Roman Holiday (1953)

Roman Holiday (1953)

8/10

Starring

Audrey Hepburn

Gregory Peck

Eddie Albert

Directed by William Wyler

The movie is a fun time, I was not expecting to like it as much as I did and I was blown away by the performance of Audrey Hepburn. This film comes at you like a typical romcom and plays out just the same too. You pretty much can guess where everything will end up, then it ends not the same way you have been used to Hollywood playing these things out.

What you expect from a romantic comedy between a royalty and a commoner, ended in the most realistic way you could imagine.

If you are watching this movie for the first time like me, the present English monarchy with Prince Harry marrying Meghan Markle can make you think, everybody has a chance to be a princess. But in reality it is like one in a million if not billion.

The movie plot starts with the introduction of Princess Ann, we see how she is bored of being a royal. She suffered a nervous breakdown and the doctor gave her some form of sedative.

When they left her to rest she runs away, but then the sedative kicked in and she found herself sleeping on the street.

A journalist named Joe Bradley (Gregory Peck) saw her and wanted to help her, but she was not making any sense so he took her to his place and left her there to go to work the next morning. When at work he was told about the visiting princess to Italy and upon seeing her picture he knew who he had in his bedroom. He promised his boss a scoop, an expose on the princess based on a one on on interview. He called his friend Irving (Eddie Albert) a photographer to come join him.

e goes home helps her to get dressed and she asked him for some money so she can go explore the streets. Soon he and his photographer friend tagged along, not informing her that they are journalists and were taking pictures of her as she was on her adventures.

The whole holiday experience of the lead, Princess Ann was a treat to watch. The movie then captures the adventures in such succinct ways. You are not bored as she ventures on one adventure and before you know it, it has ended and the next one begins. You will also enjoy the way she is not completely aloof to how the outside world works.

The movie was a huge commercial success at the box office that many even the studio wanted a second part, but that never happened. Hepburn’s magnificent performance in this movie earned her an Academy Award for Best Actress. She also won Best Actress in the BAFTA and the Golden Globe Awards. The movie also won two Academy awards which included an Award for Writing.

The fun you get from watching this movie made it earn the American Film Institute inclusion as number 4 in its AFI's 100 Years...100 Passions, and also fourth in the romantic comedy category in its AFI's 10 Top 10.

If you have not seen this movie, the you are surely missing out.