This non-sequential romantic comedy was released in April, 1967. It was directed by Stanley Donen, from an original script by Frederic Raphael. It starred Audrey Hepburn and Albert Finney, and it is a much beloved film. I can’t help thinking, as I reviewed Hepburn’s screen career, that maybe she would have been better remembered if she had been in more romantic comedies like this one, or Breakfast at Tiffany’s, or How to Steal a Million, with appropriately aged male stars, than in the blockbusters with older leading men that provide most of her screen credits. She was a major star almost from her first film appearance, and thus, was very often cast in big productions throughout the Fifties. In the Sixties, in the later part of her career (she only made two films in the Seventies and three in the Eighties) the business seemed to allow her the space to select films like Two for the Road.

Henry Mancini again did the music score, and it’s reported the music from this film was his favorite. In a change from her usual Givenchy, Hepburn was costumed by Mary Quant, Paco Rabanne, Michèle Rosier, and Ken Scott. The British cinematographer Christopher Challis did the photography. The film was edited by Madelèine Gug, who had edited films of Max Ophuls (including Lola Montès) and Henri-Georges Clouzot (Wages of Fear and Diabolique). Frederic Raphael was nominated for an Oscar for best original screenplay. Hepburn was not nominated for the best actress Oscar for this performance. But, in that year, she did receive a nomination for Wait Until Dark, our next and final movie in the Audrey Hepburn series.

It’s been awhile since I’ve seen this movie, and so, I hope to be as surprised and charmed as you are as we watch it together. As a University of Chicago alumnus, I only remember two references to that school in the films I’ve seen – in this one (not a tremendously flattering reference, though I can speak to its truth), and in Raiders of the Lost Ark. Let’s enjoy watching Two for the Road together, shall we?