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Breakfast at Tiffany’s (1961)

Director: Blake Edwards
Notable Actors: Audrey Hepburn, George Peppard, Patricia Neal, Buddy Ebsen, Mickey Rooney

The 1961 film was adapted from Truman Capote’s novella by screenwriter George Axelrod, and the film’s plot differs from that of the novella Breakfast at Tiffany’s in several key ways. The biggest change is that the story has been reframed as a romance between Holly and the narrator, now named Paul. He clearly takes a romantic interest in Holly from the start, whereas the narrator’s feelings in the novella are not romantic. This change shifts the genre of the story. The novella is a character study, with Holly Golightly as the subject. The film is a love story featuring Holly and Paul as the leads. 

The lead-up to the story finale’s is largely the same in the film as in the book: Holly is arrested, makes bail, and resolves to fly to Brazil. However, Holly never become pregnant. At the end of the film, Paul convinces Holly to stay in New York, and the two kiss after finding Holly’s cat. Holly’s fate is no longer a mystery, her life instead becoming entwined with Paul’s.

There are other, less central differences between the film and Capote’s original, as well. Whereas the novella’s narrator is introduced as an aspiring writer with no publications, the film’s Paul is a published writer in a slump. Much of his income in the film comes from a wealthy older woman he is having an affair with. This sets up a parallel between Paul and Holly that does not exist in the novella.

Finally, there are differences in the cast of secondary characters. Mag Wildwood and Rusty Trawler are less prominent, and Joe Bell and Madame Sapphia Spanella are left out entirely. I. Y. Yunioshi, on the other hand, is more visible. In the film it is he, not Madame Spanella, who facilitates Holly’s arrest. The portrayal of Yunioshi by Mickey Rooney, a white actor wearing false buck teeth, thick eyeglasses, and skin-darkening makeup and speaking in heavily accented English, was considered in poor taste even when the movie first came out and today is viewed as a glaring defect in an otherwise masterfully made film.

Despite its problematic aspects, the film was an enormous hit and is now considered a beloved classic—almost to the exclusion of the novella on which it was based. Much of this is attributed to Audrey Hepburn’s touching, nuanced performance as Holly, for which she received a Best Actress Oscar nomination. The hauntingly beautiful song “Moon River,” which was written by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer for the movie and which won them the Best Original Song Oscar for 1961, is also inextricably tied to the film and its success.

Previous section Truman Capote & Breakfast at Tiffany's

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