User reviews

This film introduced me to musicals at the age of 5 or 6, starting a trend which has lasted for over two decades since - it remains my favourite for a lot of reasons - the great treatment of Dickens' admittedly complicated book; memorable characters who do not sing, alongside those who do (stellar performances from everyone); fun and frolics, and a few heartbreaking moments; and Lionel Bart's tremendous score. The 'Who Will Buy' sequence is one of the best ever. One to watch and cherish and remember just how good musical films used to be.

I love this movie. Love it love it love it.

But I know that not everyone loves musicals. So: if you find the musical genre contrived or unnatural or kitschy, if it's just not your thing, then don't bother with this movie because it is unabashedly and outstandingly a MUSICAL.

The songs: "Food, Glorious Food," "Consider Yourself," "You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two," just for starters. These are wonderfully singable, indelibly memorable, and they move the plot and action along the way musical numbers in a film should. This is a lost art now, I'm convinced, although maybe with the TV series "Glee!" now riding a wave of popularity, there will be some talented musicians and lyricists who will revive this art-form. Anyway, suffice it to say: "Oliver!" is the musical at its best.

The actors: Oh my lord. Here we have Ron Moody in the role of Fagin, and he is INDELIBLE. He doesn't just act the role, he doesn't just sing it and dance it, he slips into the character's skin and he IS Fagin, in a way that makes it impossible to imagine anyone else in this role.

Jack Wild as the Artful Dodger. He's just superb, audacious and sassy and swaggering, and you can't help but like him even as you see him cheerfully taking up a life of crime. He makes us accept the character as someone basically good-hearted who is just adapting to the life he has to live. Matter-of-factly and without malice, and leaping to grab joy when the opportunity presents itself.

Shani Wallis as Nancy: tender and tough, tough and tender, she has the virtues of loyalty and honesty even as those values become hindrances to survival. She is who she is and she doesn't apologize for it, she's key to saving young Oliver.

Oliver Reed as Bill Sikes. I love Oliver Reed, always have, and he dominates every scene he has in this movie. You look at him and you see what the Artful Dodger would turn into if he had malice in his soul. Sikes is dangerous; he has no code but survival for himself, and he'll throw anyone else to the wolves without pausing to think about it if it serves him to do so. Oliver Reed really makes the movie work, because he brings genuine menance and sexuality to his role, which serves as a counterpoint for the sweetness of the musical as a whole.

And finally, Mark Lester. He is beyond winsome as the title character, a completely believable innocent who is without guile and imbued with a natural sense of goodness. I just love looking at Mark Lester, he's such a beautiful and dreamy-looking child.

This movie is about as good as a musical gets: it's visually stunning, in the sets and the cinematography and the costumes, and in the staging of the musical numbers. The characters are wonderful, they're classics. The plot is pared down to the basics and conveys the material as Dickens wrote it without being slavish or getting bogged down in detail.

When I saw this movie for the first time, I laughed and I cried and I sat at the edge of my seat, and when it was over I wanted more. Since the first time I saw it, I've seen it more than a dozen times more, and it's a movie I can watch again and again and again.

As a musical, it's tops. But not everyone likes musicals. Maybe because not every musical is as good as "Oliver!" on every level.

Maybe, just maybe, we'll see a renaissance of the genre soon, and more people who "don't like musicals" because they've only seen bad ones will understand that when a musical is good, it's really, really good.

Charles Dickens famous novel of an orphan boy, Oliver Twist, who escapes from his poor life to seek his fame and fortune in London, is adapted as a glossy musical.

Who would have thought that a story from the brilliant Dickens could be so sweet and endearing? So it be with Carol Reed's (Best Director Winner) unforgettable 1968 Best Picture Winner. Yes it's some way away from the essence of the source, those in need of that should be seeking out David Lean's fabulous 1948 version, but with an array of wonderful tunes and choreography, this Oliver is a treat for all the family. The cast are uniformly strong, notably Ron Moody (Fagin), Oliver Reed (who as Bill Sykes is probably playing himself!), Mark Lester (Oliver) and the fabulous Jack Wild (The Artful Dodger). While Lionel Bart's songs are as timeless as they are engaging.

