Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

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This article is about the 1971 film adaptation.

For the 1964 children's book, see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.
For the 2005 film adaptation, see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (film).
For the 2005 video game, see Charlie and the Chocolate Factory (video game).

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971) is a musical film based on the 1964 children's book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Norwegian-Welsh author Roald Dahl. It was directed by Mel Stuart and stars Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka and Peter Ostrum as Charlie Bucket.

While the film was not a commercial success at the time of its release, it has since grown into a cult classic with both children and with adults. Some find the film's dated look and special effects to be unintentionally campy, though Wilder's acting is usually singled out for praise. A second film adaptation of the children's book, titled Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, was released in 2005. It was directed by Tim Burton and stars Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka and Freddie Highmore as Charlie Bucket. Both Burton and Dahl have publically expressed their dislike for this original film adaptation.

Contents

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Plot overview

Spoiler warning: Plot and/or ending details follow.

Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum) is a poor boy living with his mother and four grandparents, none of whom have been out of bed in twenty years. Charlie is bravely struggling to support his family when he hears that the famous recluse Mr. Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder) has placed "Golden Tickets" into five of his Wonka Bars. The finders of these special items will be given a full tour of Wonka's famous candy factory – the inner workings of which are a tightly kept secret – and a lifetime supply of chocolate.

Charlie wants to win more than anyone, and encouraged by Grandpa Joe (Jack Albertson), foolishly spends his money on a single bar of chocolate, which turns out to be ticket-less. He is heartbroken when the news reports that all five tickets have been found. The next day, as he's walking through town, he finds some money in the gutter. He goes into a drugstore and buys a bar of Wonka chocolate, which he promptly wolfs down. Just as he's about to leave, he decides to buy another one for his Grandpa Joe.

Once he steps outside, however, he hears that the fifth ticket finder had forged a ticket, and the fifth one is still out there. And Charlie, in arguably the film's most memorable scene, opens the bar of chocolate in his hand, and finds the final ticket.Before he gets home, Charlie is approached by a man claiming to be Arthur Slugworth (Günter Meisner), a rival candy-maker, who offers a big sum of money in exchange for a sample of Wonka's latest creation, the Everlasting Gobstopper.

Upon arrival at the Chocolate Factory, the ticket holders are made to wait until Wonka comes to the gate. Wonka approaches them with his face obscured by the brim of his hat, and he walks like an old man. At the last moment, Wonka does a forwards somersault and lands on his feet, demonstrating his youthful prowess. (Wilder would later explain that he added this feat himself to ensure that the audience would never completely trust his character in the movie.)

Upon entering the Chocolate Factory, reality is checked at the door, as Wonka's abode is a psychedelic wonderland full of chocolate rivers, giant edible mushrooms, lick-able wallpapers and sanctimonious orange pygmies (the Oompa Loompas). Each child is given their own Gobstopper; a candy that can be licked forever without ever dissolving away or losing flavour. As the tour progresses, the four other children reveal themselves to be gluttonous, greedy, spoiled and ill-behaved; traits that backfire, bringing bizarre disasters down upon their heads. One by one, the small tour is reduced in number, until only Charlie Bucket and Grandpa Joe remain.

They mistakenly assume they've won the promised lifetime supply of chocolate, but are told that their own drinking of an off-limits experimental soda has disqualified them and they are curtly dismissed. Grandpa Joe is incensed, promising to get even with Wonka no matter what it takes and encourages Charlie to hand over the secrets of the Gobstopper to the rival Slugworth. But Charlie has a heart of gold, and returns the Gobstopper to Wonka despite the money it could mean for him. "So shines a good deed in a weary world", says the candy-man, who explains that this was all a test to find a good and worthy child.

Wonka admits that he was looking for a replacement, in addition to the chocolate, Charlie will get the entire factory to run on Wonka's behalf. Then all three get in the Great Glass Elevator (called Wonka-vator, in the movie) and blast off into the sky.

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Production

Image:Willywonka.jpg

The idea for adapting the book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory into a film came about when director Mel Stuart's 10-year-old daughter read the book and asked her father to make the movie version. Stuart then showed the book to producer David L. Wolper, who happened to be in the midst of talks with the Quaker Oats Company regarding a vehicle to introduce a new candy bar. Wolper convinced the company, who had no previous experience in the film industry, to buy the rights to the book and finance the film for the purpose of promoting a new Quaker Oats Wonka Bar.

