"A completely unbelievable but wholly captivating flight into fancy...Above all, it has the overpowering attribute known as Audrey Hepburn." – The New York Times

"As the nice guy, George Peppard...has that I-went-to-college-but-it-didn't-do-any-good look of the sort of Harvardman who couldn't even get a job in Washington...Audrey Hepburn, though she plays with fluent wit and gives the customers a spectacular fashion show, isn't really Holly." -- Time

"No one is more opposed than I to the perverted twerperies in Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's, but I must say they're presented in this film with cinematic style...It was Audrey Hepburn who got everybody going on all twelve cylinders. She is certainly lovelier than ever. Her recent pregnancy has put some much-needed flesh on her bones...Buddy Ebsen gives a performance which is worthy of an Academy Award." -- Films in Review

"The wardrobes, supplied for Audrey Hepburn and Patricia Neal, are guaranteed to make any woman reach for her husband's checkbook...The film's major delight comes from the inspired, off-beat casting of Audrey Hepburn as Capote's amoral, vanilla-haired Holly Golightly...Blake Edwards and his talented crew have touched a tawdry romance with true glamour, and they held me unprotesting in that glamour world for two delightful hours." -- Saturday Review

"For me the film's peak was reached with the cocktail party in which a dossier of kooks ran through their tricks with a kind of inane glee, but not only was this sequence never topped, the whole picture thereafter slid higgedly-piggedly downhill into a puddle of lemon meringue." -- New York Herald Tribune

"Whitewashed and solidified for the screen, Truman Capote's Breakfast at Tiffany's emerges an unconventional, but dynamic entertainment that will be talked about." -- Variety

"If you've read the Truman Capote novella that the movie is based on (and even if you haven't) you may be dismayed to see things go soft and romantic. The film wanders, and Hepburn is forced to become too frail and too enchantingly raffish before it comes to its makeshift, fairy-tale end...Mickey Rooney does a wild bit of racial caricature as the Japanese photographer who lives in the apartment above Holly's: it's the most lowdown and daring thing in the movie." - Pauline Kael, 5001 Nights at the Movies.

"Film looks dated, but its once shocking sexual content is still fairly strong. Consider that Hepburn had been married at 14 to a much older man (Buddy Ebsen), she makes money by casually selling herself to men she doesn't care for, friends Hepburn and Peppard share a bed one night (which must have raised eyebrows in 1961), and Peppard is Neal's "kept man," taking money for services rendered. So the film is still not tame." - Danny Peary, Guide for the Film Fanatic.

"Breakfast at Tiffany's, despite being Edward's best-looking film, was nervous of Capote's original and now looks like one of the series of American films made of bitter chocolate but with soft centers." - David Thomson, The New Biographical Dictionary of Film.

"Impossibly cleaned up and asexual version of a light novel which tried to be the American I Am a Camera. Wild parties, amusing scenes and good cameos, but the pace is slow, the atmosphere is unconvincingly clean and luxurious, and the sentimentality kills it." - Halliwell's Film & Video Guide.

"Breakfast at Tiffany's" is a prime example of a film that often splits the audience from the critics. While it seems to spell magic for many, it is a movie that leaves itself open for professional vilification. Time is unfortunately not a healer in this case, as our two romantic leads smoke, litter, steal for fun and have questionable morals. And then of course there is Mickey Rooney made-up as a Japanese caricature that sledgehammers through even the most liberal political correctness. Added to that you have the usual complaints about the film not being as good as the book (the easiest comment to make about any movie). And that overall it's a sickly sweet mess of outdated nonsense. But...Both Audrey Hepburn and George Peppard display so many character flaws, that most people watching can start to feel quite good about themselves. Added to that, any logical reasons for disapproval melt away with Hepburn's wickedly kooky and intoxicating performance. She bridges a gap between female and male viewers, offering so much to like and plenty to sympathise with. And George Peppard perfectly captures some of the frustration that arises when perfect love is within your grasp but yet so unobtainable. Woven into this heady romance is chic Hollywood comedy at its finest, combined with evocative cinematography." - Almar Haflidason, bbc.co.uk

AWARDS AND HONORS

Breakfast at Tiffany's was nominated for five Academy Awards including Best Actress, Best Original Song, Best Musical Score, Best Art Direction and Best Adapted Screenplay. It won two: one for Best Song "Moon River" and Best Musical Score.

Blake Edwards was nominated for Best Director by the Directors Guild of America.

Breakfast at Tiffany's was nominated for two Golden Globes: one for Best Motion Picture Comedy, and one for Best Actress in a Musical/Comedy.

Composer Henry Mancini won a Grammy Award for Best Soundtrack Album/Musical Score for his Breakfast at Tiffany's music.

The Writers Guild of America awarded George Axelrod the award for Best Written American Comedy for his screenplay.

The American Film Institute voted "Moon River" the 4th greatest movie song of all time.

The American Film Institute voted Breakfast at Tiffany's the 61st greatest love story of all time. Compiled by Andrea Passafiume & Jeff Stafford