Adam Canfield: Get ready for the story of my life.
Reggie Lampert: Fiction or nonfiction?
Charade is a light-hearted
thriller film made in 1963, directed by
Stanely Donen.
Peter Stone and
Marc Behn wrote the story that the movie was based on, and Peter Stone also worked on the screenplay. The screenplay was originally rejected from seven studios, and so Peter Stone made a novel out of the idea, which became famous through
Redbook. It was then changed back into a screenplay that all of the seven studios wanted to purchase.
Regina Lambert is a rather normal person. She's married to a rich man. They live in
Paris,
France, but lately she's been having problems with their
marriage. Her husband seems to be keeping secrets and telling lies. On a vacation with one of her friends,
Sylvie Gaudel, she decides to get a divorce. She also meets with a nice gentleman,
Peter Joshua.
What she doesn't know is that her husband has been killed. He was murdered and then thrown out of a moving train. Not only that, but he had sold all of their belongings, and was leaving the country. In his luggage there was a simple letter to her, not saying anything out of the ordinary.
The police are investigating the crime, and suspect that Regina might know something. But at her husband's funeral, more
suspects show up. Other than the detective, Regina, and Sylvie, three people come to "pay their respects."
Leopold W. Gideon. A small man with glasses. Rather timid. He simply looks at the corpse, and begins to sneeze. He quickly walks away from the corpse and takes a seat.
Tex Panthollow. Tall with rather rugged looks. He looks at the corpse's face, unconvinced. He takes a
mirror out of his pocket and places it next to the corpse's nose. He pulls it back, not noticing any steam. He walks towards Regina, and remarks that Charlie, her husband, wouldn't go this way. And that there was something up.
Herman Scobie. A huge man, storms into the place.
One hand kept in his pocket. He walks quickly to the corpse. Takes a needle out of his trenchcoat, and stabs the corpse's hand with it. Not seeing any blood prick up, he throws the needle at the corpse in disgust, and storms out.
Then a messenger comes to give Regina a note that a man from the
American Embassy wishes to see her. Hamilton Bartholomew not only works for the Embassy, but is also a
CIA agent. He shows Regina a picture that has her husband, and the three people that showed at his funeral. The men had stolen a fortune of gold intended for the French resistance during
World War II. Charles had returned for the gold before the rest, and ran away with it. The others have come back to retrieve it.
Even the friendly Peter Joshua doesn't seem to be the man he is. Arriving at exactly the right time in Regina's life.
But someone is killing off the others looking for the money. It will only be time, until it's Regina's turn.
This is one of my favorite
Audrey Hepburn films. She does an excellent job playing the role. With
Cary Grant cast next to her how could this movie lose. That's not even including the rest of the cast:
James Coburn,
Walter Mathau, and
George Kennedy all have impressive roles. Also, if you like this film of Hepburn's, check out
Wait Until Dark, the movie that proved that Hepburn was still impressive in her growing age. It's also much darker than this one. Another good choice would be
How to Steal a Million, however, it is more comedic than Charade.
In October 2002, a remake of Charade was released. It will star
Mark Wahlberg,
Thandie Newton, and
Tim Robbins and the director is
Jonathan Demme. The title for this film is
The Truth About Charlie.
Main Cast:
Cary Grant - Peter Joshua
Audrey Hepburn - Regina "Reggie" Lampert
Walter Matthau - Hamilton Bartholomew
James Coburn - Tex Panthollow
George Kennedy - Herman Scobie
Dominique Minot - Sylvie Gaudel
Ned Glass - Leopold W. Gideon
Jacques Marin - Inspector Edouard Grandpierre
Paul Bonifas - Mr. Felix
Thomas Chelimsky - Jean-Louis Gaudel
Analysis:(with
spoilers, so don't read if you haven't seen it!)
I find the Army group interesting. All of them were rather resilient people. We have Charles, who we never learn much about. Obviously, he was one of the more secretive ones in the group. He was able to hide from all of them, except for Dyle.
We have Scobie, the brawn of the group. A towering man, and was able to survive his hand being riddled with bullets. Unfortunatly, his slow wits are probably what did him in the end. Or perhaps, Dyle just knew how to use his strength better than Scobie did.
We have Gideon, a thinker type. He's also remarked as being crueller than Tex. Perhaps, he was the torturer of the group. But we really don't get much of his character developed.
Tex is rather quick-witted, but doesn't seem to have the intelligence to put it to the fullest use. He's well-built, but not as amazingly strong as Scobie. But he does know how to put facts togethor, as witnessed in his last scenes. He's also determined, as was proven with his message on the floor.
Then we have Dyle. Smart. Quick. Strong. Deadly. And survived being completly riddled by bullets, and being left for dead. The man is amazing. He was everything that the others were. It even brings the idea of what Cary Grant's character said about him, that he might have been shot by his comrades. Perhaps, even they feared him in the beginning.
Source:
IMDB -
http://www.imdb.com