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Writing

It was agreed that the film's format would be a children's musical, and that the book's author, Roald Dahl, would write the screenplay; although screenwriter David Seltzer was brought in as an uncredited contributor. Several changes were made in the story in order to successfully adapt it to the big screen, most notably the addition of musical numbers. Contrary to popular belief, the title of the film was changed, not to give Willy Wonka an expanded role, but because it was released around the time of the Vietnam War and "Charlie" was the slang used for the Viet Cong.

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Casting and setting

Director Mel Stuart and producer David Wolper ignored Dahl's request to cast British comedian Spike Milligan in the lead role of Willy Wonka. The two initially considered Joel Grey, a Broadway singer and dancer, who ultimately wasn't chosen due to his small physical stature. Auditions were held for a week in New York City's Plaza Hotel until Hollywood actor Gene Wilder came in and was immediately chosen to play Wonka. The producers worked with casting directors in New York, London and Munich to find actors to play the children and their parents. Midgets and dwarves from around the world were cast to play the Oompa Loompas.

The location chosen to shoot the film was Munich, Germany, because it was significantly less expensive than Hollywood and the setting was conducive to Wonka's factory. Visual artist Harper Goff was hired as the set designer, centering the factory around the massive Chocolate Room. The two-foot deep chocolate river and waterfall was created by adding buckets of chocolate ice cream mix to 150,000 US gallons (570 m³) of water, which eventually created a sour smell that permeated the entire soundstage. Filming began on August 31, 1970 and ended on November 19, 1970.

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Reception

During Willy Wonka's production, Quaker Oats made several failed attempts at a satisfactory chocolate bar, ultimately deciding to abandon their plans to release a Wonka Bar. The film was released on June 30, 1971, but, without a marketing scheme, the box office figures were less than desirable. It ended the year as the #53 film and grossed approximately $4 million. Even with less than average sales, critics and moviegoers reacted positively to the film. Roald Dahl ended up disliking the film adaptation of his story and became disillusioned with the film industry, refusing to sell the rights to the book's sequel, Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator. It wasn't until 1989, a year before his death, that he agreed to another film adaptation of one of his stories, the animated The BFG.

Seeing no significant financial advantage, Paramount Pictures decided against renewing its distribution deal for the film when it expired seven years later. Quaker Oats sold the rights to Warner Brothers in 1977. In 1988, Nestlé bought The Willy Wonka Candy Company name that was created for the release of the film, and launched their new successful line of candies featuring a cartoon likeness of Willy Wonka (including Bottle Caps, Wonka Donutz, Fun Dip, Gobstoppers, Laffy Taffy, Nerds, Oompas, Pixy Stix, Runts, Shock Tarts, Tart 'n' Tinys, and Wonka Bars).

The film steadily grew in popularity beginning in the mid-1970s, thanks in large part to repeated television airings and VHS sales. It was released on DVD in 1997, allowing it to reach an even larger audience. The original cast members reunited to film documentary footage for the 2001 special edition DVD and VHS release. In 2005 a second film adaptation of the children's book, titled Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, was released. It was directed by Tim Burton and stars Johnny Depp as Willy Wonka and Freddie Highmore as Charlie Bucket. The new film inevitably brought about comparisons to the 1971 film, but director Burton states that it is not a remake of the first movie, but rather a new adaptation of the book. Today, Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is considered to be a cult classic.

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Controversy over the full screen DVD

An example of the devotion towards Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is the controversy over the special edition DVD. When first released in 2001, it was presented in full screen. The reason for this is that it was shot in matted widescreen, which is when a film is shot in full screen, but has the top and bottom removed when shown in the cinema. Warner Home Video felt that it would be reasonable to show it in the format that it was shot in. However, most viewers were unaware of its format, and thought that it contained missing images. Due to many complaints, Warner released a widescreen version of the film. Not surprisingly, many internet DVD reviewers updated or revised negative comments complaining about the full screen version, thinking that the newer version had more image. Though the widescreen version preserves the picture in the way the director/cinematographer intended it to be seen, it contains less image than the full screen version.

