If you know enough about Alfred Hitchcock to recognizes his style, but not enough to know all his films than you could easily think that CHARADE is one of his pictures. This is not a slight against director Stanley Donen (TWO FOR THE ROAD), but his film embraces all that is Hitchcockian. The innocent thrust into dangerous situations. The unexpected humor. Witty dialogue. And Cary Grant.
Regina Lampert (Audrey Hepburn, TWO OF THE ROAD) wants to divorce her husband because he lies to her. Then she returns home from vacation to discover that he has sold all their things and has gotten himself murdered. She goes to his funeral where she meets a trio of shady men — Tex Panthollow (James Coburn, ADDICTION), Herman Scobie (George Kennedy, COOL HAND LUKE) and Sylvie Gaudel (Dominique Minot, THOMAS). She is then called in to the American consulate by CIA agent Leopold Gideon (Walter Matthau, MIRAGE), who explains to her that the men at her husband's funeral and her husband stole $250,000 during WWII and may want to kill her for the money, which she doesn't know it's whereabouts.
Previously, Regina met Peter Joshua (Grant) while on vacation. They flirt but nothing goes further. When they connect again in Paris, he tries to help her with her new crisis. That's about as much of the plot as I can explain because nothing is as it seems. Even my description above contains lies.
I really liked Donen's TWO OF THE ROAD, but I loved CHARADE. Good thrillers present a premise and then let the scenes unfold one on top of each other naturally. But the key to this film's superior status is the wonderfully droll dialogue and electrifying performances from Hepburn and Grant. I loved how the film actually addresses their age difference and has fun with it. This actual helps sell the relationship even more. The scene where Grant and Hepburn play a game of passing an orange from under their necks without using their hands is surprisingly erotic. Additionally, Matthau, in his non-comedic role, really helps hold the film together by really selling the danger of the situation perfectly.
Then the film adds great James Bond-like bad guys. Coburn's match torture on Hepburn is brilliant. Kennedy with his claw hand is intimidating in an offish kind of way. Minot has a strangeness about him that makes his nerdy character scarier than one would expect at first glance.
The plot has a simple set up and crafts an intricately told tale from those simple elements, which add up to so much more. Right when we think we have it all figured out it pulls the rug out from under us. The film's conclusion in the theater with the trap doors is classic. It also has a classic closing line. Discovering films this fun and this good is why I watch movies.
Buy "Charade" on Blu-ray Here!
Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
