A classic

A few years back, I saw the remake directed by Sydney Pollack and starring Harrison Ford, Greg Kinnear and Julia Ormond. It was not bad but still nothing amazing and I was really curious to see the real thing which is considered a bonafide classic. Eventually, even though I thought this original version was pretty good and obviously better than the remake, I still can’t say I was really blown away by the whole thing. I don’t know, I really find it rather difficult to relate with those movies they made back then with a very young girl falling in love with a very old guy like in ‘To Catch a Thief’ or ‘Gigi’ (It is pretty much like imagining George Clooney having a relationship with Lily Collins…). Furthermore, even though Audrey Hepburn was quite lovely, I found her character not really irresistible first of all because she keeps obsessing about David Larrabee who was a real douchebag and also the fact that she falls in love with Linus Larrabee within a few days made her character not really reliable either. Still, in spite of these flaws, I did enjoy this movie and it was above all thanks to Humphrey Bogart. Indeed, Bogart who didn’t get along at all with his 2 co-stars, really stole the show here. He played against type as a seasoned businessman and his performance was so subtle, it was quite something. I have to admit it, I haven’t seen many movies starring Bogart but after his impressive turn in ‘The Treasure of the Sierra Madre’, he once again really impressed me. To conclude, even though I don’t think this movie is really amazing, it is and remains a classic and it is definitely worth a look, especially if you like the genre.

7/10