Charade

My sister always says that I am a movie snob when it comes to remakes; and I guess I kind of am. When I saw the preview a few years ago for The Truth About Charlie, the plot sounded vaguely familiar. My mom told me it was the remake of an older Audrey Hepburn/Cary Grant movie called Charade. And proof that I am a snob... I couldn't sit through The Truth About Charlie.

I have seen Charade before, but I have only ever watched it superficially - I have never tried to closely analyze it. Released in 1963, the film was directed by Stanley Donen, which surprised me because it seems like it would have been a Hitchcock film. It is the story of a woman (Hepburn) being followed by her husband's murderers. The four men are coming after money that her husband stole, and they believe she has in her possession. It has plot twists and turns as Cary Grant's character confesses he is not one person, but another, and another, and another. These twists allow for one of Hepburn's more famous lines from this movie (in fact, it was used in Pretty Woman) - "Oh I love you Adam, Alex, Peter, Brian, whatever your name is, I love you! I hope we have a lot of boys and we can name them all after you!" The film uses close-ups on the actors' faces to show their sudden understanding of something; it uses interesting angles on some of the shots to create more suspense (like when Hepburn is running from Dyle, or hiding in the theater). It is really similar to Hitchcock's films, and is a really good, classical thriller. I recommend it highly (and not just because I love Audrey Hepburn).

PS... I am working on not being so snobby about remakes. :)