The Barefoot Contessa

I rented this movie expecting the standard, wonderful High Def. version, but it's not any better than what I could have seen from Netflix. Save your money.

The movie portrays a fairy tale come to life. Ava Gardner is her most beautiful. Bogart is his most inciteful, the soft-hearted man of hard-boiled exterior. The movie is about Hollywood, which itself is about fairy tales, the dreams of everyone, the American Dream. Would be royalty from Texas (a Howard Hughes stand-in) wants the adulation he feels his money should buy him, so he raises a star from the dirt of poverty. But reality never equals the dream, so soon she has gone to the net would-be prince, rising from the would-be kings to real royalty. Once she has arrived at the crux of her fairy tale, she learns that royalty itself is impotent, just fading portraits on crumbling walls of an era that cannot continue. That's the royaty to which all the dreams of all the people, the rich and the poor, aspire. A royalty that has no place outside of fairy tales. Ava Gardner's character keeps her shoes off to stay connected to the dirt from which she came, and to which she would return. All would-be princes would be wiser to take off their shoes, too, and live in the world that's all around them, and cease to try to become the vessel through which all the world passes, attempting to turn all heads toward themselves. At no time more than the present (2017) does this seem pertinent in our world, especially in the USA, which seems to have found King Midas himself, and is trying desperately to keep the fairy tale alive when all would be wiser to pull off their shoes like Ava Gardner. Reality doesn't end well for those who absolutely must believe their own tale at any cost. Do I speak in riddles? See the movie. It will answer them all. Ava Gardner is a wonderful actress, and of course Bogie needs no confirmation; he's the same Bogart we all know and love, and here he's at his best, smiling and guiltless of anything but caring. The supporting cast was perfect. Absolutely wonderful. It's a great movie, made when Hollywood almost got a conscience.

Need to pull movie, for I rented it twice, but it did not play!!!

Ava is extraordinary in this role, not to mention beautiful as always. I love Bogart in this film, perhaps more so than Casablanca. This plot slowly builds but finishes wonderfully!!! If you love true cinema of the finest quality-this is it!

The writer-director of this film, Joseph Mankiewicz, made intelligent, unforgettable films..his two best were this one and All About Eve, another must-see. The dialogue crackles in this film! Some of the best ever recorded on celluloid. Bogart like you've never seen him before--neither the tough guy nor the romantic anti-hero...Without a doubt Ava Gardner's best role.And was she drop-dead beautiful or what. I believe she was married to Frank Sinatra when she made this. They had a really rocky marriage and ended up divorced. Folks say he said she was the true love of his life. Gardner's character here--and the movie itself--is enigmatic, mysterious, romantic. One of the best movies ever made that used the Hollywood film industry as a backdrop--though it practically all takes place in Europe and was filmed there. Gorgeously shoot in Technicolor, the film is worthy of repeated viewings. They really don't make 'em like this one anymore, and it's a real shame. Two thumbs up, as they say...

This movie is terrific. I have loved Bogart forever. Now I love Ava Gardner too.

It takes some intelligence to understand this classic film. If the viewer can only stay still long enough to look at the opening credits, well, that person may be better off watching Bugs Bunny. The dialogue of Barefoot Contessa is beyond many of itunes' users; save your $9.99 and find some Disney classics for yourself. Bogie and Ava Gardner had more talent in their belt buckles than all of today's actors put together. If your IQ is in the triple digits, you will enjoy this heartbreaking well-written movie.

I don't pricularly enjoy the movie but I do enjoy classics from the era and even farther back. I say iTunes should keep up moving into classic movies like "Sabrina" and such. Please apple bring in "I Love Lucy to iTunes. I'll sure buy that/ I've never met anyone who wouldn't.

This is a sophisticated movie for mature film viewers. The writing, character development and interweaving of the character's lives come to the fore here. Ava Gardner turns in a good performance of a rather naive young actress becoming "discovered" and how she copes with sudden fame. Bogart is in classic form as a tired but genuine director. Sometimes a bit slow moving and stagey, it nevertheless creates interesting situations and how people can react to them. The settings are a delight to look at. It brings back an era of days past.

I just saw this movie on TV last week. It was so bad I got up halfway through because I thought watching grass grow would be more interesting.