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Cast

Image:WonkaOnSteps.jpg

Role Actor
Willy Wonka Gene Wilder
Grandpa Joe Jack Albertson
Charlie Bucket Peter Ostrum
Mr. Salt Roy Kinnear
Mrs. Salt Pat Coombs
Veruca Salt Julie Dawn Cole
Mr. Sam Beauregarde Leonard Stone
Violet Beauregarde Denise Nickerson
Mrs. Scarlett Beauregarde unknown
Mrs. Teavee Nora Denney
Mike Teavee Paris Themmen
Mr. Teavee unknown
Mrs. Gloop Ursula Reit
Augustus Gloop Michael Bollner
Mr. Gloop Kurt Groβkurth
Mrs. Bucket Diana Sowle
Bill, candy store owner Aubrey Woods
Mr. Slugworth/Mr. Wilkinson Günter Meisner
Computer programmer Tim Brooke-Taylor
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Quotes

Willy Wonka

  • You LOSE!! Good DAY, sir!!
  • Invention, my dear friends, is 93% perspiration, 6% electricity, 4% evaporation, and 2% butterscotch ripple. [A reference to Thomas Alva Edison's aphorism.]
  • A little nonsense now and then... is relished by the wisest men.
  • [softly singing, then shouting, on the famous boat ride] There's no earthly way of knowing which direction we are going. There's no knowing where we're rowing, or which way the river's flowing. Is it raining? is it snowing? is a hurricane a-blowing? Bah! Not a speck of light is showing, so the danger must be growing. Are the fires of hell a-glowing? Is the grisly reaper mowing? YES! The danger must be growing, for the rowers keep on rowing and they're certainly not showing any signs that they are slowing! STOP THE BOAT! [In the documentary, Wilder's co-actors indicated that they were seriously freaked out by his performance in this scene, thinking that perhaps Wilder had lost his mind completely.]
  • [singing] There is no life I know to compare with pure imagination. Living there, you'll be free if you truly wish to be.
  • [singing] If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it. Anything you want to, do it. Want to change the world? There's nothing to it.
  • If the Good Lord had intended us to walk, he wouldn't have invented roller skates.
  • Hurry! We have so much time and so little to do! Wait a minute. Strike that. Reverse it.
  • The snozzberries taste like snozzberries! (Proceeds to lick the wall)
  • We are the music makers and we are the dreamers of dreams.

Taglines

  • It's everybody's non-pollutionary, anti-institutionary, pro-confectionery factory of fun!
  • It's Scrumdiddlyumptious!
  • Enter a world of pure imagination.
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Music

The original musical score and songs were composed by famed British songwriters Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley. The original motion picture soundtrack was released on Paramount Records in 1971.

The songs in the order that they appear in the film are:

  1. "The Candy Man" Performed by Aubrey Woods (A pop version by Sammy Davis, Jr. reached #1 of the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972)
  2. "Cheer Up, Charlie" Performed by Diana Sowle (Director Mel Stuart regrets the inclusion of this slow song in the film, having arranged it cut from several television airings)
  3. "(I've Got A) Golden Ticket" Performed by Jack Albertson and Peter Ostrum
  4. "Pure Imagination" Performed by Gene Wilder (Covered by several artists, most recently by bands Smoking Popes and Maroon 5. The song is heavily sampled in Mariah Carey's "I Still Believe" Pure Imagination Remix.) Template:Audio
  5. "Oompa Loompa Doompa-De-Do" Performed by the Oompa Loompas
  6. "The Wondrous Boat Ride" Performed by Gene Wilder
  7. "I Want It Now!" Performed by Julie Dawn Cole
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Awards

