October 14, 2008

One of My Very Favoritest Movies of All Time, or An Undying Obsession with Audrey Hepburn


I have a teensy bit of a deep unyielding love and affection fondness for Audrey Hepburn.  

I first fell in love with the 1995 remake of "Sabrina," and didn't see the original Audrey version until some years later.  After watching the two films this past week, I was reminded of a few things, particularly surrounding the notion that the remake is incredibly good:
  1. Greg Kinear and Harrison Ford are unsettling good as the Larrabee brothers, and almost creepily similar to William Holden and Humphrey Bogart (except Harrison is much more attractive).
  2. Julia Ormond is potentially even better in this role than Audrey Hepburn, because seriously, it is pretty much impossible to try and convince anyone that Audrey Hepburn is in any way an ugly duckling who needs to undergo an amazing Parisian transformation to have some dufus notice her.
  3. The actual premise of this movie is a little bit less romantic and charming than I originally thought, particularly the 1954 version, in which Sabrina is a pathetic lovesick puppy trailing around behind a rump-injured playboy.
  4. Linus Larrabee (particularly Bogart) is a real conniving jerk in his attempts to get Sabrina away from his brother, and I don't think she should really fall for him in the end either.

Sabrina is beautiful

Sabrina is still beautiful, just in more expensive clothes

Sabrina is awkward

Sabrina has blossomed
Photos via MovieScreenshots

2 comments:

Linda said...

I totally agree!!! You are so wise!!!

monica said...

Kathy-
I found your blog via Chuck, a good friend of mine. I told him that I think we are sisters who must have been mysteriously separated at birth.

If there was any doubt, this post clinches it for me. The remake of Sabrina is far more fantastic than anyone gives it credit for.

I lived in NYC for some time before I fell in love and followed my (now )husband to Atlanta (one city I assure you can be crossed off your "maybe-I'd-like-to-live-there someday" list). You must move there. You will love it and it will love you back. Of course, it's way of loving you will be smell subway trains and overpriced apartments, but no matter.

Keep up the wonderful work. Your blog is simply fantastic.