Charade (1963)

Charade
Directed by Stanley Donen
Written by Peter Stone and Marc Behm
1963/USA
Stanley Donen Films
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental

[box] Adam Canfield: Heroin, peppermint-flavored heroin.[/box]

This is a treat every single time I watch it.

Regina “Reggie” Lampert (Audrey Hepburn) is minding her own business while enjoying a skiing vacation when she learns her secretive husband has been killed and thrown off a train.  She doesn’t mind too much – the couple were estranged.  All he has left her is the spartan contents of an overnight case.

The movie is set in Paris.  Immediately a number of men become very, very interested in the young widow.  The first of these is the dashing Peter Joshua (Cary Grant) who befriends her.  And what girl could resist such a man?  Soon after Hamilton Bartholomew (Walter Matthau), an official at the American Embassy, informs her that her husband was in the possession of money stolen by a group of Army buddies during the war and that the US government wants it back.  So, too, do the buddies her husband denied their shares.

Soon Regina finds herself in great danger and does not know who to trust.

The pleasure of watching Audrey Hepburn modeling Givenchy in Paris while making romance with Cary Grant is enough to make an entertaining picture.  Here, though, we’ve got wit and suspense galore.  Quality motion picture making and highly recommended.

Charade was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Music, Original Song (“Charade”}