They All Laughed

Audrey Hepburn Marathon, part 13 of 13



Data
Title: They All Laughed
Year: 1981
Length: 115 minutes
Director: Peter Bogdanovich
Writer: Peter Bogdanovich & Blaine Novak
Starring: Ben Gazzara, John Ritter
With: Audrey "Why Do I Have Top Billing" Hepburn, Patti Hansen, Dorothy Stratten, Blaine Novak, Linda MacEwen, George Morfogen, Colleen Camp, Sean H. Ferrer
Music: mostly non-original music
Cinematography: Robby Müller
Editing: William C. Carruth, Scott Vickrey
I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Synopsis: private detectives hit on women

My reaction
Concept: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Characters: 3/4 (Good)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent) It tries too hard (and fails) to have the feel of a golden era Hollywood film.
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 3/4 (Good)
Special effects/design: 2/4 (Indifferent). Points off for bad sound mixing.
Acting: 3/4 (Good)
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent). It's all very good music, but the movie would have been much more watchable without it. It's like someone's messing with a radio while you're trying to watch the movie.
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent, 2/4). John Ritter is funny sometimes, and some of the rest of the cast have a strange charm. It's all very pointless and meandering.

Objective Rating (Average): 2.3/4 (Okay)

Robin and Marian

Audrey Hepburn Marathon, part 12 of 13



Data
Title: Robin and Marian
Year: 1976
Length: 106 minutes
Director: Richard Lester
Writer: James Goldman
Starring: Sean Connery, Audrey Hepburn
With: Robert Shaw, Richard Harris, Nicol Williamson, Denholm Elliott, Kenneth Haigh, Ronnie Barker, Ian Holm
Music: John Barry
Cinematography: David Watkin
Editing: John Victor-Smith
I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), yesterday
Synopsis: Robin Hood, twenty years later

My reaction
Concept: 3/4 (Good)
Story: 2/4 (Indifferent). What is that ending? What is that even?
Characters: 3/4 (Good)
Dialog: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Pacing: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Cinematography: 3/4 (Good)
Special effects/design: 4/4 (Great). Hooray for historical accuracy and realism!
Acting: 3/4 (Good). Connery is surprisingly entertaining. Richard Harris is great. Middle-Aged Audrey seems out of place, like she's not aware of her age or how to use it.
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent, 2/4). It has a lot of strong parts, but doesn't work particularly well overall.
Objective Rating (Average): 2.6/4 (Good)

Wait until Dark

Audrey Hepburn Marathon, part 11 of 13



Data
Title: Wait until Dark
Year: 1967
Length: 108 minutes
Director: Terence Young
Writer: Robert Carrington & Jane-Howard Carrington, based on a play by Frederick Knott
Starring: Audrey Hepburn
With: Alan Arkin, Richard Crenna, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., Jack Weston, Samantha Jones, Julie Herrod
Music: Henry Mancini
Cinematography: Charles Lang
Editing: Gene Milford
Oscars: nominated for Best Actress (Hepburn)
I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), a few days ago
Synopsis: a murderer hires con men to rob a blind woman

My reaction
Concept: 3/4 (Good)
Story: 4/4 (Great)
Characters: 3/4 (Good)
Dialog: 3/4 (Good)
Pacing: 4/4 (Great)
Cinematography: 3/4 (Good)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 3/4 (Good). Hepburn and Arkin are excellent. The rest of the cast is mediocre.
Music: 3/4 (Good)
Subjective Rating: 8/10 (Great, 4/4). Scary and exciting. It got under my skin.
Objective Rating (Average): 3.3/4 (Very good)

Two for the Road

Audrey Hepburn Marathon, part 10 of 13

Data
Title: Two for the Road
Year: 1967
Length: 111 minutes
Director: Stanley Donen
Writer: Frederic Raphael
Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Albert Finney
With: Eleanor Bron, William Daniels, Gabrielle Middleton, Claude Dauphin, Nadia Gray, Georges Descrières, Jacqueline Bisset, Judy Cornwell, Irène Hilda, Dominique Joos
Music: Henry Mancini
Cinematography: Christopher Challis
Editing: Madeleine Gug, Richard Marden
Oscars: nominated for Best Original Screenplay
I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), a few days ago
Synopsis: Albert Finney slowly crushes the joy from Audrey Hepburn

My reaction
Concept: 0/4 (Terrible). The concept is basically, "someone who can't direct tries to make a Fellini film." No thanks.
Story: 1/4 (Bad). Not meant to have a story, but what little bit of plot there is is bad.
Characters: 0/4 (Terrible). Such awful people. I'll bet Nora Ephron loves this movie.
Dialog: 3/4 (Good).
Pacing: 0/4 (Terrible). It's nice that they tried to do something new. But, sorry guys, when you throw out narrative structure, you have to replace it with something. You can't just throw some scenes together like it doesn't matter. Also: boring.
Cinematography: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Special effects/design: 3/4 (Good)
Acting: 2/4 (Indifferent). Audrey's very good. Finney is terrible.
Music: 2/4 (Indifferent)
Subjective Rating: 3/10 (Bad, 1/4). Cynical, miserable, pretentious garbage. There are a few bits with humor that are amusing, but they're few. Donen's directing is at its most awkward (which is really saying something), and Finney does what he can to make you despise every second his character is on screen.
Objective Rating (Average): 1.4/4 (Bad)

