Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

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Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
This film has been preserved in the National Film Registry in 2014.
It's everybody's non-pollutionary, anti-institutionary, pro-confectionery factory of fun!
Genre: Musical

Fantasy

Directed by: Mel Stuart
Produced by: Stan Margulies

David L. Wolper

Written by: Roald Dahl[
Based on: Charlie and the Chocolate Factory

by Roald Dahl

Starring: Gene Wilder

Jack Albertson Peter Ostrum Roy Kinnear Denise Nickerson Leonard Stone Julie Dawn Cole Paris Themmen Dodo Denney

Cinematography: Arthur Ibbetson
Editing: David Saxon
Music by: Leslie Bricusse

Anthony Newley

Production company: Wolper Pictures

The Quaker Oats Company

Distributed by: Paramount Pictures
Release date: June 30, 1971
Runtime: 100 minutes
Country: United States
Language: English
Budget: $3 million
Box office: $4 million

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is a 1971 American musical adventure fantasy film directed by Mel Stuart, and starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. It is an adaptation of the 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl, who was credited with writing the film's screenplay while David Seltzer, who went uncredited in the film was brought in to do partial rewrites to the screenplay, resulting in Dahl disowning the film. The film tells the story of Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum) as he receives a Golden Ticket and visits Willy Wonka's chocolate factory with four other children from around the world.

Filming took place in Munich in 1970, and the film was released by Paramount Pictures on June 30, 1971. Although the film received generally positive reviews, it became a box office bomb. Paramount distributed the film until 1977, and beginning in the 1980s, Warner Bros. assumed control of the rights for home entertainment purposes. The film then made an additional $21 million during its re-release by Warner Bros. under its Family Entertainment banner in 1996. The film became highly popular in part through repeated television airings and home entertainment sales. In 1972, the film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score, and Wilder was nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, but lost both to Fiddler on the Roof. The film also introduced the song "The Candy Man", which went on to become a popular hit when recorded by Sammy Davis Jr. In 2014, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot

Charlie Bucket, a sweet boy from a poor family dreams of finding one of five golden tickets hidden inside chocolate bar wrappers which will admit him to the odd and reclusive Willy Wonka's magical factory. One after another, tickets are discovered by ghastly children - but will the lad find the last remaining one and have all his dreams come true?

Why It's A World Of Pure Imagination

  1. While its not 100% faithful to the source material, the film does still stay quite true to the original book.
  2. The production designing is amazing. They look awesome with candy room (including chocolate river), inventing room, goose room and even television room, making it excellent setting.
  3. Great acting with an excellent supporting cast.
    • Gene Wilder does a great job portraying Willy Wonka. 
  4. Timeless score by Leslie Bricusse, Anthony Newley, and Walter Scharf.
    • The songs are timeless and catchy.
    • The Oompa-Loompa songs also contain decent morals within them.
  5. The characters are great in their own ways, especially Charlie Bucket and even Willy Wonka himself.
  6. The story is pretty well written, and contains the same great morals found in the book, as mentioned stated.
  7. Although this isn't necessarily a comedy, there are some pretty funny moments now and then.
  8. The look for the Oompa-Loompas in this movie has become the iconic look for the Oompa-Loompas.
  9. Clever and unexpected plot twist that Slugworth is actually Mr. Wilkinson in the third act.
  10. The boat ride scene, although very creepy and disturbing, is far more scarier than the one in the remake, complete with the word "hell."
  11. Impressive special effects, like the chocolate water.
  12. The scene where Violet swells up into a blueberry inflation when she chewing the unfinished gum has became the famous moment.
  13. Mel Stuart's directing is amazing.
  14. Memorable and hilarious quotes, like:
    • "Wrong, sir! Wrong! Under section 37B of the contract signed by him, it states quite clearly that all offers shall become null and void if - and you can read it for yourself in this photostatic copy - "I, the undersigned, shall forfeit all rights, privileges, and licenses herein and herein contained," et cetera, et cetera... "Fax mentis, incendium gloria cultum," et cetera, et cetera... Memo bis punitor delicatum! It's all there! Black and white, clear as crystal! You stole Fizzy-Lifting Drinks! You bumped into the ceiling, which now has to be washed and sterilized, so you GET... NOTHING! YOU LOSE! GOOD DAY, SIR!"
    • "Charlie? My boy, YOU'VE WON!!! YOU DID IT! I KNEW YOU WOULD DO IT! I JUST KNEW YOU WOULD! Oh, Charlie! Forgive me for putting you through this. Please forgive me. Come in, Mr. Wilkinson. Charlie, Meet Mr. Wilkinson."

