Touch Of Evil And Breakfast At Tiffany's Analysis

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A film is an art form. Composer, Henry Mancini, once said, “the real creative power is in the mind and heart of the composer.” Henry Mancini was the composer for Touch of Evil and Breakfast at Tiffany’s. While these two films may seem like they don’t connect with each other at any point, they do and it is with Henry Mancini. By examining Touch of Evil and Breakfast at Tiffany’s through the lens of Henry Mancini’s music choices we can see that Mancini’s music choices were just as important as Blake Edwards, director. Many people like to think that the directors of a film are the ‘authors’ of a film compared to screenwriters but Mancini challenges that theory, especially with his work in Touch of Evil and Breakfast at Tiffany’s. In these two …show more content…
In the opening shot it is played, at 24:07-Moon River Just very slowed down,42:00 Moon River with Audrey Hepburn singing playing the guitar and this is after her and Paul go to see Sally Tomato, 48:28-Moon River when Doc Golightly and Paul are talking, 51:29-Moon River when she sees Doc for the first time, 56:20-Moon River when Holly is saying bye to Doc.1 :03:50- she tells Paul to get out violins come in very strong, 1:19:10-when her and Paul kiss,1:37:22-moon river 1:53:13. During most of the film, the compositions are various forms of Moon River. Rarely is there another type of song and instruments. During the scene at 46:18 it isn’t Moon River playing but it is tense music but still what sounds like a violin is playing it’s almost like that scene in Touch of Evil where Vargas is walking alone and it’s a really tense type of music like here,but the bass is the main instrument. Another scene where the music changes is at 1:08:40 when Paul and Holly are walking and at Tiffany’s, the music is more upbeat jazz. At 10:26 is another scene where the music doesn’t resemble Moon River, instead it actually resembles the song that was at the beginning of Touch of Evil, it has the same ticking sound and also at 31:57, which is the party scene; the jazz music playing has the same bonds that were in Touch of Evil. Throughout this film, Mancini …show more content…
In Breakfast at Tiffany’s without Moon River, this film definitely wouldn’t be as memorable as it is. Mancini uses Moon River throughout this whole film. In scene 42:00 when Holly is singing Moon River, there didn’t need to be a script to understand what Holly was going through and what she was talking about. This song alone impacts the whole film we get to know Holly through this song and it’s played at various points in the film. From this song we get that Holly wants to travel the world and she wants to be more than ‘Lula Mae’ and she wants to do more than just be in New York every day. Every time we hear this song play it’s centered around Holly’s aspirations. In the beginning when she is eating breakfast outside Tiffany’s, again when Paul meets Doc and they sit and talk about Holly’s past life, when Holly sees Doc for the first time, when they are at the train station and Holly is saying goodbye to Doc, when her and Paul kiss, when her and Paul are on their way to dinner and she is talking about coming back from Brazil, and finally at the end of the movie when she goes to look for Cat and she decides she wants to stay in New York with Paul. When Moon River gets played at these certain moments in the film, every time we get closer to finding out who Holly really is and what she really wants in life. At the beginning, we get to see how much she likes Tiffany’s and we assume that she wants to go in

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