How to Steal a Million

Audrey Hepburn Marathon, part 9 of 13



Data
Title: How to Steal a Million
Year: 1966
Length: 123 minutes
Director: William Wyler
Writer: Harry Kurnitz, story by George Bradshaw
Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Peter O'Toole
With: Eli Wallach, Hugh Griffith, Charles Boyer, Fernand Gravey, Marcel Dalio, Jacques Marin, Moustache, Roger Tréville, Edward Malin, Bert Bertram
Music: John Williams
Cinematography: Charles Lang
Editing: Robert Swink
I saw it: on video a couple days ago, rented from Netflix
Synopsis: an art forger's daughter needs to steal a faked statue from a museum

My reaction
Concept:
Story:
Characters:
Dialog:
Pacing:
Cinematography:
Special effects/design:
Acting:
Music:
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good, ). Fun and witty. My wife got bored, but I thoroughly enjoyed it.
Objective Rating (Average):

My Fair Lady

Audrey Hepburn Marathon, part 8 of 13



Data
Title: My Fair Lady
Year: 1964
Length: 170 minutes
Director: George Cukor
Writer: Alan Jay Lerner, based on his musical based on a play by George Bernard Shaw
Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Rex Harrison
With: Stanley Holloway, Wilfrid Hyde-White, Gladys Cooper, Jeremy Brett, Theodore Bikel, Mona Washbourne, Isobel Elsom, John Holland
Music: André Previn (score); Frederick Loewe & Alan Jay Lerner (songs)
Cinematography: Harry Stradling Sr.
Editing: William H. Ziegler
Oscars: won for Best Picture, Best Director, Best Actor (Harrison), Best Cinematography (color), Best Score (musical), Best Art Direction/Set Decoration (color), Best Costume Design (color) and Best Sound; nominated for Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Supporting Actor (Holloway), Best Supporting Actress (Cooper) and Best Editing
I saw it: on video a couple days ago, rented from Netflix
Synopsis: a cockney girl is trained to pass as an aristocrat at parties

My reaction
Concept:
Story:
Characters:
Dialog:
Pacing:
Cinematography:
Special effects/design:
Acting:
Music:
Subjective Rating: 5/10 (Indifferent, ). There are a number of very good parts, but they're scattered and sparse. The songs are almost all boring, and the action usually comes to a complete stop while we wait for them to finish singing. Even if the songs were good, they would be an unwelcome interruption - and they go on like this for three hours.
Objective Rating (Average):

Charade

Audrey Hepburn Marathon, part 7 of 13



Data
Title: Charade
Year: 1963
Length: 113 minutes
Director: Stanley Donen
Writer: Peter Stone, based on a story by Stone & Marc Behm
Starring: Cary Grant, Audrey Hepburn
With: Walter Matthau, James Coburn, George Kennedy, Dominique Minot, Ned Glass, Jacques Marin, Paul Bonifas, Thomas Chelimsky
Music: Henry Mancini
Cinematography: Charles Lang
Editing: Jim Clark
Oscars: nominated for Best Song ("Charade")
I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), a couple weeks ago
Synopsis: a widow is attacked by people after her husband's money

My reaction
Concept:
Story:
Characters:
Dialog:
Pacing:
Cinematography:
Special effects/design:
Acting:
Music:
Subjective Rating: 7/10 (Good, ). Weird movie. Sort of a parody of Hitchcock, except it takes the suspense seriously, and it's entirely possible that it isn't intentionally mimicking Hitchcock and is ripping him off. I'm not always sure if things are supposed to be funny or not, or if the humor is meant to be the focus or just mood-lightener. But I guess it's a good movie... I'm pretty sure it is. I'll have watch it a few times before I can tell whether I'm enjoying it or not. I did enjoy watching it, but I might have just been enjoying how perplexed it made me.
Objective Rating (Average):

The Children's Hour

Audrey Hepburn Marathon, part 6 of 13



Data
Title: The Children's Hour
Year: 1961
Length: 107 minutes
Director: William Wyler
Writer: John Michael Hayes, adapted by Lillian Hellman from her play
Starring: Audrey Hepburn, Shirley MacLaine
With: James Garner, Miriam Hopkins, Fay Bainter, Karen Balkin, Veronica Cartwright, Mimi Gibson
Music: Alex North
Cinematography: Franz Planer
Editing: Robert Swink
Oscars: nominated for Best Supporting Actress (Bainter), Best Cinematography (black-and-white), Best Art Direction/Set Decoration (black-and-white), Best Costume Design (black-and-white) and Best Sound
I saw it: on video (rented from Netflix), a couple days ago
Synopsis: a kid accuses her teachers of being lesbians

My reaction
Concept:
Story:
Characters:
Dialog:
Pacing:
Cinematography:
Special effects/design:
Acting:
Music:
Subjective Rating: 6/10 (Okay, ). I don't know what to make of this movie. The filmmakers seem to have seen the story as being about the damage of cruel gossip, whereas now its turned into a story about bigotry. A lot of it doesn't work particularly well because of that disparity. But since the characters are done so well, it ultimately does still work. It doesn't try to condemn or redeem its characters to make the audience feel better about things; it's too obliviously of its time to even know where to start (or at least it was forced by the production code to appear to be oblivious). Consequently, it's probably more powerfully tragic than a modern adaptation could be. When Audrey's character holds her head high at the end and proudly walks away, what is that supposed to mean? Probably something very different to me than it meant to Audrey or Wyler. But maybe not.
Objective Rating (Average):