1972

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Trivia

  • Gene Wilder accepted the role of Willy Wonka only on the condition that he could have his way with one key scene, in which Wonka first presents himself to the crowd gathered outside of his factory. He wished to have Wonka walk out as an apparent cripple on a cane, then somersault to full health, in order to keep the audience guessing from the start if he was telling the truth or a lie.
  • The original book character of Willy Wonka did not quote literary sources. The quotes from such works as Arthur O'Shaughnessy's Ode, Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Ernest, William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice, John Keats' poetry, and many more were added by screenwriter David Seltzer for the film.
  • Peter Ostrum (Charlie) refused a ten-picture movie offer with Warner Brothers and did not do any more acting after this film. Today he is a practicing veterinarian in upstate New York, and does occasional appearances at local grade schools, discussing his post-Wonka life and career.
  • The film has been popular for inflation fetishism.
  • Amongst the film's notable cameos is Tim Brooke-Taylor, from TV's The Goodies as the nervous Computer Operator.
  • Diminutive actor Angelo Muscat, most well-known for playing the dwarf butler in the cult '60s TV show The Prisoner, can be spotted as an Oompa Loompa.
  • When the South American newscaster holds up the photo of the fifth Golden Ticket "winner" (who is a fake) it's a picture of Martin Bormann. The joke was that Bormann was Hitler's right-hand man who, in theory, escaped and wound up in Paraguay.
  • In a rather sophisticated joke, Willy Wonka plays the opening to Mozart's opera Le Nozze di Figaro (The Marriage of Figaro) on his musical lock. Mike Teavee's mother quips, "Rachmaninoff," exposing her self-satisfied ignorance.
  • The movie ended with Wonka, Charlie and Grandpa Joe in the glass elevator hovering over the town. It was meant to set up the potential for the movie version of Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator, but that never happened due to Dahl's refusal to sell the film rights to that book.
  • The excited looks on the faces of the characters as they enter the chocolate room are pretty candid. It was the first time any of the actors had seen the set and they were pretty amazed about what a spectacle the room was.
  • Most of the chocolate room was actually edible. Some of it was not though, such as the tea cup Gene Wilder eats at the end of "Pure Imagination." That was actually wax, and Wilder would spit out the pieces at the end of the song when the director yelled "cut."
  • Peter Ostrum turned 14 during the filming of the movie and his voice changed. It's noticeable in some scenes of the movie (particularly the fizzy-lifting drinks scene) where his voice is much deeper than other scenes.
  • The squirrels were replaced with geese instead because of the difficulty the crew thought might be had with using squirrels.
  • The film is often thought to have been a disaster at the box office. However, it was #53 on the box office chart in 1971. It did not generate a loss; however, the film didn't do as well as the makers of the film probably hoped.
  • 1990s alternative rock band Veruca Salt named themselves after the film's character who refused to accept "no" for an answer.
  • In 1999, in the same spirit that discovered The Dark Side of Oz (playing Pink Floyd's Dark Side of the Moon while watching The Wizard of Oz), a similar strain of serendipity uncovered Willy Wonka's 2112—playing the Rush album 2112 beginning at a point near the entrance into the factory. Specific instructions and instances of synchronicity can be found online.
  • A snozzberry is a flavor (presumably of a fruit) which Veruca Salt doubts as truly existing. Wonka then seems to imply that it doesn't matter if it exists.
  • Veruca and Violet can be seen feuding as Wonka sings Pure Imagination. In real life, Julie Dawn Cole and Denise Nickerson became good friends and both had a crush on Peter Ostrum (they would alternate days over who would spend time with Peter).
  • Mr. Teavee's line "Not 'till you're twelve, son" took over forty takes to film.
  • Sammy Davis Jr. was considered for the role of the candy store owner. He would later make "Candyman" one of his signature songs during his shows.
  • Some of the Oompa Loompa actors did not speak English well, which is why some of them do not appear to know the musical numbers.
  • Unusually for a U-rated film, the mild British expletive "bleeding" is used twice by Veruca Salt's father (Roy Kinnear).
  • Roald Dahl disliked this film, because he felt offended by the large numbers of differences to his book - he felt the producers were calling him a bad writer. However, his wife Felicity believes large changes are always necessary when converting a book to a movie.


