Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

Cast includes:
CHARACTER	ACTOR/ACTRESS	RATING
Holly Golightly	Audrey Hepburn
Paul Varjak	George Peppard
Mrs. Emily Eustace	Patricia Neal	½
Doc Golightly	Buddy Ebsen
O. J. Berman	Martin Balsam
I. Y. Yunioshi	Mickey Rooney	½
Sally Tomato	Alan Reed
José da Silva Pereira	José Luis de Vilallonga	½
Rutherford "Rusty" Trawler	Stanley Adams
Tiffany's salesman	John McGiver

Review

The reason why this classic has stood the test of time better than you'd expect isn't a progressive view on gender-roles or moralistic discussions – of which it has several, albeit of lesser weight. Instead, the timelessness has to do with purely filmatic qualities: character-development, narrative progression, and not least a spirited, iconic performance by Audrey Hepburn, who makes her character Holly Golightly transcend her time-specific hardships and instead embody a universal romantic character tradition – to which we all belong in one way or another. She's pathetic and brilliant, gruff and sophisticated, brittle and over-confident. Her interplay with the collected, safe haven Paul Varjak is obviously the key to the film's success. And Mickey Rooney's awkward, unfunny and badly conceived character can't destroy more than your common sense lets it.