George Roy Hill's charming puppy romance takes place in Paris and centres on a 13-year-old French boy Daniel Michon (Bernard) and a 13-year-old American girl Lauren (Lane, in her film debut), both precocious and sensitive, Daniel lives with his negligent father, he is a frequent cinema-goer and well versed in Hollywood pictures, while Lauren is from a rich family, her mother Kay (Kellerman) has been married for a third time with a gentle-hearted entrepreneur Richard (Hill), but her heart doesn't stop her from flirting with the movie director George de Marco (Dukes), who is shooting a new picture with Broderick Crawford in the city of romance.Daniel meets Lauren in the movie set, his opening line is "call me Bogie!". They find each other quite compatible, both are old beyond their years, and too smart among their peers, if the pompous discussions about their high IQs and Heidegger fail to put you off, the film will turns you head over heels. Hill grants generous close-ups of Bernard's charming smile, so one can forget about the bugging fact that a French boy is able to speak such fluent English simply by watching English films (at a time almost all of them are dubbed in French). Nevertheless, the meet-cute works, especially when Julius Edmond Santorin (Olivier, juggles with accents) comes on board, he seems to be a well-bred flâneur, old but sprightly, completely catches Lauren's attention with his yarns, which makes Daniel expose his shortcomings: impatience, jealousy and lack of respect towards the elder, and later in the horse race, his conceit affirms that gambling is never a good recreation no matter how whip-smart you are. Still, they are the cutest underage couple to a man.Soon, with Julius as their chaperon, they embark on an adventure to Venice, to consummate their declaration of true love, sharing a kiss beneath the Bridge of Sighs at sunset. En route, a chain of mishaps emerge, money is lost, lies are divulged, parents are involved and Julius' real identity makes them the target of police force, both from France and Italy. Will they stick to the original plan? The answer is a big YES.Self-references of his most well-known works BUTCH CASSIDY AND THE SUNDANCE KID (1969) and THE STING (1973) aside, George Roy Hill has never surpassed himself with his later output, but thanks to the unbelievably gratifying story and the two adorable leads, A LITTLE ROMANCE is undeniably endearing, in spite of a fews hiccups: the characterisations of the minor roles are problematic, the ignorant American tourists, a chauvinistic French policier and his violence- exercising Italian analogue, a money-grubbing gondoliere, all too generic and vapid; and one of the biggest mystery remains - what does Richard see in Kay as the woman he desires?Georges DeLerue pellucid score wins him a well-earned Oscar, and the original author Claude Klotz (under his nom de plume Patrick Cauvin) has published a sequel in 2001, tells the story after the finale, but with Sir Olivier has been long gone, Thelonious Bernard does't pursue an acting career afterward and Diane Lane now in her fifties, a brand-new remake sounds more apposite than a cast-shifting sequel, after all it is about love in its uncontaminated and purest state, something we all need to be reminded from time to time surviving in this dreadful world.

I saw this movie when I was thirteen when it first came out...and, I loved it!For a love-sick teenage boy who loved girls his age, this movie was a fascination to me - a boy and a girl who are my age and in love running away together from France to Italy (Venice) and finding truth in a tall-tale told to them by a friendly and lonely, but, shady, old man (played by the iconic Laurence Olivier) who is full of tall-tales of adventure; intrigue; excitement; and, 'alotta' romance!To me as a young teen, this was the most romantic movie I'd ever seen; and, like most teenage boys, I thought "why can't that happen to me?" Like in this movie, I, and, most boys my age, would have risked everything to run-off with a girl whom they were in love with. As an older teen, I got into a lot of trouble bringing girls home late; sometimes even an entire weekend late, like in this movie.This movie had a real impression upon me.Who would have guessed that the 'introduced' beautiful girl in this movie would have grown up to be the super-star beautiful woman she is now - Diane Lane? I really like this movie, for a variety of reasons, and, I'm sure that any young boy who respects girls and wants 'a little romance' would agree! :)The ending of this movie, especially the freeze-frame, along with the lovely music, truly broke my heart.

Saw this movie for the first time on HBO in the early 80's. Went out and bought the vinyl soundtrack album (I still own it on vinyl and CD). Too bad Thelonius Bernard only did two films, he was excellent in this film, as was Diane Lane. The plot evolves as two young teens meet and fall in love. He is French (his father hates Americans), she is American , her mother thinks he is a dirty French boy, which he seems to be a little frisky, which by todays standards, is like petting, her step-father is not too judgmental, but after a few too grown up incidents at the girls 13th birthday, Lane's character is forbidden to see Thelonius' character again! Of course if you forbid a teen to not do something, they're going to sneak around. They then meet a con artist (Sir Lawrence Olivier) who tells them a few stories that add to the soon to be complex plot. Awesome directing, photography, music and acting make this such a gem. I won't say anymore but this is a favorite on DVD for me. A Must See!!!! A Very Beautiful, Romantic, Sweet Movie!

This movie is very romantic and fantastic.Beautiful scenes ,fantastic story,great director, cute and lovely little stars, respectful and kindly-minded grandpa,graceful attitude towards love and life.It's very relax and humor,I love this french love story.Wonderful! I think it's one of the best love stories in all kinds of films.Though they are boy and girl,they are very pure and courage toward their love.Under the bridge, they eventually made their love promise and wishes.And the grandpa is very kind though he is a thief,he tried his best to help these little "pals" and made his best wish for them.I will never forget their smile,promise and experience,it's very very impressive.I suggest everybody could have chance to appreciate this great movie,you will be impressed by this pure love story--a little romance!