakfast At Tiffany's such a gem.

Reference Links:

Orangey: IMDB