Post #4

Many of the vital scenes from Breakfast at Tiffany's include a lot of dialogue, not so much action, but they are all needed to show the relationship between the narrator (referred to as Fred by Holly) so they need to be kept. The first scene is when they first truly talk, after Holly comes up Fred's fire escape. This scene demonstrates the nature of their relationship. They aren't the closest of friends, but they are still able to trust each other and rely on one another, and this exemplifies that because of how easily they got along and what they talked about upon their first real conversation. 

Another scene that must be kept is the party at Holly's apartment where OJ and Fred talk about Holly, and when Holly talks to Fred about her no-named cat and going to Tiffany's. These two conversations characterize Holly as someone who is extremely naive and more of a traveler who will never settle down (hence the cat with no name). This scene also gives the book a title, which isn't so important comparatively, but without it the title would be unclear. Without these, the reader doesn't really get to know Holly's attitude towards life and how she lives, which is important for the last essential scene.  

While Holly is fleeing the city for Rio to continue her life after a drug scandal, she lets her cat free on the streets of Spanish Harlem, only to run back to that spot sobbing, but unable to find the cat. After Holly leaves, Fred looks for the cat often, hoping to find it for whenever Holly returns, which again shows Holly and Fred's relationships, but also shows that Holly has matured and become less naive than when the readers first met her. 

While reading the book, there was obviously a slight amount of romance between Holly and Fred, but it was never pursued. The movie, while keeping all of those important scenes, emphasizes that aspect of their relationship far more and even ends with the two of them finding the cat and kissing in the rain which was very cliche and ruined the point of the book.

Fred and Holly in the last scene of the 1961 movie
Breakfast at Tiffany's, kissing and holding the found cat.

Some non-vital parts of the book that I would skip on would be the time Holly spent in the hospital after she was arrested and not include the character Madame Spanella. Holly's time in the hospital was very ambiguous, there was no real reason for her to be there other than her not being in jail anymore. It was a waste of time for her to stay there for an extended period of time and just complicated matters of her fleeing the country. Madame Spanella's character was of little to no importance in the plot, just someone to blame Holly's arrest on. Fortunately, both of these parts were skipped over in the movie. 

While there were only a few minor differences in the movie, including a major symbol in the book (the empty bird cage) and some added characters, and these changes made the movie a whole different story from the book, but each was good in its own way.