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Posts: 3499
Joined: Jul. 12 2009
From: Washington, DC
"The Barefoot Contessa" Sh...
For those in the US with access to Turner Classic Movies, tonight (Monday) a very good film, "The Barefoot Contessa" is showing, starring Ava Gardner and Humphrey Bogart. Ava Gardner plays a dancer in a Madrid nightclub and Humphrey Bogart plays her confidante who remains her friend throughout her tumultuous life and career. As Maria Vargas (the Barefoot Contessa), Gardner becomes a famous film star, but her life ends tragically. (Bogart never seems to get the girl--witness "Casablanca.")
Actually, Ava Gardner had a strong connection with Spain. About the time "The Barefoot Contessa" came out (1954), she was having a pretty torrid love affair with the famed matador Luis Miguel Dominguin. Subsequently, in 1959, Dominguin and Antonio Ordonez were involved in a rivalry in the Corrida. Ernest Hemingway chronicled that rivalry in his book entitled "The Dangerous Summer," which still makes good reading today.
At any rate, if you are interested in a good, old-fashioned film that does not involve car crashes, explosions, or Hip Hop, but does involve Spain, deep emotions, and tragedy, "The Barefoot Contessa should fit the bill.
Bill
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And the end of the fight is a tombstone white, With the name of the late deceased, And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here, Who tried to hustle the East."
Posts: 3499
Joined: Jul. 12 2009
From: Washington, DC
RE: "The Barefoot Contessa"... (in reply to estebanana)
quote:
Which movie is the one that has her running down the beach and one character is a defrocked priest?
Yes, "Night of the Iguana." Richard Burton played the defrocked priest.
Bill
_____________________________
And the end of the fight is a tombstone white, With the name of the late deceased, And the epitaph drear, "A fool lies here, Who tried to hustle the East."