MovieChat Forums > Breakfast at Tiffany's (1961) Discussion > Mickey Rooney's Bizarre performance

Mickey Rooney's Bizarre performance

posted 7 years ago by JohnQ1127
6 replies | jump to latest

What were the film makers thinking when they created/developed this role?

A lot has been talked about his racist caricature performance and that it's really a product of the time period. What I don't understand is what that bizarre/wacky/slapstick performance is doing in a movie like this anyway? He's crazy, every 5 minutes he's screaming that he's going to call the cops and then he's falling all over the place. I could see if this was just some broad slapstick comedy from 1961 but I have no idea why he's in a film like this.

[–] beautifulsadlife 7 years ago

I think it was just supposed to be campy and over-the-top. Comic relief. It didn't work.

[–] Jes' Sayin' (5960) 4 years ago

I thought it was bad that they didn't hire an actual Japanese actor, but in that context, I thought Rooney did a better job than expected. At least he didn't look or sound like Rooney with heavy make up on.

[–] ecarle (14979) 4 years ago

The film's writer-director Blake Edwards "had a thing" for ethnic humor, which was allowable at the time, but no more.

Consider:

The Pink Panther and A Shot in the Dark: Peter Sellers does the French accented Inspector Clouseau, and he has his faithful Asian "houseboy" Kato to spar with.

The Party: Sellers again, this time as an Indian Hindu with an accent that Sellers had done in other movies -- like The Road to Hong Kong with Hope and Crosby(a very late 1962 entry in the series.)

Mickey Rooney as the Japanese neighbor(indeed, comic relief in a movie which is quite sad most of the time) was part of this "trend."

Yet, even the 1961 Variety(or Hollywood Reporter, I can't remember) review said that the Rooney character "may be offensive to some."

The buckteeth and fishbowl glasses were a big problem. Some years later, John Belushi got away with his " Samarai" character without using such props. But even THAT isn't pc anymore.

[–] TheAdlerian (2092) 4 years ago

He was supposed to be a horny foreigner who wanted to have sex with white women but was frustrated.

[–] Rolltide (964) 3 years ago

I think Asians will survive given they are the richest and most successful people in the English speaking world.

In the Bruce Lee biopic movie(Not a good film) they show him and his date(future wife) going to this movie and then walking out because of the character. Who cares?

Not that I approve of the character I just think white people are more bothered than Asians are. It's just stupid and is not funny at all which was the objective.

[–] redban (5203) 3 years ago

I guess the filmmakers really wanted this movie get categorized as a romantic-comedy, to attract a wider audience. The other comedic elements were less obvious. Without this Asian landlord, the film could have easily been labeled as a romantic-drama or just romance