Charade : One major difference between Charade and Hitchcock films

One major difference between Charade and Hitchcock films

Charade has often been compared to the action/spy thrillers of Alfred Hitchcock.

To me, the major difference with Charade is a reversal of gender roles. The Audrey Hepburn role, an innocent woman who finds herself in the middle of trouble, is always a male role in Hitchcock films. The Cary Grant role (cool, mysterious man who joins the lead character and is a potential love interest) is always a woman (and a blonde).

Edit: I am specifically referring to Alfred Hitchcock's spy/thriller films. I am not comparing Charade to any and all Hitchcock films. Specifically, I am referring to Young and Innocent, The 39 Steps, Foreign Correspondent, Saboteur, and North By Northwest.

Re: One major difference between Charade and Hitchcock films

The Hepburn roll was written for a man but Grant felt it was ridiculous having a man his age pursuing Audrey. The script was rewritten and the rolls reversed.

Re: One major difference between Charade and Hitchcock films


The Hepburn roll was written for a man but Grant felt it was ridiculous having a man his age pursuing Audrey. The script was rewritten and the rolls reversed.



I think someone gave you inaccurate information.

The Hepburn role (ie, the part of Regina) was always intended for a woman, and screenwriter Peter Stone has stated he approved of Stanley Donen as the film's director because Donen had a way of attracting quality actors who were also big stars; he'd previously worked with both Audrey Hepburn and Cary Grant, two people Stone felt would be perfect for the parts he'd written.

The only "reversal" that took place was the role of the sexual aggressor in the Hepburn/Grant pairing. Before filming began Stone met with Grant, who told him it would be "unseemly" for a man approaching 60 to be chasing after a woman in her 30s. So Stone altered the tone of the loves scenes; as a result, it was Hepburn's character (not Grant's) who always initiated the romantic moments between them. This worked out well for two reasons; it kept Grant's character from being perceived as a dirty old man, and it was also totally believable for a woman to chase after a guy like Cary Grant - even if he was approaching 60.

Re: One major difference between Charade and Hitchcock films

I had rolls for dinner. Perhaps you're thinking of roles.

Re: One major difference between Charade and Hitchcock films

that's funny.

I love this film.
another difference from hitchcock is that charade has constant
understated humor and clever lines for those paying attention.

Re: One major difference between Charade and Hitchcock films

Hitchcock's The Trouble with Harry is full of understated humor and clever lines!

Re: One major difference between Charade and Hitchcock films


another difference from hitchcock is that charade has constant understated humor and clever lines for those paying attention.


Plenty of Hitchcock's films possess plenty of "understated humor" and "clever lines." In those regards, Charade pales in comparison to Cary Grant's final two movies with Hitchcock, To Catch a Thief (1955) and North by Northwest (1959).

Re: One major difference between Charade and Hitchcock films


Plenty of Hitchcock's films possess plenty of "understated humor" and "clever lines."

True. That's part of the reason I wondered if Charade was a Hitchcock film. Even though I knew in the past that it wasn't on his list of films, I had to check and make sure :)



Mag, Darling, you're being a bore.

Re: One major difference between Charade and Hitchcock films

Though a well-known Hitchcock trope, not all his thrillers feature an innocent man who gets into trouble and a mysterious blonde helper, do they?

Take “Frenzy” for example. The innocent hero Dick loses his estranged wife Brenda and his barmaid lover Babs, light-haired but neither blonde, while his blonde friend Hetty becomes an enemy. Or what about “Psycho”? The innocent hero Sam loses his blonde lover Marion and links up with her brunette sister Lila. Or again, “Dial M for Murder”? There the innocent hero Mark loses his blonde lover Margot for much of the film, his only helpers being the police.

Re: One major difference between Charade and Hitchcock films

Every Hitchcock film is rife with fetishes and obsessions (Women's hair, shoes, gloves, secrets told in bathrooms, dominating paintings of dead relatives, etc. etc. Also, a Hitchcock film usually has a strong psychological undercurrent. Charade is fantasy fluff of the highest order and a sheer delight and I suppose 'feels' somewhat like 'To Catch A Thief' but is not 'serious' enough to be 'Hitchcockian'.

Re: One major difference between Charade and Hitchcock films

Similarities to some Hitchcock films -
1) Mistaken identities
2) Suspense, even in the face of humor
3) "Falling. (Several Hitchcock films have one or more scenes in which a character (or two) either falls from great height or is in danger of falling from a great height... including one staring Cary Grant!)

Re: One major difference between Charade and Hitchcock films

Not to mention that favorite Hitchcock actor Archibald Leach (also known as Cary Grant).

Re: One major difference between Charade and Hitchcock films

"The Audrey Hepburn role, an innocent woman who finds herself in the middle of trouble, is always a male role in Hitchcock films"

In addition to the noted exceptions of Psycho and probably Frenzy, I would also argue the OP is wrong regarding most notably another Hitchcock film that Grant starred in, that being Suspicion. While some toying with the ending in that film made it somewhat less clear just how "guilty" the male lead was, clearly the female lead, Joan Fontaine, was very much the innocent woman in the middle of trouble (with Fontaine btw winning an Oscar for her portrayal, so it's hard to know why the OP missed that one).

I would also argue that Hitch's Shadow of a Doubt similarly shows the Teresa Wright character as the innocent albeit much younger woman as the one in the middle of trouble compared to Joseph Cotten's character in the male lead.

One might also argue that the female lead in Hitchcock's excellent Rebecca, again Joan Fontaine, was the one in the middle of trouble there, but so was the male lead, Larry Olivier, so that is a more ambiguous film. Still Fontaine's character is arguably the more significant in that film, so Rebecca certainly does not support the OP's point.

I would even argue Rear Window is a poor fit for the OP's argument, if only because it is rather ambiguous just how much Jimmy Stewart's character's voyuerism fits with being an innocent.

Finally I also think Marnie is a very poor fit for the OP's point. Sean Connery's character Mark has his innocent points, but he is clearly cast in the masterfully ambivalent role of if you will the helpful predatorm rather than an unambiguous innocent, while Tippi Hedren's title role, for all her criminal behavior, is really the innocent sufferer of past misdeeds.

In short there are many Hithcock films that do not fit the OP's argument.

Re: One major difference between Charade and Hitchcock films

I think I need to make a more clear distinction here. I was not comparing Charade to Psycho, Suspicion, Marnie, The Lady Vanishes, or Frenzy. I was comparing the film to Hitchcock's action/spy/thriller films. Not all Hitchcock's films fit into this category, but he did come back to this type of film throughout his career. The films I was comparing Charade to were The 39 Steps, Young and Innocent, Foreign Correspondent, Saboteur, and North By Northwest. I have seen every available Hitchcock film and I was certainly not comparing Charade to every film Hitchcock made. There are broad similarities to many of his spy/thriller films.

Re: One major difference between Charade and Hitchcock films

The Lady Vanishes features an innocent woman who finds herself in the midst of trouble. And she's a brunette.

Re: One major difference between Charade and Hitchcock films

Actually one of Hitchcocks earliest films, "Murder", featured a woman who was being tried for a crime she did not commit.

Re: One major difference between Charade and Hitchcock films

For me personally, the major difference is that Charade is extremely witty and funny, while I've never found Hitchcock's movies particularly amusing at all.
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