Audrey Hepburn Only Had Two Perfect Movies, According To Rotten Tomatoes
It's odd to think of stars like Audrey Hepburn within a modern context. The EGOT winner seems to belong so perfectly to a bygone era of Hollywood — one characterized by a kind of romanticism and graceful dignity that just doesn't map on to the age of streaming and ubiquitous "content." Of course, in reality the Hollywood of the mid-20th century was often anything but a halcyon dream, with the star system still very much in operation, shackling actors to their respective studios to be traded off and sold like commodities. Still, it's just plain weird to think about these titans of Hollywood in the context of, for instance, Rotten Tomatoes — the great arbiter of our contemporary collective taste in cinema.
Imagine, if you will, the career of this UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador, fashion icon, and legendary starlet summed up in a list of cartoon splats and tomatoes. It doesn't feel quite right does it? Well, here we are in 2024, happily streaming Kevin Hart's "Lift" on Netflix and awaiting the arrival of some god-awful movie written by AI. At this point, taking a moment to peruse the RT rankings for Hepburn's films isn't going to be the worst thing. As it turns out, doing so is, just like with every other star we've taken a look at through the lens of the Tomatometer, a bit weird.
Audrey Hepburn's highest-ranked films on Rotten Tomatoes
Something being "perfect" is, of course, a subjective opinion. But there is such a thing as consensus, which often isn't the most reliable metric — I refer you to the aforementioned "Lift" — but is a thing nonetheless. When it comes to Audrey Hepburn's best films, going purely on consensus you might expect something like "Breakfast at Tiffany's" or perhaps "Roman Holiday" to be at the top of that list. You might even, as we at /Film did, give the top spot to 1954's "Sabrina," in which the actress cemented her enduringly charming on-screen persona.
Well, none of these are at the top of Hepburn's Rotten Tomatoes list. In fact, her two highest-rated films, according to RT, aren't even on /Film's own list of her greatest features. What's more, these two movies have managed to attain the elusive "perfect" RT score. That means they have achieved a 100% ranking, indicating that every review collected by the website for the movies in question is positive.
So, what are these two "perfect" Audrey Hepburn movies? "The Lavender Hill Mob" and "How to Steal a Million," of course. What's that? Never heard of 'em? Well, they didn't do too bad when they first arrived back in 1951 and 1966 respectively, as evidenced by the RT page for "Lavender Hill Mob" and the RT page for "How to Steal a Million."
The Lavender Hill Mob is a legitimate classic
Audrey Hepburn played the minor role of Chiquita in Charles Crichton's "Lavender Hill Mob," a comedy starring Alec Guinness as Henry Holland, a bank clerk who, along with an array of criminal colleagues, masterminds a gold bullion robbery. Chiquita was a walk-on role for the then-unknown Hepburn, who appears for all of 20 seconds at the top of the film. Nonetheless, "The Lavender Hill Mob" stands as one of only two films in her filmography to have attained a 100% RT score, and as such is at the top of Hepburn's oeuvre on the site.
Now, this 100% rating is actually pretty solid, based, as it is, on 71 reviews. Compare that to what is, according to RT, Gene Hackman's only perfect film, "I Never Sang for My Father," which is based on just 10 reviews, two of which are from "Top Critics," and you'll see what I mean. Often these "perfect" scores are only "perfect" because RT hasn't yet aggregated all the available reviews (as was the case with "I Never Sang for My Father," which would have immediately dropped some percentage points had Vincent Canby's review been counted). No such charge can be leveled against "The Lavender Hill Mob," however, which not only enjoys a 100% RT rating, but was named the 17th greatest British film of all time by the British Film Institute (via the BBC).
So, what about "How to Steal a Million"? Well, that one is a different story, in more ways than one.
How to Steal a Million's questionable RT score
Just like "The Lavender Hill Mob," "How to Steal a Million" has also hit the 100% rating on Rotten Tomatoes. But you might notice that while "The Lavender Hill Mob" is "Certified Fresh," Hepburn's William Wyler-directed heist comedy missed out on such an honor. That's because, unlike the British caper, "How to Steal a Million" only has 11 reviews on RT, and none of those are from "Top Critics." In order to be "Certified Fresh," at least five reviews must come from these more esteemed critics, therefore the film isn't currently eligible.
What's more, while the 11 reviews collected by RT all seem to be positive, The New York Times' Bosley Crowther did note upon the film's release that "the whole thing is clearly preposterous," even while he maintained that the film was "still a delightful lot of flummery while it is going on." For whatever reason, Crowther's review isn't included in RT's aggregation.
All of which brings us back to the central point that arises every time we take a closer look at Rotten Tomatoes rankings: None of this should be taken too seriously. When you add in the fact that Rotten Tomatoes has fallen prey to hacking in the past, and that there are clearly more than two perfect sci-fi movies in the history of filmmaking, despite RT's suggestion to the contrary, it becomes more obvious than ever that Hepburn and stars of her ilk are better viewed through the lenses of the cameras that originally captured their performances than the lens of the TomatoMeter.