Charade

Stanley Donen’s Charade, released in 1963, is a deft, light, and witty thriller starring Audrey Hepburn at her most glamorous opposite a seasoned and mature Cary Grant.Hepburn plays Regina “Reggie” Lampert, a woman dissatisfied with her wealthy but secretive husband, whom she’s decided to divorce. At a skiing resort in the French Alps, she meets the dashing Peter Joshua (Cary Grant).Both Reggie and Peter fly back to Paris on the same day. Reggie finds that her husband has been murdered and thrown out of a train and that their elegant apartment has been stripped bare. Distraught, she allows Peter to take her under her wing.Reggie discovers that her husband had $250,000 that is now missing: the only possession of his that is found on the train is an airline bag that seems to contain nothing of value.She is soon chased by three of her late husband’s World War II cronies, Tex, Scobie, and Gideon, who were given the money in gold to give to French Resistance fighters but stole it and hid it. The trio, memorably played by beloved actors James Coburn, George Kennedy, and Ned Glass, are convinced that Reggie has the money and try to get it from her. Peter comes to the rescue, but Reggie soon learns that he is not what he claimed to be. They skirt the trio, who chase them around the stylish backdrop of 1960s Paris, while Reggie keeps in touch with Hamilton Bartholomew (Walter Matthau), who claims to be a representative of the U.S. Embassy. During all this excitement, the couple find themselves falling in love.The film is also memorable for its haunting theme by Henry Mancini and Johnny Mercer, which was nominated for an Academy Award.Charade is an unforgettable film that masterfully mixes suspense, comedy, dark humor, and romance. In it Grant and Hepburn display a chemistry that shows them at their best. Few motion pictures have provided such a deft and delightful mix of suspense, wit, romance, and style. Over sixty years after its release, Charade remains a continuing source of enjoyment for movie fans everywhere.