I just don't buy it. He's grey and stiff and so boring. Why would a girl half his age be interested? Nothing against an age gap - age is more about the person than a number - but Cary Grant was probably born old.
shareLol
I'm guessing you're a guy, and a young guy at that. Watch some more Cary Grant movies, and talk to a few women. You might change your opinion.
Yes, it's always believable that women are interested in a charming man like him
Mag, Darling, you're being a bore.
I'm a women and I agree that he was far too old to play a romantic lead in this movie. He was about 60 for goodness sake. The role should have went to someone at least twenty years younger. In younger years Cary Grant was quite good looking, however his personality always put me off.
We're on a mission from God.
I think he was charming and quite believable. He was very fit for his age and could probably pass for at least 10 years younger. making the gap more like about 15 years rather than 25. And considering that his last two wives were both much younger women, he certainly coukd attract them. I think the age gap is less apparent in this film than for instance in Sabrina, where hepburn played opposite Humphrey Bogart, or when she played opposite gary Cooper.
shareHe married a beautiful blonde younger than Audrey.
shareYou must be either a guy or a very young girl not to be aware of the obvious sexiness of Cary Grant at any age. He's super hot.
shareOh honey, just how young are you?
Cary Grant was the epitome of charming, humor and elegance. He's just so handsome. Ask your mother or aunt.
There were certain men back in the glitz and glamour of Old Hollywood and Cary Grant was one of the leading men that oozed the leading man type. Also on that list was Clark Gable, Gregory Peck, William Holden and so many others.
Please darling spend at least 3 weeks watching Cary Grant films and I swear you'll change your mind. Just ask anyone over 30.
Hahahahahahahahahahaha
Please. Watch the scenes on the train between him and Eva Marie Saint in North by Northwest. Watch the chemistry there. And while he had gotten older, obviously, by the time Charade was filmed, when he was younger? Ouch, too hot.
As a straight male I can comfortably say that Cary Grant provides charm and charisma in ever movie he does.
shareI totally agree with you SJoes. Just about any of his films would make many men a little envious for his wit and charm. Reportedly, he was an early James Bond choice was alas, thought to be too old.
shareHe was aware of this and originally rejected doing this movie,
he only starred in 2 other films before retiring for good less
than 3 years after Charade's release.
Charade's script was rewritten with Hepburn's character being the one
interested in him, so Grant changed his mind about accepting the role.
Throughout the movie he rejects her and "treats her like a child"
until the last act.
[deleted]
Do you mean apart from his five real-life marriages, including one to the wealthiest woman in America at the time (Barbara Hutton), his extra-marital relationships wih women less than half his age, the paternity suit lodged against him aged 66, his immaculate grooming (for which he was well known), the fact that everybody liked him, his self-effacing attitude, or that Alfred Hitchcock called him 'the only actor I have ever loved'?..
I've seen things you people wouldn't believe...
Cary Grant got more ass than a toilet seat. I have a friend who dated him. Remember, LADIES' Men go with LADIES, not with skanks.
shareBy 1963 when this came out, audiences were used to a handsome young man of the 30's and 40's who simply became more handsome as he aged in the 50's.
He looked great at 55 in North by Northwest(1959) but as the 60's crept into view, finally age started appearing, not only in grayer hair but in a slight weight gain(Grant had been an acrobat in his youth, muscle starts to fatten.)
Critic Andrew Sarris loved Charade in 1963 but felt compelled to write this sad sentence in his review: "The saddest news to report is that Cary Dorian Gray Grant is finally showing his age on screen."
And it was so. Grant still had enough residual charm and movie history to command the screen in Charade, (the film was a BIG hit), and he still had that great voice(ageless), and he played one rough and tumble fight scene with George Kennedy(not always with a double) to prove his fitness. He also ran in a footchase scene to prove the same.
Meanwhile, Audrey Hepburn was much younger than Grant, but her razor-thin skinniness took a lot of the sexual element out of the romance here. This was a CEREBRAL love affair, between a mature man and a waif-like woman who relied on banter and suggestion to express love. Its hard to even picture them having sex.