”You get NOTHING!” Qualities

  1. Depending on your view, the dark tunnel with the Wonka's Wonkatania boat scene is very creepy and disturbing for younger viewers, thus some countries rated it PG and similar ratings due to the dark nature of that scene, such as bugs crawling on a dead person's face, disgusting close ups of a scorpions mouth and a human eye, and a hen being decapitated (for real). This is most likely due to rating systems being somewhat different back then.
  2. Unlike the book or the 2005 film, Veruca doesn't get attacked by the squirrels as instead she gets ejected to the incinerator by the egg scale after whining about wanting a golden goose. Though this is possibly due to it being difficult in 1971 to make a hundred squirrels due to limitations back then.
  3. Unlike the book or the 2005 film, the ending doesn't show the scene where the other kids and adults exiting the factory, which creates a huge plot hole of what happened to them. In fact, this plot hole led to the dark theory of Willy Wonka murdering them, and it doesn't help that Wonka himself acts in a very strange manner during Wonkavator, a multi-directional glass elevator that flies out of the factory. However, this is subverted when Wonka reveals when they leave, they'll be restored to normal, albert rarely.
  4. The four golden ticket winners kids (Augustus Gloop, Violet Beauregarde, Mike Teeave, and especially Veruca Salt) can get pretty irritating, bland and annoying at times, who have no real personality, other than just a whiny and bratty. Though this is intentional and justified to be in stark contrast to the nice and polite Charlie.
    • Although not everybody feels that way about the non-Charlie contest winners: While Veruca is genuinely a total bitch and deserved to get punished. The other three "naughty" kids (Augustus, Violet and Mike) actually aren't that bad in this version. Sure, they're spoiled brats, but their misdeeds and most of their failings are ridiculously minor (such as having an extreme sweet tooth and eating too much gum or watching too much TV,) and their punishments are so over the top, such as being turned into a human blueberry, it's hard not to feel bad for them. Plus, they're just kids, and everyone's going to slip up and make a few mistakes sometimes. On top of that, the film seems to ignore how each kid's parent seems to be the one more responsible for their children's attitudes, and yet the kids are framed as the bad ones and not their parents. Also, Augustus is actually nice to Charlie, who tries to save him from drowning.
    • This was fixed in the 2005 film which made the other three have some brattiness and meanness to justify their fates and made it so that the parents learned their lessons(offscreen) at the end of the tour
  5. The scenes with the man and his therapist, the man and the supercomputer, the auction, and the ransom negotiation are just filler, don't contribute anything to the plot, and feel like they came from different movies. Even most TV airings edit these scenes out, and is one of the very few times it felt the cuts were justified.
  6. It spawned its horrible crossover with Tom and Jerry.

Reception

Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory received generally positive reviews upon its release. The film gained a cult following and became highly popular in part through repeated television airings and home entertainment sales. On Rotten Tomatoes, the film has a 91% approval rating and an average rating of 7.74/10 based on 53 reviews. The site's critical consensus states: "Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is strange yet comforting, full of narrative detours that don't always work but express the film's uniqueness.".

