British film studios have not been known for turning out large numbers of first-rate musicals. But "Oliver" is a HUGE exception.
The 1968 version of Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist," based generally although not slavishly on his original story, absolutely sparkles with great music, very fine acting, and some lessons about life, and people, that many of us may not notice the first or second time we see the film. Which is a good reason to watch it several times -- as I have, over the years.
Oliver Twist is a little boy in a British orphanage, where the unfortunate youths are forced to perform hard manual labor all day, and are fed almost solely on thin gruel by the miserly managers of the place. Emboldened by his mates to tell the head whip-cracker, "Please, sir, I want some more!", poor Oliver is expelled from the orphanage and sold ("Payment upon liking," says his new "owner," a skinflint undertaker) as a virtual slave.
Events enable Oliver to escape the undertaker's cellar, where he has been cast down for "misbehavior," and he winds up in London, where a vagrant boy about his age, The Artful Dodger, introduces him to the "orphanage," so to speak, run by a criminal named Fagin, who teaches "his" boys to pickpocket, and fences goods stolen by a burglar named Bill Sikes.
It is worth noting that, while Fagin exercises strict control over the young boys living with him, he appears to feed them better, and to treat them with more respect, than the establishment orphanage bosses.
Oscar becomes the favorite boy of Sikes' beautiful live-in girlfriend, Nancy, and that eventually leads him into trouble. Sikes' first appearance in the film comes at a crowded pub, late at night, after he has pulled a very profitable burglary. Preceded by his large, ominous-looking shadow as he walks in, he is a tall, unsmiling thug -- someone who "you wouldn't want to mess with," as we would say in the U. S.
Sikes is good at bullying and intimidating elderly men (Fagin), women (Nancy) and boys (Fagin's wards at his evil orphanage). But in the disturbing climactic scene, as he attempts to escape the London bobbies and outraged citizens after killing Nancy, while holding Oliver as hostage, a policeman's gun proves to him that all bullies and thugs, eventually come to a bad end.
The music, and the dancing, in "Oliver," are absolutely superb. One extended music and dancing scene, which takes place in a circular plaza in an upper-class neighborhood, was so good that it caused me goosebumps.
Ron Moody as Fagin; Shani Wallis, as Nancy; Oliver Reed, as Bill Sikes; Mark Lester, as Oliver; and Jack Wild as The Artful Dodger, play their parts to absolute perfection. This film won five Academy Awards, and in my opinion, should have received more. If you're a Dickens fan, and you want to see a really great musical with a different accent than the usual Hollywood kind, go see "Oliver."
The 1968 version of Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist," based generally although not slavishly on his original story, absolutely sparkles with great music, very fine acting, and some lessons about life, and people, that many of us may not notice the first or second time we see the film. Which is a good reason to watch it several times -- as I have, over the years.
Oliver Twist is a little boy in a British orphanage, where the unfortunate youths are forced to perform hard manual labor all day, and are fed almost solely on thin gruel by the miserly managers of the place. Emboldened by his mates to tell the head whip-cracker, "Please, sir, I want some more!", poor Oliver is expelled from the orphanage and sold ("Payment upon liking," says his new "owner," a skinflint undertaker) as a virtual slave.
Events enable Oliver to escape the undertaker's cellar, where he has been cast down for "misbehavior," and he winds up in London, where a vagrant boy about his age, The Artful Dodger, introduces him to the "orphanage," so to speak, run by a criminal named Fagin, who teaches "his" boys to pickpocket, and fences goods stolen by a burglar named Bill Sikes.
It is worth noting that, while Fagin exercises strict control over the young boys living with him, he appears to feed them better, and to treat them with more respect, than the establishment orphanage bosses.
Oscar becomes the favorite boy of Sikes' beautiful live-in girlfriend, Nancy, and that eventually leads him into trouble. Sikes' first appearance in the film comes at a crowded pub, late at night, after he has pulled a very profitable burglary. Preceded by his large, ominous-looking shadow as he walks in, he is a tall, unsmiling thug -- someone who "you wouldn't want to mess with," as we would say in the U. S.
Sikes is good at bullying and intimidating elderly men (Fagin), women (Nancy) and boys (Fagin's wards at his evil orphanage). But in the disturbing climactic scene, as he attempts to escape the London bobbies and outraged citizens after killing Nancy, while holding Oliver as hostage, a policeman's gun proves to him that all bullies and thugs, eventually come to a bad end.
The music, and the dancing, in "Oliver," are absolutely superb. One extended music and dancing scene, which takes place in a circular plaza in an upper-class neighborhood, was so good that it caused me goosebumps.
Ron Moody as Fagin; Shani Wallis, as Nancy; Oliver Reed, as Bill Sikes; Mark Lester, as Oliver; and Jack Wild as The Artful Dodger, play their parts to absolute perfection. This film won five Academy Awards, and in my opinion, should have received more. If you're a Dickens fan, and you want to see a really great musical with a different accent than the usual Hollywood kind, go see "Oliver."