Cary Grant himself knew he was starting to look too old for romantic parts. He made only two movies after Charade -- Father Goose, in which he masked his age under a face full of stubble and a floppy shirt as a beach bum type. And Walk Don't Run, in which he didn't PLAY the romantic lead -- he matchmaked a younger couple.
And then he retired. "Young" at 62. And everybody missed him and everybody wanted him back but he was too smart for that. Time to turn the movies over to Beatty and Newman and Redford. None of whom quite had Cary's mid-century charm.
"Meanwhile, Audrey Hepburn was much younger than Grant, but her razor-thin skinniness took a lot of the sexual element out of the romance here. This was a CEREBRAL love affair, between a mature man and a waif-like woman who relied on banter and suggestion to express love. Its hard to even picture them having sex."
Why do you need to "picture them having sex"? I disagree that Hepburn´s skinniness had any detrimental effect on the sexual tension between her and Grant.
Why do you need to "picture them having sex"? I disagree that Hepburn´s skinniness had any detrimental effect on the sexual tension between her and Grant.
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Fair enough. Indeed, the love affair is so sophisticated and full of banter that sex really doesn't come into it. Their kiss on the Seine boat has very sexy dialogue:
Cary: Boy, when you come on...you come on.
Audrey: Well...come on.
(Sexy kiss follows).
By comparison, three years later, the same director and production team tried -- and failed -- to duplicate the sucess of Charade with Arabesque. But this time, they chose more strapping physical specimens for the romance: Gregory Peck(younger than Grant at the time) and voluptuous Sophia Loren.
But, OK, I'll withdraw my statement. Grant and Hepburn are sexy. Peck and Loren, too. Movie stars.
Never saw Arabesque. Wasnt my intention to make you retract your comment though, I just thought it was a strange thing to say. lol
I can buy Grant getting a bit long in the tooth as one of the reasons for not believing the romance not Hepburn's physique or lack thereof. Thats just me though.
I also think the film benefitted from flipping the script and making Grant the pursuee rather than pursuer. It makes Brian/Peter Joshua more likeable and gentlemanly. Interestingly, this rewrite was at the behest of Grant who was only willing to do the film on that proviso and Donen only wanting Grant for the role, agreed.
Never saw Arabesque.
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Its worth a look as a "companion piece" to Charade. Same director, same musical composer(Henry Mancini.) But....the screewriter of Charade(Peter Stone) has his name changed to a psuedonym on the credits; he wasn't pleased with the final script.
Cary Grant was offered Arabesque first, but said, no I'm retiring -- why don't you use my friend Greg Peck?
Peck took the role but kept telling Donen "I'm not Cary Grant." And he wasn't. He's good in Arabesque, but not quite the cool quipster Grant could be.
As a matter of "sexual leads," I will note that Arabesque has an early scene where Gregory Peck, fully clothed, has to hide from killers- in the shower that Sophia Loren is taking. He barely knows her, but now he KNOWS her. I saw this scene when I was a young fellow and boy did it make an impact.
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Wasnt my intention to make you retract your comment though, I just thought it was a strange thing to say. lol
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Ha. Well, I retract statements a lot. I'm always open to discussion. I suppose I was agreeing a bit with the OP, and now I've changed my mind.
Grant and Hepburn are certainly sexy enough.
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I can buy Grant getting a bit long in the tooth as one of the reasons for not believing the romance not Hepburn's physique or lack thereof. Thats just me though.
I also think the film benefitted from flipping the script and making Grant the pursuee rather than pursuer. It makes Brian/Peter Joshua more likeable and gentlemanly. Interestingly, this rewrite was at the behest of Grant who was only willing to do the film on that proviso and Donen only wanting Grant for the role, agreed.
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That "she chases him angle" made the movie fun -- us guys could imagine Audrey Hepburn purusing US, and being as cool as Cary Grant.
The truth of it is that Audrey Hepburn famously played romantic leads against much older looking men than Cary Grant -- Bogart, Gary Cooper, Fred Astaire. Grant was comparatively hot.
CONT
That said, Grant made only two more movies after Charade, and only one of them had a romance -- with Leslie Caron in Father Goose. The script was co-written by Peter "Charade" Stone, who accepted his Screenplay Oscar saying "I want to thank Cary Grant for winning these things for other people." Witty.