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Parodies

  • In a 2001 episode of Saturday Night Live, the 30th Anniversary DVD is parodied with new comments and bonus features. They include: The Oompa Loompa song being turned into a music video featuring Nelly Furtado; "never-before seen" screen tests with Telly Savalas and Sidney Poitier; child actor Peter Ostrum as having had a homosexual relationship with the actor who portrayed Augustus Gloop (Michael Bollner); child actress Julie Dawn Cole as having moved back to London, trying to start her own band named "Veruca Salt", and becoming a prostitute who for £75 would say sexually-suggestive phrases from the movie, and outtakes with Gene Wilder questioning whether the movie was directed towards children during the riverboat scene.
  • The animated television show Futurama in the episode Fry and the Slurm Factory. Fry finds a special bottlecap in a bottle of Slurm soft drink, and he and the Planet Express crew win a trip to the Slurm Factory. After meeting a nattily-attired space slug named Glermo, and some little green and orange men called Grunka Lunkas, they find out that Slurm is in fact waste emitted by a huge space slug queen. During their escape they run into "Slurms McKenzie" (himself a parody of Spuds McKenzie).
  • The animated television show Family Guy in the episode Wasted Talent. Peter Griffin wins a tour of the Pawtucket Patriot brewery with Pawtucket Pat, the Willy Wonka-style caretaker. He is helped by little green and orange men called Chumba Wumbas. Peter is thrown out of the brewery after he and his talking dog Brian sample a beer that never goes flat, a direct parody of the "Fizzy Lifting Drinks" scene. Also notable in this episode are animations of Charlie and Grandpa Joe as two of the people on the factory tour--although they never speak, they are obviously modeled after Jack Albertson and Peter Ostrum.
  • The animated television show Dexter's Laboratory in the episode Golden Diskette. Dexter's sister Dee Dee finds a golden diskette, and after a good deal of begging, agrees to take Dexter with her to the magical factory of Professor Hawk, a Stephen Hawking-esque character in a floating robot body who also speaks using a robot-like voice. To the dismay of Dexter and the other contest winners (who are strange Dexter look-alikes), Dee Dee eventually annoys Professor Hawk to the point that his robot body breaks, revealing that he actually has working legs and speaks normally. Hawk decides to hold a dance contest to decide the winner. He wins and throws the other contestants out.
  • The animated television show The Simpsons in the episode Simple Simpson. Farmer Billy creates a golden ticket contest where the finder will win a tour of his bacon factory. Homer Simpson buys artery-clogging proportions of bacon, but all he finds is the "Silver Ticket", which entitles the finder to judge a pig contest at the fair. In yet another episode, Homer sings a song called The Garbage Man, a parody of The Candy Man. A similar "Garbage Man" parody, albeit with different lyrics, appeared in a Bloom County comic strip.
  • The Simpsons printed comic titled "Bart Simpson and the Krusty-Brand Fun Factory" (the cover is even a spoof of the movie poster for Willy Wonka). Krusty sends out golden straws in cherry sodas, which find their way to Ralph, Bart (after Homer swallowed a straw), Nelson, and Barney (after Homer threw away a bottle containing a straw). In another comic, Homer sings a song called The Brandyman, another parody of The Candy Man, in anticipation of becoming a pub magnate and driving Moe Szyslak out of business.
  • The music video for British singer Craig David's hit "What's Your Flava?". Four females find "Golden CDs" and three of them misbehave and disappear from the tour. The "lottery" is Craig David's way of finding his desired female; at the end, they travel in an elevator that breaks through the top floor.
  • Marilyn Manson's first album, Portrait of an American Family, opens with Manson reciting Wonka's famous boat ride speech. Manson's video for the song Dope Hat, also from that album, is based on the film's boat ride scene, with Manson in the role of Wonka. (Note: There was talk of a remake before the current Tim Burton adaptation, starring Manson himself as Willy Wonka. Manson had written songs which refer to this movie and idea.)
  • In its second-to-last episode on June 22, 1995, The Jon Stewart Show (syndicated, 1994-1995) featured a sketch called "Meaty McGuilicudy's Magical Meat Factory." The chocolate factory was replaced with a horrifying meat factory, complete with a river made entirely of blood. Jon Stewart played the Charlie role; his sidekick Howard played Grandpa Joe. Meaty McGuilicudy (the Wonka parody) was an insane Vietnam veteran who murdered children, and who kept his Oompa Loompas captive to dispose of the bodies.
  • In the first episode of the TV show Jackass, one sketch has Jason "Wee Man" Acuna dressed as an Oompa-Loompa singing the Oompa-Loompa song, while shots are shown of him in costume skating around streets to a disbelieving crowd.
  • The December 13, 2002 episode of Saturday Night Live, hosted by Al Gore, featured a parody involving Willy Wonka introducing Charlie (played by Amy Poehler) to his accountant brother Glen Wonka (Al Gore). Charlie quickly gives up his innocent charm to collaborate with Glen in making ridiculous amounts of money.
  • A 2005 Perry Bible Fellowship strip by Nicholas Gurewitch entitled "The Golden Ticket" depicts a boy finding a Golden Ticket in a packet of sausages and winning a tour of a slaughterhouse.
  • In an episode of The Simpsons, Homer finds a "Golden Giraffe" and wins a trip to Africa.
  • In Gex 3: Deep Cover Gecko, during the final level, Gex will sometimes say the line, "You stole an everlasting, gobstopping, good day sir!"
  • (2006) Da Backwudz "I don't like the looks of it"
  • On the Wrong Coast, they parodied it as Willy Shatner and the Chocolate Factory.


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See also

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References

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External links

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