Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

Ketrivie It isn't all that great, actually. Really cheesy and very predicable of how certain scenes are gonna turn play out. However, I guess that's the charm of it all, because I would consider this one of my guilty pleasures.

Hadrina The movie's neither hopeful in contrived ways, nor hopeless in different contrived ways. Somehow it manages to be wonderful

Keeley Coleman The thing I enjoyed most about the film is the fact that it doesn't shy away from being a super-sized-cliche;

daoldiges Even though I like both Hepburn and Peck I've always kind of resisted seeing this movie for some reason. It was showing at Film Forum here in NYC the other day and I figured it was time that I checked it out. I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed it. I think all of the performances are good, not just Hepburn. Peck and Albert were both good and I think the Albert character was funny and provided an essential element to the success of this film. The only part of the film that does not work are the end scenes where the Hepburn character is publicly shared/introduced as a real princess. Royalty was viewed and revered differently when this film was originally released, but today those scenes feel stilted. Otherwise this is a light, carefree, and fun film.

Byrdz Basically, "Roman Holiday" is one of "those movies". You know the ones. You have seen the picture umpteen-million times and practically can say the dialogue along with the actors BUT it comes on the TV and even though you missed the first twenty minutes and it's on a channel with tons of commercials, you just MUST leave it on and see it again and after you do, you just feel good! Yeah, one of "those".It's a truly wonderful picture. Peck and Audrey and Eddie Albert and all of the supporting cast are terrific.This last viewing, I noticed the hair stylist more than I ever had before and found Ann's reaction to his admiration of her just so... sooo ... well, watch it and you'll see what I mean.All in all, it's deserving of its "classic status" and a "must see"...many times !

jacobs-greenwood Roman Holiday (1953) was filmed on location in Rome, Italy and, per TCM's host, was shot in black-and-white vs. Technicolor for budgetary reasons. Accordingly, since Gregory Peck had already been hired to play an uncharacteristically light (for him) Cary Grant- like role as the male lead, his romantic counterpart would have to be played by a relative unknown (e.g. someone producer-director William Wyler could get cheaply).Enter Miss Audrey Hepburn, who had appeared in barely (or should that be "barely appeared in") a handful of movies since her debut in 1951. But despite her short resume, the actress so impressed her co- star during the course of filming this one that Peck convinced Wyler to put her name above the title with his. Subsequently, the Academy endorsed the actor's assessment when they awarded Hepburn the Best Actress Oscar for her performance.She would go on to earn four more Best Actress nominations, among them the title role opposite Humphrey Bogart and William Holden in Billy Wilder's Sabrina (1954) the following year and as the iconic Holly Golightly (opposite George Peppard) in Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961), though Hepburn failed to earn a nomination for perhaps her most famous part as Eliza Doolittle in the Warner Bros. musical (adaptation of George Bernard Shaw's play Pygmalion) My Fair Lady (1964). She was later voted the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian Award (e.g. for her work with UNICEF etc.).Hepburn's unique, regal beauty made her perfect for the role of Princess Ann in Roman Holiday (1953). The story opens with the young princess at the end of an exhausting, repetitious "public relations" tour of Europe. Having been sheltered all her life, she's quite naturally bored. She'd love to find excitement given her present routine, which is so mundane that a simple faux pas (such as her losing track of a high-heeled shoe before dancing with a head-of- state) causes a stir. Tired of it all, Princess Ann becomes tearfully hysterical at bedtime while going over the next day's agenda with her secretary.Borrowing a plot device from director Norman Krasna's Academy Award winning Original Screenplay for Princess O'Rourke (1943), blacklisted writer Dalton Trumbo and screenwriters Ian McLellan Hunter and John Dighton utilized a hypodermic administered sedative (in lieu of too many sleeping pills) to handicap their princess in this one. But that's not where the similarities end: as Krasna did with his title character (played by Olivia de Havilland), once she's out of her protective custody environment, the seemingly inebriated princess falls into the hands of the unawares male protagonist who, fortunately, is chivalrous instead of lecherous, and the romance part of the comedy begins. From there the plots of these two movies diverge - Robert Cummings is a pilot and the conflict is a familiar commoner-that-wants-to-marry-into-royalty routine whereas Peck plays newspaper reporter Joe Bradley who, after learning the identity of the sleeping beauty that just spent the night in his apartment is Princess Ann, fully intends to exploit the situation by selling her exclusive story to his publisher for $5,000 (he doesn't let on that he knows who she is; the princess says her name is Anya and cuts her hair to keep from being recognized in public) - but the end of Roman Holiday (1953) is remarkably similar to a famous romance drama classic.Princess Ann's whirlwind twenty-four hour vacation in Rome includes Hepburn's spontaneous reaction to Peck's appearing to lose his hand in the Mouth of Truth and several other slapstick sequences: Joe interrupting his photographer friend Irving Radovich (Eddie Albert's first Oscar nominated Supporting Actor role) to keep him from spilling the beans (e.g. that they know her identity) on several occasions, a harrowing ride on a motorbike through several street vendors such that the three of them end up appearing before a local police chief, and a comedic brawl at an open air nightclub where the princess's countrymen find her (and try to compel her to return with them). She and Joe escape via a canal (my daughter laughed out loud when the princess grabbed her nose and jumped into the water), swimming to the other side, which is (at the very least) a more original way to get the two leads wet for their first kiss than the more stereotypical rainstorm, right? But alas, even though they've fallen in love, it's an impossible situation, so it must end.In a twist on Casablanca (1942), it's her (the princess), not him, with a sense of duty that stops the romance in its tracks ... but they'll always have Rome. Upon her return to the embassy, it's clear that she's matured quite a bit (after just one day on the outside) as she alters the bedtime ritual. But he too is noble and later - when they meet again while back in their respective roles, and Princess Ann learns that Joe is a reporter - he conveys that her secrets are safe with him (e.g. he isn't going to write about their exploits together, despite his need for the money), and then Irving gives the princess the pictures he'd surreptitiously taken as mementos of her holiday.Like Grant before him, Peck's understated performance in this romantic comedy went unrecognized in a year in which actors in two different war movies, and two others featuring Romans, were instead. Edith Head won her fourth of eight Academy Awards (from 34 nominations) for her B&W Costume Design (love those striped pajamas!), and Trumbo's widow was eventually presented the Oscar for his Motion Picture Story, which was originally given to Hunter, who'd fronted for the blacklisted writer.The film was also nominated for Best Picture, as was director Wyler, the aforementioned screenplay writers, editor Robert Swink, its B&W Art Direction-Set Decoration & Cinematography. Plus, it was added to the National Film Registry in 1999. At least AFI voters did recognize it as the fourth best love story of all time.

