Pairing Fred Astaire with a much younger Rita Hayworth was odd, but this really wasn't the problem with the film. I found I could suspend disbelief that a middle-aged guy like Fred would have any chance with Rita. Plus, Rita's dancing was excellent due to her years as a professional dancer before coming to Hollywood. And Fred Astaire, as always, was a joy to watch as he danced. So I really can't blame the movie on the stars--they seemed to give the film all they had.
The main culprit for the low IMDb score was the writing. It was awful and the script abounded with more holes than a piece of Swiss cheese. Again and again, poor dialog, super-contrived situations (even for this style of film) and logical errors abounded. This was not a huge problem in the first third of the film--but when he went into the army the film absolutely came to a grinding halt because it just wasn't funny. And to make these army antics worse, Fred was saddled with perhaps the least funny and most annoying character actor in history as one of his army buddies--Cliff Nazarro. Nazarro's contributions to the film were to pepper his dialog with nonsense words that weren't funny the first time--and were downright infuriating to listen to after the 500th time!
The bottom line is that for lovers of Fred Astaire, this is a huge disappointment and the film only manages a 4 due to decent, though not particularly outstanding dance routines. As an army comedy (and there were quite a few during this era), this film stinks. BUCK PRIVATES, CAUGHT IN THE DRAFT and TANKS A MILLION all are head and shoulders better because they actually are funny (especially the last two films listed). And for those who are not fans, I don't see how you'll be able to force yourself to finish this dopey film that is so lacking in charm. See this only if you are a rabid fan.
The main culprit for the low IMDb score was the writing. It was awful and the script abounded with more holes than a piece of Swiss cheese. Again and again, poor dialog, super-contrived situations (even for this style of film) and logical errors abounded. This was not a huge problem in the first third of the film--but when he went into the army the film absolutely came to a grinding halt because it just wasn't funny. And to make these army antics worse, Fred was saddled with perhaps the least funny and most annoying character actor in history as one of his army buddies--Cliff Nazarro. Nazarro's contributions to the film were to pepper his dialog with nonsense words that weren't funny the first time--and were downright infuriating to listen to after the 500th time!
The bottom line is that for lovers of Fred Astaire, this is a huge disappointment and the film only manages a 4 due to decent, though not particularly outstanding dance routines. As an army comedy (and there were quite a few during this era), this film stinks. BUCK PRIVATES, CAUGHT IN THE DRAFT and TANKS A MILLION all are head and shoulders better because they actually are funny (especially the last two films listed). And for those who are not fans, I don't see how you'll be able to force yourself to finish this dopey film that is so lacking in charm. See this only if you are a rabid fan.