Essential Classic Movies You Need to See

It’s no secret that I love musicals. The seamless integration of music and narrative is one of my absolute favorite things. But, to be honest, they have sort of a bum wrap. People think they’re campy and unrealistic. I always had a hard time understanding why people couldn’t just suspend their disbelief and treat them like any other representation of music.

I watched this film for the first time last night with my boyfriend. We’re going to see Bruce Springsteen in Newark in May and have gotten really excited about watching live performances on YouTube and on film. Before we went, I told him we should really watch this movie - it was one I’d heard a lot of about before and I knew would be great, but hadn’t seen in its entirety before.

This is the most modern Essential entry I’ve written to date, but it is a classic and it was directed by one of the best directors in the post-studio era. I love documentary and I love music, so rockumentaries are always great. I also recently have gotten into live music and concerts. This is a classic movie in its own right and is arguably responsible for the evolution of the modern rockumentary genre.

The Last Waltz (1978)

It was the first rockumentary where the show was designed and staged to be filmed. Scorcese, who by now was a recently established director with films like Mean Streets etc, took it upon himself to document the final concert of The Band before they stopped touring after 16 years. As a special treat, they played their best and invited some fellow friends ad musicians to play with them.

I was first exposed to The Last Waltz in my American Popular Film Since 1970 course - we saw one clip, it was either the performance of “Ophelia” or “The Wait”.

The Band is one of those great bands that combines bluegrass, blues, jazz, and rock and roll. And most of the members are Canadian! A lot of the performers who guest star in this concert are Canadian too, like Neil Young, Joni Mitchell, etc. It isn’t seamless, like some of the rock-docs coming out today that seem to be filmed by some omniscient presence you don’t even notice. But it doesn’t need to be. The few glimpses of the apparatus - cameras, crew members, recording equipment - only add to the realism. And Scorcese himself is happy to be on camera talking to the band members.

Scorcese was heavily criticised for spending so much time speaking to Robbie Robertson and giving him special attention as the lead guitarist. A good chunk of the criticism came from fellow bandmate Levon Helms, but it is true that there is a disproportionate amount of interviews with Robertson and Scorsese.

Why You Should Watch:

The Band is one of those bands where even if you aren’t sure if you know any of their songs offhand, if you hear one you’ll immediately recognize it. The Band did something not many other bands did - they stopped touring in their prime. As a result, their live performances in the film are incredible. They really take their cues from each other and the way the camera cuts between close ups of them shows their communication in each and every song. If the spectacular performances from The Band aren’t enough, their guest stars should seal the deal. Everyone from Bob Dylan, Neil Young, Ringo Starr, Eric Clapton, Muddy Waters, and Joni Mitchell are there, playing their own songs with backing vocals and instruments by the Band. They are so eager to share their final show with their commerades and it makes the show even more remarkable.

And remember that this was made in Scorsese’s early years of filmmaking. It is remarkable to watch this and think of how far he has come as a director over the last four decades.

Scenes to Look Forward To:

The best known songs by The Band are “The Wait”, “Up on Cripple Creek” and “The Night We Drove Old Dixie Down”. They are phenomenal live, with Levon Helms singing lead vocals and playing drums on each, backed by harmonies by bandmates Rick Danko and Robbie Robertson.

I love Joni Mitchell and her performance of “Coyote” is phenomenal. She was the only female musician asked to sing and play guitar, except for Emmylou Harris. My other favorites are Dr. John performing “Such A Night” and Rick Danko singing lead vocals on “Stage Fright” (to be honest, I have a bit of a crush on him so I’m happy whenever he sings lead).

One piece of trivia I’ll leave you with: It’s no surprise that there was a lot of liquor and a lot of drugs backstage and during the production. Scorsese himself admitted that he was using cocaine during the production as were several of the band members. The most notable instance on film is Neil Young’s performance of “Helpless” with The Band. He seems thrilled to be performing with his friends, if not a little wired. Apparently, he had just snorted cocaine before going on stage and had a blob of cocaine hanging from his nose during the performance. The blob was carefully edited out in post-production.

It’s no shock to those of you who’ve spent time on my blog that I am a big Audrey Hepburn fan. My favorite movies starring her are Sabrina, Roman Holiday, and Charade. When I was in university, pretty much every girl’s dorm room had a poster from Breakfast at Tiffany’s in it. And hey, I’ve got a plaqued photo of Holly Golightly looking into the window at Tiffany’s hanging over my stove - and I regret nothing!

This movie is so iconic to the point that when people think “Audrey Hepburn”, they picture her with an updo in pearls and a black dress. This movie, though, is her most famous so I figured it deserved some reflection.

You may not know exactly what the movie is about, or even why it’s such a phenomenon, but I hope this’ll enlighten you into what all the fuss is about and why it’s worth watching.

Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)

A young writer, Paul Varjak (George Peppard) moves into a new apartment building in New York City and unbeknownst to him becomes involved in the unbelievable life of Holly Golightly (Audrey Hepburn), a beautiful and outgoing girl, who just so happens to be an escort. She immediately takes to him and treats him like she’s known him for years - she even calls him “Fred”, after her older brother. As he gets to know her, he learns about her nameless orange cat, her long standing feud with their Japanese landlord* (Mickey Rooney), her interesting friends - who include models, millionaires, and a mob boss - and her fascination with Tiffany’s. Despite her larger than life personality, he makes it his mission to find out if it’s just a façade to protect herself from becoming attached to anything or anyone. 

*By today’s standards, Rooney’s portrayal of Mr. Yunioshi is completely racist, but it was definitely a notable celebrity cameo.

Why You Should Watch:

Breakfast at Tiffany’s was a novella written by Truman Capote in the late 1950s. Capote’s novella was narrated by “Fred”, an Holly was a call-girl in her late teens who befriended him. Marilyn Monroe was obvious for the part, but the director, Blake Edwards, wanted to find someone different. It was Paramount that suggested Hepburn. It was certainly a big jump from the Capote Holly Golightly to the one who’s now become so iconic, but the two texts are often conflated. Hepburn’s Holly was naive, almost playing against the original character. Since no one could think of Audrey Hepburn playing a call girl, she became an escort - the type of girl you give $50 to go to the powder room.

The thing that always bothered me about this movie, especially before in my mid-teens, was that I couldn’t figure out what was so attractive about Holly. She’s beautiful and has great fashion sense. But she seemed like a pathetic character to me; one who ran away from her problems, refused to confront reality, and whose foremost goal above her own happiness was to marry rich. While some of these are true character flaws, I learned very recently that I had missed the point.

People often forget what the film is really about, just like I did. When you think of Audrey Hepburn, you think of Breakfast at Tiffany’s. You think of her in the black Givency dress with a tiara, sunglasses, a cigarette holder, and Cat. She’s almost eclipsed the movie itself. I think it’s funny too because Hepburn never again played a role like this - the closest she may have come was Charade, made the year before in 1960.

So here’s my theory: Audrey as Holly represented - a continues to represent - something that women can relate to. We understand her tough exterior to protect her own vulnerability. Her persistence innocence and blissful ignorance. We realize that Holly Golightly isn’t a perfect character, she’s flawed. But we can also aspire to look and act as fabulously as she. There is something so romantic about the idea that a man like Paul (or “Fred”) would walk into your life, after so many before him, and take a genuine interest in your happiness. Maybe that’s why people love Holly Golightly and maybe those are the things they admire about Audrey Hepburn in the role. 

By no means do I mean to “solve the mystery” of the Holly Golightly phenomenon, but this is something I’ve been reflecting on since I’ve gotten better acquainted with Audrey Hepburn’s films. You should watch to take a look for yourself.

Scenes to Look Forward To:

The most obvious is the opening of the film where we meet Holly for the first time. We find her there in her iconic outfit, eating her breakfast outside of Tiffany’s on Fifth Avenue in the wee hours of the morning. There’s no dialogue, we just watch her in a private moment while she window shops for diamonds. 

When Holly decides to introduce “Fred” to her friends, she invites him to a party at her apartment. Turns out that they really did throw a party on set! There are so many shenanigans because Edwards asked the actors to improvise. A scene that could have taken up to two weeks to film was done in just a few days. Some of my favorite moments are when a lady’s hat catches on fire from a cigaretter and it is accidentally extinguished when someone spills their drink while checking their wristwatch for the time.

Aside from the opening, the “Moon River’ scene is probably the most iconic. Paul finds Holly singing and playing a melancholy song on her guitar. She’s not dressed up, she’s vulnerable, and he becomes even more intrigued. The song was written by Henry Mancini, who scored the entire film, specifically for Hepburn. She even sang it herself, which is a rare occurence - she was dubbed in almost every other musical she did, including Funny Face and My Fair Lady. They offered to have her dubbed, but she told them, “Over my dead body.” Even though the song and the scene is so important, tt was almost cut by Paramount. Hepburn had to personally fight for it to stay in the film. Good thing she did, because Mancini won an Oscar for the song, as well as the Oscar for the Best Score.

The first half of the movie is completely ridiculous and nonsensical. A woman who keeps shoes in her fridge? A cat named Cat? But the second half is dramatic, the the awakening of a girl who thought she knew it all but realizes that vulnerability isn’t so bad after all.

I’d love to hear what you think about the Holly Golightly phenomenon. Why do or don’t you like it?