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Trivia

  • The idea for adapting the book into a film came about when director Mel Stuart's ten-year-old daughter read the book and asked her father to make a film out of it, with "Uncle Dave" (producer David L. Wolper, who was not related to the Stuarts) producing it. Stuart showed the book to Wolper, who happened to be in the midst of talks with the Quaker Oats Company regarding a vehicle to introduce a new candy bar from its Chicago-based Breaker Confections subsidiary (since renamed the Willy Wonka Candy Company and sold to Nestlé).
  • While Grandpa Joe's character is portrayed sympathetically, he has been the subject of heavy criticism, especially for his eagerness to accompany Charlie despite having been bedridden and unable to contribute to the family financially. Multiple websites are dedicated towards hating the fictional character, including a popular subreddit.
  • It spawned many internet memes, especially Condescending Wonka.
  • The film was originally titled Charlie and the Chocolate Factory after the 1964 best-selling children’s novel by Roald Dahl upon which it is based. It was changed to Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory to promote the line of real-life Wonka candies.
  • Producer David L. Wolper purchased the screen rights to “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” for $500,000 in 1969. Wolper also gave Dahl the job of adapting his novel as screenwriter and a portion of the film’s profits.
  • This film was the first and only film that lead actor Peter Ostrum, who played Charlie, ever made. The filmmakers interviewed hundreds of boys before hiring Ostrum, who joined the production only a few days before principal photography began.
  • Shortly after David L. Wolper purchased the screen rights to “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory,” he secured a production deal with the food conglomerate Quaker Oats Company to finance two family-friendly feature films and various television programs. Wolper later revealed that Quaker was eager for product placement, as the company was intending to market a new “Wonka” candy bar.
  • The film is generally faithful to Roald Dahl’s bestseller, with several notable exceptions, such as Veruca's fate being changed, the elimination of Charlie’s father, and the children’s allowance of only one chaperone instead of two, which were characterized in the novel. This reduction of actors cut costs for the production.
  • Willy Wonka’s iconic introduction of emerging from the factory with a limp only to surprise everyone with a somersault was one of Gene Wilder’s conditions for accepting the role. When director Mel Stuart questioned why, Wilder replied that “from that time on, no one will know if [Wonka is] lying or telling the truth.” Stuart responded, “If I say no, you won’t do the picture?” and Wilder said, “I’m afraid that’s the truth.”
  • Willy Wonka paraphrases and quotes William Shakespeare throughout the film, including a passage from “The Merchant of Venice”: “So shines a good deed in a weary world.”
  • Joel Grey was the original choice for the character of Willy Wonka, and Jean Stapleton turned down the role of Mrs. Teevee ironically to appear on TV in All in the Family, a show that went on to make her a household name.
  • Sammy Davis, Jr., was interested in the part of Bill, the owner of the candy store. Although the role would ultimately be played by Aubrey Woods, Davis’s rendition of the song “The Candy Man” would earn him his only number-one hit and would become a part of his repertoire for years following.
  • The face in the psychedelic tunnel scene is none other than Walon Green, screenwriter of The Wild Bunch and a friend of director Mel Stuart. According to Stuart, Green is the only person who would agree to let a millipede crawl on his face for the sake of a children’s film.
  • During the 4K release, the opening Paramount logo was restored.
  • Richard Rodgers and Henry Mancini were originally recruited to write the movie’s soundtrack, but both declined. The film’s songwriters, Anthony Newley and Leslie Bricusse, had composed several musicals and hit songs previously, but this film marked their feature film debut as collaborators.
  • Since most of the filming took place on location in Munich and at soundstages in Geiselgasteig, Germany, the production was protested by IASTE members, who viewed the film as a “runaway production” and accused the filmmakers of cutting costs by shooting abroad. Final scenes were shot at the Paramount Studio lot in Los Angeles.
  • This film was nominated for an Oscar® for Best Original Score, and Gene Wilder was nominated for a Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture Actor in a Musical or Comedy.
  • When the rights lapsed in 1977, Paramount Pictures lost the rights to the film in 1978, when Warner Bros. acquired Wolper Productions.
  • Sometimes during filming of Violet becoming a blueberry, the Oompa-Loompas would (by accident and not meaning to) lose control of Denise Nickerson and she would roll and bang against the metal archway of the doors that lead to the juicing room.
  • In real life, Denise Nickerson and Julie Dawn Cole (Violet and Veruca's respective actresses) both had crushes on Peter Ostrum (Charlie's actor) and both took turns in spending time with him.
  • Two days after filming the iconic blueberry inflation scene, the leftover make-up remaining in Denise Nickerson's pores slowly leaked out during her math class, turning her blue all over again.
  • Roald Dahl himself disowned the film due to partial rewrites made by David Seltzer. Seltzer changed the ending and added musical numbers, resulting in Dahl disapproving the adaptation. He was also disappointed because the film "placed too much emphasis on Willy Wonka and not enough on Charlie," and was cast with Gene Wilder instead of Spike Milligan as Wonka. In 1996, Dahl's second wife, Felicity, commented on her husband's objections toward film adaptations of his works, saying "they always want to change a book's storyline. What makes Hollywood think children want the endings changed for a film, when they accept it in a book?"

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