Pieds nus dans le parc

I'm no great fan of Neil Simon, but this neat adaption of his popular stage success BAREFOOT IN THE PARK brings a smile to my face--and it probably will yours too. The story is quite simple: newlyweds Robert Redford and Jane Fonda have moved into a New York apartment building peopled by eccentrics... and their own tiny apartment has hole in the skylight, no heat, and you have walk up five flights to get there. Redford, a rather stodgy conservative, takes a dim view of the whole thing; Fonda, who has an excessively happy-go-lucky disposition, thinks everything is great fun. Needless to say, they're soon going at it hammer and tongs.

This is a very contrived, sitcom-ish plot, but the cast carries it well. Although Redford has remained a great star for forty years, his films have been very hit or miss; here he is well cast, and he plays expertly. During this period of her career, Fonda was very much the perky girl-next-door with a slight sex-kitten spin, and she too is fun to watch. But the real winners here are Charles Boyer, as their eccentric neighbor, and particularly Mildred Natwick, as Fonda's mother. Natwick excelled at playing disconcerted matrons, and this is perhaps the best of the many fine, memorable variations of the type she offered during her long and very enjoyable career. BAREFOOT IN THE PARK won't go down in history as a great film, nor will change your point of view. But it is tremendously good fun, a film I've enjoyed every time time I've seen it--and that is a good many. Recommended; you'll enjoy it.

Gary F. Taylor, aka GFT, Amazon Reviewer