Oliver! (The Movie)

Yes, I adore this movie. Brilliant!

This is one of those movie musicals that was better than the original stage show. I played in The Artful Dodger once and I remember there being so much frustration with the final sequence. Following our script (which was from the original production), Oliver and Nancy are waiting on the London bridge. After she gets killed, Bill drags Oliver down some steps and they are suddenly at Hell's Kitchen...um...okay. Then, as the mob discovers Nancy's body, Bill is seen above in one of the lofts. I remember wondering what our director was doing, but it was all there in the script. Anyone know if there are different versions out there. The film (for obvious advantages) executes that final sequence beautifully.

I think it's one of the best movie musicals of all time - fully deserving of it's Oscar wins.

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love...Shani...Wallis!

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You do know that the Producer's daughter sang all of Oliver's vocal parts, right?

I agree. A great film. Not to be missed!

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Overall, I liked this movie; it kind of made me wish I show the last U.S. when it came to my city. The highlights for me were the song "Reviewing the Situation" and Shani Wallis performance as Nancy. I liked Shani approach to the song "As Long As He Needs Me," She started off sad and it became angry. It was interesting because it was hard to tell who Nancy was madder at, Bill or herself for continuing to stand by him.

One of my favorite movies ever!

As far as a double disc coming out, my guess is Sony is waiting to see how Blu-ray does, and will likely release a Hi-Def version of this classic film first.

Note about Oliver's dubbing: Interesting... Well, I've seen a detailed discussion on TV about how Mark Lester sang the last part of "Where is Love" LIVE, because he was crying through the final verse in a close-up, and they knew they wouldn't be able to match his voice with lip-syncing. They actually had him do it live and added the full orchestra in later.

So... someone is wrong here. The interview I saw aired about 10-12 years ago. Maybe certain notes were dubbed (?), but this documentary I saw clearly implied he did his own singing in the film. (…Even though he sounds a bit like an anemic choirboy. I've gotten used to his voice, and I like his "waif-like" quality in the film. He looks and sounds like he sprang right out of a novel.)

And Jack Wild, Ron Moody and Shani Wallis are all top-notch! I wish Shani had done more film work and/or recordings. She had quite the voice!

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Grizzy---I think they made the right choice cutting "My Name" and making Bill Sykes a non-singing character in the film. (Although you can hear his song in the underscoring almost every time you see him on screen.) Oliver Reed (incidentally the director's nephew!), did a great job with Sykes's menacing, quiet intensity. He was truly frightening, and this would have been far more difficult to achieve if the character had sung this straight-forward song. Sykes remains more of an unsettling enigma in the movie. We don't know too much about him, except that he's certainly no good. The song tells us that he's a basic thug that likes to scare people and make them tremble at the mention of his name. I'd rather have the “fear of the unknown” working here… not knowing who this man really is, or what he's thinking. It keeps the audience guessing.

And I agree with cutting "I Shall Scream" (with the Bumbles) as well as the undertaker's song. Just not really needed, and they slow the plot down. We want Oliver to get on to London faster than that on film. Sir Carol Reed was such a marvelous (if not too obvious) a choice to direct this movie, and I think he gave it the extra darkness and suspense elements it needed to work so well cinematically.

My favorite change has to be moving "Oom-Pa-Pa" from its throw-away drinking song spot that opens Act II to a clever “smoke screen” device Nancy uses to sneak off with Oliver near the end. Such a brilliant decision and it adds so much to the tension of the scene (and the movie itself). The Oscars it won were well-deserved!

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Updated On: 4/5/06 at 08:34 PM

Maybe hate is too strong a word, but I found it insipid.

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I agree with everyone who said that seeing this movie as a child had a profound effect on them. After all, the main character is a child and we see this story unfold through his eyes.

I only have my own experiences with this film to go on, so I don't know what it would have been like had I discovered the movie version of "Oliver!" later on, as an adult. But it was magical, scary, thrilling and beautiful to experience as a child.

...And it still is to me, to this day!

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Updated On: 4/6/06 at 12:56 PM