Grant then played matchmaker to Jim Hutton and Samantha Eggar in Walk Don't Run. It was his final film; some felt Grant was STILL a better match for Eggar than Hutton. At least the movie ends with Grant going home to his unseen beautiful wife with the intent to make her pregnant. He left the screen as a "ladies man offscreen."
I might check it out. Interesting you mentioned that about Peter Stone, he was also offered writing credit for the Charade remake but used a pseudonym in that one too.
shareI might check it out. Interesting you mentioned that about Peter Stone, he was also offered writing credit for the Charade remake but used a pseudonym in that one too.
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I did not know that. The remake rather mangles the original and lacks star power. Mark Wahlberg(back in 2002) and Thandie Newton were not Grant/Hepburn level of stardom. George Clooney and Julia Roberts might have worked, but Clooney wasn't that big a star either.
Stone knew what he was doing.
Peter Stone wrote some other good thriller scripts.
Mirage (1965) is a black and white film that's kinda Hitchcock, kinda film noir , kinda scary. Peck co-stars with not big enough female lead Diane Baker; Walter Matthau steals the movie.
The Taking of Pelham 123 finds Walter Matthau as the STAR in a very gritty 1974 thriller with a lot of cussing, it doesn't sound like Charade at all.
And I think Stone wrote 'Who Is Kililng the Great Chefs of Europe?"(1978) with George Segal and Jaqueline Bisset in for Grant and Hepburn. It was, as I recall...OK.
Bonus: Peter Stone wrote the Broadway book and movie screenplay for "1776" (1972)a musical which turns the debate to sign the Declaration of Independence into a kind of suspense thriller _- who will sign? WILL it get signed? Life or death consequences.
And so forth and so on..
@ecarle, I'm just curious, do you think Hepburn's physique affected the "sexual element" in her other films? I'm thinking of something like Two for the Road, where her character is clearly having lots of sex with Albert Finney, in addition to carrying on an affair.
I always thought the tension between her and Grant in this film was incredibly charged with sexuality (that scene with the oranges!)-- though unlike the later Arabesque, the characters clearly prefer to tie the knot first.
@ecarle, I'm just curious, do you think Hepburn's physique affected the "sexual element" in her other films? I'm thinking of something like Two for the Road, where her character is clearly having lots of sex with Albert Finney, in addition to carrying on an affair.
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Ha! I think you got me there.
I looked at my post above on Hepburn,...which DID mean to emphasize what I called "the cerebral sexiness" of the Grant/Hepburn pairing in Charade, but I guess I did overdo it on her skinniness, and I do remember all the (off screen?) sex in Two for the Road (which, I might add was also directed by Stanley Donen and had a Henry Mancini score -- but no murders and thrills.)
Back to the cerebral sexiness. Yes, the orange scene was sexy indeed -- I like how it was sexy for all the other pretty couples in the room -- then comic for Grant(in fine comedy form) with the "big lady" -- and then KABOOM with Hepburn on orange duty . She knew how to put a charge into her scenes.
She knew how to say "I love you" like she meant it, too.
Audrey: I love you, Alex!
Grant: I know you said that already.
Audrey: No I didn't, I said I love you, Peter !
(Grant's always changing names, but as he says "The name may change, but man's the same.")
CONT.
Now, to the skinniness. Miss Hepburn had a beautiful face and great voice, and could sell love and (some) sex, to be sure. But I guess, in the 60s when I was a wee lad, a cinema filled with such buxom babes as "The Bond girls," Stella Stevens, Barbara Bouchet, Daliah Lavi, Julie Newmar, and even Ann-Margret(pre serious actress, post Elvis)...well, the bodies were the thing with THOSE ladies. And Kim Novak kept her end up when MM passed, but only for awhile(she retired for awhile because of what happened to MM.)
Buxom, curvy. No nudity, but bikinis and two piece lingerie and long flowing sheer nighties...oh, man, I remember it well.
Miss Hepburn went for ...cerebral. The sexiness that tickles the mind. I do believe she wore a swimsuit in Two for the Road...not quite there.
Remember that not too long before Audrey did Breakfast at Tiffany's(where she is ALMOST a call girl), Audrey did...The Nun's Story!
