Very well executed

Very very predictable, including the post credit scene !!!

It's funny watching the elements come together in this complicated scam. On one hand, the set-up isn't quite as complex as it seems, but there's an easy sense of fun in every exchange.

I gave this film a 9 out of 10, because it was exactly what I expected it to be.

On a trip to France, millionaire Jervis Pendleton sees an 18 year old girl (Leslie Caron) in an orphanage. Enchanted with her, but mindful of the difference in their ages, he sponsors her to college in New England.Is this a creepy story? In a way, yes, because you have a much older man with a woman who is barely an adult. The movie plays it off early on, with Astaire's character completely forgetting about the girl for two years until reminded by his staff. Clearly he is not out to pursue her in a creepy way. And yet, this is a romance.Although the film is towards the end of Astaire's dancing career (he did "Funny Face" after this but not much else), it is still fun of the great songs and dances he was known for. If I had to decide, I would say Astaire was the all-time dance master, with Gene Kelly a distant second.

'Daddy Long-Legs', previously filmed silent with Mary Pickford and once more in the 1930s, gets the musical treatment here as the story of the millionaire and the orphan he sponsors gets a Technicolor, Cinemascope, Johnny Mercer update.Fred Astaire, at 55, is a little old for his role as stick-in-the-mud business whizz Jervis Pendleton, but hey, this is Hollywood. And his interest in, and subsequent wooing of, the French girl Julie Andre (played with charm and wit by Leslie Caron) is helped a lot by the fact that the two stars do not actually share screen time until nearly halfway through the film! With scintillating choreography for both Astaire and Caron, those wonderful songs, and support from Fred Clark, Thelma Ritter, and Terry Moore, 'Daddy Long Legs' is an excellent musical just balancing on the cusp of classic musical vs rock n roll.

I tried playing the drums once. I poked an eye out. Lucky for me it wasn't my own eye. Still, that catastrophic experience told me that I should leave the drumkit to the pros. Neil Peart, John Bonham, and Fred Astaire. Yes. Fred Astaire.Drum fans, you have GOT to check out the opening number where Fred sings and dances while playing the drums (and he's really playing, too). It's one of those overlooked gems like his golf routine in "Carefree" (1938) where he does a little tap whilst driving a few 300-yarders. Innovative dance routines like these are what made Fred Astaire so great and what make his movies so entertaining.I'm not really a Fred Astaire Fan; in fact, "Daddy Long Legs" and "Carefree" are the only two films of his that I've seen. But if they're any indication, I'm going to start hunting for more. I watched "Daddy Long Legs" mainly because I really enjoyed the 2005 Korean remake "Kidari ajeossi" (which is not a musical). Now that I've seen the original, I appreciate both films.My only gripe with this film is that it didn't seem to get personal enough. We rarely get any closeups of the stars, which is a crime considering how stunningly beautiful the leading lady Leslie Caron is. But if it's any consolation, she does a lot of twirls, and each time she does it, we see her dress fly up. Yeah babay! Spin! SPIN!! Oh sorry, I got carried away there. Well, now that I've talked about drums, Korean flicks and spinners, maybe I should talk about the actual film. Naah.

Let's begin with the obvious: the complaints about the age difference between Fred Astaire and Leslie Caron. Yes, there is one. But I think there's a night-and-day difference between this film and, say, 'Charade' or 'Entrapment' when the leading man is grandfatherly and the leading lady is a sweet young thing, and we're not supposed to notice. The brilliant thing about DLL is that the age difference, or discrepancy, is front and center at the plot of the film. But the film broaches this rather sticky material in a very chaste and innocent way. After seeing her from afar as a teenager, Astaire's courtship with Caron becomes anonymous. For two years. The film's first masterstroke comes in the guise of Thelma Ritter acting as an armchair Cupid. Through a gentle push on her part we begin to see the pair finally interact. (And when they first dance together, it isn't even real.) Astaire also attempts nobility- several times!! But everything is in an elegant and tasteful courtship, leading up to the stunning rooftop turn of "Something's Gotta Give." I didn't like the Roland Petit ballet towards the end of the film as much as others did, just because I felt that the point of loss had been beaten to death. But the ending is especially fine because two love stories resolve instead of just one. And how cool is it to dance with someone on your roof terrace, step into your hat, spin into your wrap, and dance out the front door?!!