ElMaruecan82 One of the qualities I most admire in a movie is its ability to positively challenge my expectations, and expectations I had many regarding William Wyler's "Roman Holiday". So, when the curtain was closed, I thought it was a beautiful experience and another viewing elevated it so high above my preconceived notions of romantic comedies that it could be one of the best movies to embrace that genre. Indeed, "Roman Holiday" should be worthy of any movie lover's admiration for its impeccable combination of acting, writing, directing and also costume designing. Seriously, when you have William Wyler, Gregory Peck, Audrey Hepburn, Eddie Albert, Dalton Trumbo and Edith Head… and let's not forget Roma, the millennial city as the backdrop, you can't fail even if you were asked to.But let's give credit to the real, and regal, pillar of the film: Miss Audrey Hepburn. This is the movie that made her an instant star in Hollywood's map, and you can see the novelty in the context of 1953. At a time where Monroe, Kelly or Russell defined beauty canons, came the tall, slender, long-necked and delicate gamin-like Audrey Hepburn. But she was more than a look, she was a smile, an attitude, a voice, a sensitivity, she was so many things wrapped up in one person that there was no doubt, regardless of the film's reception, that she would become a star and win the Oscar. Peck who got the top billing suggested her name to be put above the title, less by altruism than realism. And as the opening credits mention, the film is introducing Audrey Hepburn, and how fitting that the first frames where she graced the silver screen show her smiling and waving at cheerful crowds. It's Princess Ann saluting her European hosts and she does exude this royal composure and classiness, with a little hint of ennui in her eyes, getting more and more perceptible as the fatigue increases. Hepburn keeps on smiling and saluting as if it befitted her glorious entrance in Hollywood by both suggesting her beauty and her vulnerability. Later, the film finds the right balance between drama and comedy, to emphasize the very distance Ann fantasizes about over her royal duties.During the official night, while Ann is saluting all the dignitaries and ambassadors, there's a delicate close-up on her foot she delicately take off the shoe and scratch her ankle with it, then comes the infamous moment where she can't put it back. The symbolism is as strong as the small foot-fetish it induces; it is is a kind of reverse Cinderella-like story about a melancholic princess who wants to have a shot at anonymity. And when she's listening to her chambermaid mechanically reciting the day's schedule, her sudden hysteria startled me, physically. It was impossible not to share her pain, this is not just the Disney princess who wants to discover the world, this is a real existential malaise, she's given sleeping pills but we know this is no remedy.Princess Ann, moved by her remaining forces (and some childishly adventurous spirit), leaves the hotel. She crosses the path of Joe Bradley, a tall and handsome journalist played by Gregory Peck, gentleman enough not to leave the drugged princess lying on Roma's streets. He takes her to his apartment, gives her his pajama and they sleep without anything happening. It's all in the day after when he realizes he's got the Princess in his hands and one hell of a scoop, the opportunity to have an exclusive interview. What theb happens is a staple of romantic comedy: both lie about their identities, and the funny paparazzi sidekick, played by Eddie Albert, follows them during the trip, taking pictures of Ann with a lighter hiding a miniature camera. The premise sounds mean-spirited and we wait for the quarrel over the lies, but "Roman Holiday" doesn't try to be a rip-off of "It Happened One Night", the story finds its own rhythm and pace. Wyler insists in its opening credits that the film was shot in location but that's a useless disclaimer, we can tell this is not some matte paint or Hollywood studio locations, we have the local colors and Roman streets' flavor and Hepburn's reactions are as authentic as the locations. Ann wanders through Roma, cuts her hair, visits the streets with Joe, have some 'gelati' and an unforgettable motorcycle trip. The enthusiasm of Hepburn is always catching and Peck is so genuinely charming that the chemistry is believable, especially when he does the hand prank."Roman Holiday" has pioneered the 'geographical' romance but it's for its conclusion that the film got me. After the climactic kiss, the film takes a turn no one can see coming, it's like something changing in Ann's attitude, for the first time she decides it's time to get back where she belongs, and for the first time, Joe lets her go. When she comes back, she looks naturally authoritarian, she politely dismisses everyone and she's ready to be a Princess again. The day after, she and Joe meet during the press conference and exchange a few tender looks. When asked if Roma is the greatest town she visited, she starts with a conventional answer but then opens her heart, one last time, and through her tribute to the city, indirectly gives a poignant farewell to Joe. It's all in the unspoken.I was surprised by how mature and adult the script was, kudos for Wyler for having given the job to then-blacklisted scriptwriter Trumbo who wrote a terrific story… that ending showed that the film was more than a benign romance or a trip across Roma, it was a wonderful coming-of-age story… in a way, she became a Princess again, but it took the Roman Holiday. In a way, it's still a Cinderella story, like her next film "Sabrina" would be... in a way, Audrey Hepburn is THE real life Cinderella.