Indeed, Audrey's fealty to her Nun Story role led her to pull out of a movie to be made by a fellah named: Alfred Hitchcock.
It was to be called "No Bail for the Judge," to be made somewhat right after The Nun's Story and Hitch had Laurence Harvey lined up as the male lead and John Williams to play the judge in question(Hepburn's father.) But somewhere in the story, Audrey saw in the script after commiting sight unseen to Hitch...her character was to be raped. In a 1960 Hays Code manner, nothing shown, everything suggested...but it was enough for her to quit "The great Hitchcock movie Hitchcock never got to make." Hitchcock shelved it and made a little trifle called Psycho, instead. Fate!
Funny thing: The REAL Hitchcock couldn't get Audrey Hepburn in a movie, but Stanley Donen did - and with Hitchcock's greatest lead(with apologies to James Stewart.) Cary.
CONT
I always thought the tension between her and Grant in this film was incredibly charged with sexuality (that scene with the oranges!)-- though unlike the later Arabesque, the characters clearly prefer to tie the knot first
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Cool, laid back sexuality. The movie was pushing the Hays Code...mainly on violence(natch) but also on sexual matters.
But indeed....tying the knot yet again in a Hollywood film seems to be the "requirement" to have sex, and babies are again referenced:
Audrey: I hope we have a lot of boys, so we can name them all after you!
Earlier in the film (during that tres romantic boat ride on the Seine), Audrey brings up sex to Cary without saying the word:
Audrey: Did they do that all the way back when you were young?
Cary: Sure. How do you think I got here?
Again...sex linked to reproduction. Not "pleasure only." That would change.
The OP is about Cary's lack of believability as a ladies man, but given the aged competition at the time (Clark Gable, Gary Cooper had not only both died recently, but looked terribly aged before it happened)...he did just fine.
I like how in Charade...and in To Catch a Thief 8 years earlier, Grant plays grouchy and disinterested with the woman but when the woman "goes for it"(Grace Kelly, Audrey Hepburn) , he just jumps right in and kisses away like the heartthrob he was, regardless of age.
CONT
Indeed, Audrey's fealty to her Nun Story role led her to pull out of a movie to be made by a fellah named: Alfred Hitchcock.
It was to be called "No Bail for the Judge," to be made somewhat right after The Nun's Story and Hitch had Laurence Harvey lined up as the male lead and John Williams to play the judge in question(Hepburn's father.) But somewhere in the story, Audrey saw in the script after commiting sight unseen to Hitch...her character was to be raped. In a 1960 Hays Code manner, nothing shown, everything suggested...but it was enough for her to quit "The great Hitchcock movie Hitchcock never got to make." Hitchcock shelved it and made a little trifle called Psycho, instead. Fate!
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It's definitely an intriguing what could have been project-- though I would never trade Psycho for anything!
I did know about the rape scene and have even read that section of the screenplay online-- pretty nasty for the time, with the attacker even wrapping a necktie around her throat (shades of Bob Rusk). I have heard that there's some ambiguity as to why Hepburn turned it down--either she objected to the rape or she got pregnant/miscarried and backed out. Hitchcock never forgave her and refused to work with her thereafter.
Yeah, the sex in TFTR is all off-screen, though we do get scenes of Finney and Hepburn nude in bed-- nothing shown, but we see Hepburn topless from the back, so that's pretty steamy by her standards. That movie is the most carnal we ever see her. (To say nothing of the promotional images, which featured Hepburn in a variety of sexy poses and in very mod outfits: https://64.media.tumblr.com/2850521bc9aec9f3b3794da407697d67/e0ef07f952574cb0-57/s540x810/ba0b9abba3cec9ccfb366a49fbcbbf189d65711a.jpg).
I'm not sure if I would use the term cerebral to describe her sex appeal, though I think I get where you're coming from. Her sex appeal was largely romantic in the classical sense I think-- you point that out with your observation of the way she says "I love you" here. Her characters seem to inspire a chivalric protectiveness in their love interests (except Finney in TFTR, who's such a cad-- but I'm not going to rant about that here)-- and underlying her loveliness is a sense of passionate intensity, which certainly has a sexual element.