Oliver (1968 film)

Oliver! is a 1968 British musical drama film directed by Carol Reed and based on the stage musical of the same name, with book, music and lyrics written by Lionel Bart. The screenplay was written by Vernon Harris. Both the film and play are based on Charles Dickens' novel Oliver Twist. The film includes such musical numbers as "Food, Glorious Food", "Consider Yourself", "As Long as He Needs Me", "You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two" and "Where Is Love?". Filmed in Shepperton Film Studio in Surrey, the film was a Romulus Films production and was distributed internationally by Columbia Pictures.

At the 41st Academy Awards for 1968, Oliver! was nominated for eleven Academy Awards and won six, including Best Picture, Best Director for Reed and an Honorary Award for choreographer Onna White. At the 26th Golden Globe Awards the film won two Golden Globes for Best Motion Picture - Musical or Comedy, and Best Actor - Musical or Comedy for Ron Moody.

The British Film Institute ranked Oliver! the 77th greatest British film of the 20th century. In 2017 a poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for Time Out magazine ranked it the 69th best British film ever.

Why it Rocks

 * 1) The songs are really enjoyable.
 * 2) The characters are likable.
 * 3) It was one of the best British movies in history.
 * 4) It's musical, mysterious, emotional, and classical.
 * 5) Every actor in this movie are such lovely people taking part on it.
 * 6) Bumble's singing voice when singing "Boy For Sale" sounds pretty glorious.
 * 7) Oliver is a really likable and interesting character.
 * 8) You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two for an example is a catchy song to listen most of the time.

The Only Bad Qualities

 * 1) It has some darkest moments in this scene:
 * 2) * Bill Sikes murdering Nancy using the metal stick is really gruesome for a kid's film.
 * 3) * When Bill was shot to death and he remain his body (but not from his neck) hanging in front of Oliver's ally.
 * 4) * When the character tells Oliver that his mother died giving to himself was really emotional and heartbreaking it was.
 * 5) * Even Oliver's father died too.
 * 6) A few elements from the original story were changed, making the ending different:
 * 7) * As mentioned above, Bill Sikes' death from the original story was different as he was hung on the rope from his neck while in here, he was shot to death by a police officer while the rope was tied around his waist.
 * 8) * Fagin is given a happier ending where he and the Artful Dodger continue their life of thieving and pickpocketing (although earlier, Fagin was wondering if he'd ever change his ways and turn a new leaf) while in the original story, he is executed.
 * 9) *Similar to Fagin as mentioned above, the Artful Dodger is also given a happy ending instead of being arrested and exiled to Australia.
 * 10) *Unlike the original story, Mr. Bumble's comeuppance wasn't presented, and the other parts of the story where he appeared weren't presented in the second act, meaning whatever happened to him remained unknown.

Reception

 * It holds a rating of 7.4/10 on IMDB.