Barefoot in the Park (1967)

The other day, the wife and I were exhausted after a long day and wished to watch a film that has a simple plot and is fun to watch. Luckily, Netflix had such a film – Barefoot in the Park (1967), which was based on a stage play by the same name, and written by Neil Simon. For a movie that’s fifty years old, there was HD quality available – maybe a digitally remastered recently.

The story couldn’t get any simpler for a feature film, but the actors – just four main characters with just a few others – and the dialogues made it interesting and humorous. A newly-wed couple Paul (Robert Redford) and Corie (Jane Fonda) move to their newly rented apartment, after staying for their honeymoon in a 5-star hotel. The New York apartment happens to be on the sixth floor with no elevator and with a tiny single bedroom. Before they could settle down with their married life, Corie tries to hook up her widowed mother with their upstairs neighbour – an eccentric character named Victor Velasco. What happens in this mix is the movie.

Corie is happy-go-lucky, but Paul who is a lawyer is dignified and professional all the time – Corie calls him a “stuffed shirt“. There were small joys which are lost in the fast-paced world we live in now, are shown in the film – like when Corie gets a telephone fixed and dials up Paul, or, when Paul shares a drink with a stranger in the park and starts dancing “barefoot”. Like a P.G.Wodehouse book, nothing bad happens in this film. There are no bad guys, no tears, no chases, and no twists, yet was humorous to watch. I and my wife both enjoyed every bit of the film.