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Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
Last night (late) the spouse and I flipped through cable channels, and I finally settled on a Showtime On Demand station. At the bottom of the list was the Gene Wilder version of Willy Wonka. It had been a long time since we'd seen it, and sans commercials and uncut (far as I know) so, on it went.
We fast forwarded through many of the musical numbers pre-chocolate factory. They're mostly by-the-numbers standard fare of the time, and don't progress the story much. As we watched, and saw Charlie's two sets of bedridden grandparents, I had to ask why they didn't even TRY to get off their asses and help contribute in some minor way to the household. It didn't endear grandpa Joe to me at all that he suddenly got the will to walk after twenty years -- all for a one day trip into Wonka's factory. I said to my husband that Charlie should have asked his hard-working MOTHER (the sole supporter of their family zoo) to go. But then he said, "His grandpa is his *buddy*!" Must be a guy thing.
There were a lot of scenes while the Golden Tickets are being found that were explicity directed at the adults at the movies -- there's a scene where a man is telling his psychotherapist that he'd had a dream about where he could find a ticket, and the therapist, who'd insisted before that dreams meant nothing (clearly not a Jungian) almost gripped the patient by the throat to just TELL him already! Hee. And then there was Charlie's science teacher played to perfection by some actor who was oily and yet, gee, he's still this kid inside as eager as the real kids are to find a Golden Ticket.
The movie, as delightful as it was before going into the Factory, picked up the moment Willy Wonka (Wilder) limps out along the red carper to welcome his guests. There's always a question in my mind of whether Wonka somehow arranged for those particular children to get the Golden Tickets, because of how on target his minion was, either always RIGHT THERE the moment the child got the ticket, or soon after. The movie never makes it clear *where* the Chocolate Factory is located, and that's appropriate, since it's a place where dreams are made, and the factory itself is a dream-like environment. Wilder imparts the right touch of menace and child-likeness, playfulness and coldness that is bewildering to the adults who come along for the ride; but the children themselves don't seem to notice or care -- they take his moods into stride -- he's one of them, although none of them really "gets" that except for the poorer than dirt Charlie. There's never any doubt that Charlie was the one intended to take over the Factory, of course, because in a fairy tale, the virtuous poor boy usually gets the gir -- er, Factory.
This time around with Willy, I adored the interplay between the two girls who go in the Factory -- Veruka and Violet. Violet is the ONLY person who tells selfish spoiled Veruka to "Can it!" and it's excellent psychology that the filmmakers/Raoul the writer that it HAD to be another girl who could tell Veruka to shut up about her wants. And sure enough, Veruka shut up, but glared Violet down. It was totally excellent.
I'm thinking this much about Willy Wonka (GW version) because of the preview for the new Johnny Depp version coming out soon. Holy SHIT. They've space=aged it. The Oompa=loompas wears solid colored clothing now, all shiny and blue and red (not a poofy pantaloon in sight, which is a good thing, I guess) and all the things in the factory now have a gunmetal high tech gleam to them. Gone are the Candy Colors of the Factory, and instead, it looks much the same as the dreary town outside its fence in the earlier film. Except it gleams. And has Johnny Depp with his face whited up with face paint (hubby says he looks like Michael Jackson) and hair cut into a page boy. THIS Willy is a creepy Willy. Depp is a masterful performer, and I'm sure he's going to put his own indelible mark on Willy Wonka. I don't know if I could trust any other actor to do that -- I only hope he doesn't make Willy too creepy, and keeps the sense of innocence in Wonka that was there in Wilder's version.
Methinks I'll have to pick up a copy of this book to read to the daughter at night.
We fast forwarded through many of the musical numbers pre-chocolate factory. They're mostly by-the-numbers standard fare of the time, and don't progress the story much. As we watched, and saw Charlie's two sets of bedridden grandparents, I had to ask why they didn't even TRY to get off their asses and help contribute in some minor way to the household. It didn't endear grandpa Joe to me at all that he suddenly got the will to walk after twenty years -- all for a one day trip into Wonka's factory. I said to my husband that Charlie should have asked his hard-working MOTHER (the sole supporter of their family zoo) to go. But then he said, "His grandpa is his *buddy*!" Must be a guy thing.
There were a lot of scenes while the Golden Tickets are being found that were explicity directed at the adults at the movies -- there's a scene where a man is telling his psychotherapist that he'd had a dream about where he could find a ticket, and the therapist, who'd insisted before that dreams meant nothing (clearly not a Jungian) almost gripped the patient by the throat to just TELL him already! Hee. And then there was Charlie's science teacher played to perfection by some actor who was oily and yet, gee, he's still this kid inside as eager as the real kids are to find a Golden Ticket.
The movie, as delightful as it was before going into the Factory, picked up the moment Willy Wonka (Wilder) limps out along the red carper to welcome his guests. There's always a question in my mind of whether Wonka somehow arranged for those particular children to get the Golden Tickets, because of how on target his minion was, either always RIGHT THERE the moment the child got the ticket, or soon after. The movie never makes it clear *where* the Chocolate Factory is located, and that's appropriate, since it's a place where dreams are made, and the factory itself is a dream-like environment. Wilder imparts the right touch of menace and child-likeness, playfulness and coldness that is bewildering to the adults who come along for the ride; but the children themselves don't seem to notice or care -- they take his moods into stride -- he's one of them, although none of them really "gets" that except for the poorer than dirt Charlie. There's never any doubt that Charlie was the one intended to take over the Factory, of course, because in a fairy tale, the virtuous poor boy usually gets the gir -- er, Factory.
This time around with Willy, I adored the interplay between the two girls who go in the Factory -- Veruka and Violet. Violet is the ONLY person who tells selfish spoiled Veruka to "Can it!" and it's excellent psychology that the filmmakers/Raoul the writer that it HAD to be another girl who could tell Veruka to shut up about her wants. And sure enough, Veruka shut up, but glared Violet down. It was totally excellent.
I'm thinking this much about Willy Wonka (GW version) because of the preview for the new Johnny Depp version coming out soon. Holy SHIT. They've space=aged it. The Oompa=loompas wears solid colored clothing now, all shiny and blue and red (not a poofy pantaloon in sight, which is a good thing, I guess) and all the things in the factory now have a gunmetal high tech gleam to them. Gone are the Candy Colors of the Factory, and instead, it looks much the same as the dreary town outside its fence in the earlier film. Except it gleams. And has Johnny Depp with his face whited up with face paint (hubby says he looks like Michael Jackson) and hair cut into a page boy. THIS Willy is a creepy Willy. Depp is a masterful performer, and I'm sure he's going to put his own indelible mark on Willy Wonka. I don't know if I could trust any other actor to do that -- I only hope he doesn't make Willy too creepy, and keeps the sense of innocence in Wonka that was there in Wilder's version.
Methinks I'll have to pick up a copy of this book to read to the daughter at night.
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Actually... they still scare the beejeezus out of me...
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But I could be talking out my butt, since it's been years since I've read the book.
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I'd also like to read how people felt about the Wilder movie when it first came out, how well they thought it kept to the book. :)
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I'm not even sure if the theme of the first film (the imagination is the thing) is even in the book.
After having watched it last night, I'm of the opinion that, corny music aside (the mother's song, grandpa Joe's song), this one is as much of a classic as The Wizard of Oz.