G | 1h 40min | Family, Fantasy, Musical | 30 June 1971 | Color, ws
Director: Mel Stuart
Stars: Gene Wilder, Jack Albertson, Peter Ostrum.
Howard Jeffrey ... musical numbers staged by
Watched online, good print.
7 songs in the Soundtracks, all Lyrics and Music by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley. Favorites: The Candy Man, Pure Imagination.
Although I like the music, I don't like the spirit of the story.
4 elder relatives live in bed all day, living off a single mother. Her son Charlie earns extra money for the family as a paper boy. She sweats through her days in an industrial laundry. When Charlie wins one of the golden tickets, grandpa can walk just fine (after a few stumbles), and no one says a thing.
Candy maker Wonka stimulates greed (by hiding 5 golden tickets in candy bars, and offering a big prize to ticket holders), takes them on a tour of his "factory" with lots of frights and temptations that end in disaster (death?), and bribes the winners to turn over his biggest invention to his competitor (really his own employee). Charlie's grandpa encourages Charlie to sample one of the forbidden inventions, but finds a way to prevent disaster. Wonka reneges on the lifetime supply of chocolate because of this transgression, but when Charlie gives back the sample of the big invention, all is forgiven.
Wonka is just too diabolical to me. He eliminated (killed by their own actions) 4 bratty children (and maybe their parents too), but really should be brought up on murder charges.
I watched this for the first time a couple of years ago, rating it 6 on 2016-08-05. I'm tempted to give it a 5, but the songs are too good.
distr. Paramount, dir. Stuart; 6-
