Paris When It Sizzles (1964)

The sprightly young assistant of a Hollywood screenwriter helps him over his writer's block by acting out his fantasies of possible plots.

Director:

Richard Quine

Writers:

Julien Duvivier (story "La fête à Henriette"), Henri Jeanson (story "La fête à Henriette")

Stars:

William Holden, Audrey Hepburn, Grégoire Aslan

Cast

Complete credited cast:
William Holden	...	Richard Benson / Rick
Audrey Hepburn	...	Gabrielle Simpson / Gaby
Grégoire Aslan	...	Police Insp. Gilet
Raymond Bussières	...	François - 1st Gangster
Christian Duvaleix	...	Maitre d'Hotel
Michel Thomass	...	(as Michel Thomas)
Dominique Boschero
Evi Marandi
Noël Coward	...	Alexander Meyerheim (as Noel Coward)

Storyline

Hollywood producer Alexander Meyerheimer has hired drunken writer Richard Benson to write his latest movie. Benson has been holed up in a Paris apartment supposedly working on the script for months, but instead has spent the time living it up. Benson now has just two days to the deadline and thus hires a temporary secretary, Gabrielle Simpson, to help him complete it in time.

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Plot Keywords:

scriptwriter | writer's block | screenwriter | american in paris | reference to buenos aires argentina | 

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Taglines:

GO ABSOLUTELY APE IN PARIS WHEN IT SIZZLES

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Genres:

Comedy | Romance

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Certificate:

Approved

Details

Country:

USA

Language:

English French

Release Date:

8 April 1964 (USA)

Also Known As:

Together in Paris

Filming Locations:

Hôtel du Cap, Antibes, Alpes-Maritimes, France

Box Office

Budget:

$4,000,000 (estimated)

Cumulative Worldwide Gross:

$10,721

Company Credits

Production Co:

Richard Quine Productions, George Axelrod Productions

Technical Specs

Runtime:

110 min

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

1.85 : 1

Did You Know?

Trivia

Marlène Dietrich can be seen for a few seconds, at the beginning of the movie, going out of the car.

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Goofs

As Richard lays out the blank pages, he lays one on the chair by the stairs. It falls down onto the seat of the chair. However, in the wide shot, it is back on the back of the chair.

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Quotes

Richard: And this guy you've got a date with on Bastille Day, is he part of the growth process?
Gabrielle: Oh no, he's just a friend, a struggling young actor.
Richard: [outraged] An actor!
[disgusted]
Richard: Eww. A tragic relation to begin with. I only hope he's not one of those method actors that who scratches and mumbles and pauses a lot, thereby destroying the impeccable rhythm of the author's prose.

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Crazy Credits

Audrey Hepburn's perfume is credited to Hubert de Givenchy.

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Connections

Spoofs Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961)

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Soundtracks

That Face
Music by Lew Spence
Lyrics by Alan Bergman
Performed by Fred Astaire (Courtesy of Ava Records)

User Reviews

Severely underrated

This movie isn't everyone's cup of tea. Hepburn called it her least favorite film. Audiences shunned it. At the time of writing, IMDb gives it a measly 6.0 rating. Nevertheless, it is one of my all-time favorite movies.

The problem with this film is that it isn't what everyone seems to be expecting it to be: a mindless romantic comedy. Quite on the contrary: this is a work that I can only compare with "Adaptation". It is a story about how stories actually get written: non-linearly, spasmodically, through much self-doubt and simultaneously excessive (narcissistic, really) introspection. (Although, to be fair, in Hollywood the practice has mostly been to call in a whole bunch of writers to fix up the messes left by writers of earlier drafts, so this is least true of how Hollywood movie scripts get written, but it is true just about everywhere else.) Like "Adaptation", this is a movie that takes the plunge into the mind of the writer as he creates a miniature, constantly shifting and bubbling world for us to visit, only to find a second world inside that first, and probably more where that came from. I don't think that you can appreciate it without having written something yourself, but if you have, then you know the feeling: life mimicking art, mimicking life, mimicking art. Personally, for me, the greatest cameo in this movie isn't the appearance of Tony Curtis or Frank Sinatra, but the fact that in mid-shooting William Holden had to be checked into a rehab clinic. How's that for life and art? Again, like in "Adaptation", the story makes no sense, and, in fact, cannot make any sense. Its what the movie is about. To let us watch and keep our sanity, humor is used abundantly. It is well written wit and quite funny, but it isn't what this movie is about, and taking it to be what the movie is about is perhaps what led to its being so underrated.

"Pay no attention to the man behind the curtain" says the Wizard of Oz, and as far as box office success goes, he's right. Audiences don't like it when the magician shows how the trick is performed. This movie is a prime example. Another is Schwarzenegger's "Last Action Hero". If you like romantic comedies, you should probably avoid this movie. If you want to see a smart film about the madness of writing, this is a soft introduction to the topic.