Netflix: Barefoot in the Park (1967)

I thought this movie was terrible. I hated Jane Fonda's character. Robert Redford's character was a regular guy - which we're to take (via Jane) as contemptible (you know, until the end). She annoyed me in the beginning and only aggravated me all the more as the film went along.

Jane's mom (Mildred Natwick) was entertaining as was Charles Boyer. Ah, Charles Boyer also starred in Gaslight. In that movie, Ingrid Bergman is married to Boyer who is attempting to drive her insane by claiming to take walks and instead going into the attic and stomping around and dimming the gaslights. (It's set in olden times; it would have driven you insane too).

Bergman's character is named Paula. Boyer had a very distinct way of saying her name, in a disapproving, "why are you going insane?" kind of way, "Paww-luh." At any rate, in the Park movie, Redford's character's name is Paul. He said "Paul" the same way, 23 years later. This was how I knew it was the same guy. Strange.

Back to Barefoot in the Park . . . while looking up the links for the movie, I discovered it was a Neil Simon (screen)play. Ahh, it all made sense. I probably would have figured it out, but there was no dumb guy. I've only seen some of his later stuff, but there was always a dumb guy. The dumb guy comes in and keeps everything loose by saying dumb stuff and possibly falling over things. Oh well.