Oliver! (1968)

Oliver Twist is a poor orphan, living at a workhouse. He angers the powers-that-be at the workhouse when, one dinner, he asks for more food. They decide to sell him and he ends up working for an undertaker. The undertaker treats him badly and he escapes, heading for London. Once there he falls in with a gang of boys, thieves who steal for their adult leader, Fagin. Great musical adaptation of Oliver Twist, the Charles Dickens novel. I'm generally not into musicals but this works. The music isn't overdone and fits in well with the story, plus it propels the story along.Good performances all round.Won the 1969 Best Picture Oscar.

A lot of serious themes are breezed through and sung about in this musical adaptation of Oliver Twist. It covers child poverty and exploitation, a time where those in the orphanage were no less corrupt than the hucksters on the street. The scenes with Bill Sikes are quite violent and the violence against women is not a main theme but it does rear its ugly head. In fact, the song where the lady explains her illogical attraction to Bill by singing "He Needs Me" was a little bit too real and a sad reflection of what happens to many women in the real world. It's a good movie, a lot of fantastic characters and some great acting. But for me the serious undertones left me with mixed feelings. 7/10

Carol Reed directed this musical version of the Charles Dickens novel "Oliver Twist", which won Academy Awards for best picture and director(!) Mark Lester stars as Oliver, a young orphan forced into the streets and a life of crime when he meets up with the Artful Dodger(played by Jack Wild) and his boss Fagin(played by Ron Moody). Psychopathic Bill Sykes(played by Oliver Reed) is also a danger to Oliver, who just wants to find a loving home. Though this film has memorable songs like "Food Glorious Food", and a fine cast, it is fatally overlong and tedious, with over elaborate musical numbers that defy credibility. Not really the most appropriate material set to music, though that may be a minority opinion. How this beat out far worthier films for the Oscar is, as one critic observed, "One of the great mysteries of life here on spaceship Earth!"

O.K., you could make it darker. You could "Sweeney Todd" it up and have Bill Sikes be exactly like that throat slicer who had the victims then turned into meat pies. But what they did with the film version of the 1960 London musical (brought to Broadway in 1963) is keep it faithful to that source, if not the original Charles Dickens novel with all the controversy of so-called anti-Semitism.Sweet little orphan Oliver (Mark Lester) wins the dare to ask for "more!" and when he does, he is throunced, bounced, and sold to a flustered undertaker named Sowerberry. Too sauced to save his purchase, Sowerberry sleeps it off in a coffin while Oliver beats up the older assistant Noah. Oliver escapes to London, meets up with the Artful Dodger (Jack Wild), and is soon off to see the Wizard of Pickpocketing, the hawk-nosed Fagin (Ron Moody), a lovable old codger of thievery with a few tricks up his sleeve. Fagin's co-horts, Bill and Nancy Sikes (Oliver Reed and Shani Wallis) both have different ideas of what to do with Oliver, but first they must get him back from the rich man who saved Oliver from being accused of picking his pocket.Musically, this is exciting, from the pleading "Food, Glorious, Food!" to the touching "Where is Love?" in the beginning, exploding into big city joy in the London-set "Consider Yourself", and then music hall glory with Wallis's loving Nancy singing such showstoppers as "It's a Fine Life!" and "Oom-Pah-Pah!".Title character Oliver is visually perfectly cast with the diminutive Mark Lester who has the right innocence for him with a touch of toughness when he needs to bring that out. Lester, seemingly dubbed with a high-pitched singing voice, does what he can to make the character not pitiable, but oh, that singing voice. Harry Secombe is an unforgettable Mr. Bumble, Moody a joy as that rascal Fagin who teaches his boys "You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two!". Wild and Wallis shine with "I'd Do Anything", and the ensemble of "Who Will Buy?" is a huge production number that keeps the joy coming.All in all, there is nothing to complain about in this production, the right songs cut from the original and even the smallest parts perfectly cast with perfect visuals from the book. Once you see this (again and again) you will also see the similarities to another big stage musical, the Manhattan set "Annie", which also deals with an orphan trying to find her legacy and dealing with crooks in the meantime. Both shows have dogs, but Bill Sikes' pooch in "Oliver!" is a lot more nefarious looking than Sandy from "Annie".