The 60s was a tough decade for cinematic musicals, with many of them turning out to be bloated exercises in tedium. But Oliver! is one of the shining lights in the genre, a true uplifter guaranteed to have the feet a tapping and the smile firmly implanted on ones face. So if you have yet to see and be charmed by it? Come on in, join our number and consider yourself one of us. 8/10

I was lucky to see "Oliver!" in 1968 on a big cinema screen in Boston when I was a young teenager. Later, during the summer of 1969, I was pleased to see this film was still playing at a prominent cinema in Leicester Square, London, after it had won the Academy Award for Best Picture of the previous year.

Th success of "Oliver!" on both the stage and screen reminded me that not all talent begins on Broadway and ends in Hollywood. This legendary story by Charles Dickens, which is part of the literary heritage of all English-speaking people, was admirably brought to the London stage by Lionel Bart of Great Britain. His charming musical then became a hit in New York and throughout the world. The film adaptation was made in England during the summer of 1967 and then released in 1968. The sets and musical numbers are mind boggling. The song "Who Will Buy?" required hundreds of actors and the British film director truly deserved his Oscar for putting it all together in a seamless manner. Some Canadian and American talent is also part of this wonderful production, but mostly it is a tribute to the fine craftsmanship of the British film studios, such as Shepperton. Good show! Other film studios at Elstree, Boreham Wood, Bray, Denham, and Ealing have also given the world many films to treasure over the years.

I took part in a little mini production of this when I was a bout 8 at school and my mum bought the video for me. I've loved it ever since!! When I was younger, it was the songs and spectacular dance sequences that I enjoyed but since I've watched it when I got older, I appreciate more the fantastic acting and character portrayal. Oliver Reed and Ron Moody were brilliant. I can't imagine anyone else playing Bill Sykes or Fagin. Shani Wallis' Nancy if the best character for me. She put up with so much for those boys, I think she's such a strong character and her final scene when... Well, you know... Always makes me cry! Best musical in my opinion of all time. It's lasted all this time, it will live on for many more years to come! 11/10!!

... and perhaps that is because it is not set in the 60s. Many sixties films have aged badly, worse than some films made decades before. And this Best Picture winner along with the ones before and after just show the transition going on in film and culture. The year before it was a film about racism with "In The Heat of the Night", then this musical adaptation of a Dickens novel, then in 1969 it was "Midnight Cowboy", a story of a friendship between a male prostitute and a conman.

Getting back to Oliver!, it would have been nice if they had hired a male lead who was masculine or likable or able to carry a tune in any way whatsoever, but this film has so many other pluses and the kid takes a backseat for so much of the film that i look beyond that.

I wonder what happened to the girl who played Nancy in this? She is absolutely wonderful and I don't think she had much of a film career afterwards. She would have made a much better supporting actress nominee than at least one person I can think of who did make the cut that year.

In the end though, I actually have to say that my favorite thing about it is Oliver Reed. It's funny because I read that he was the nephew of the director, and as such the director was incredibly resistant to cast him and was accused of nepotism. Surely all of this kvetching and whispering was shut down the minute everyone saw the film. Everytime I see him in something, I'm blown away by what a very fine actor he was and what amazing physicality he had.

Please sir, tell me how Oliver! won Best Picture of 1968. Especially since that was the same year as 2001: A Space Odyssey. It's not like this is a bad movie -- I liked it -- but it just doesn't seem to have the same "greatness" as other musical adaptations, such as The Sound of Music or My Fair Lady. Ron Moody's performance as Fagin is fantastic, though, and Oliver Reed makes a very good villain. But still. . .Best Picture?

Oliver! the musical is a favorite of mine. The music, the characters, the story. It all just seems perfect. In this rendition of the timeless classic novel turned stage musical, director Carol Reed brings the Broadway hit to life on the movie screen.

The transition from musical to movie musical is not an easy one. You have to have the right voices, the right set, the right script, and the right play. All signs point to yes for this play. It almost appears that it was written for the screen!

Our story takes place in jolly old England where a boy named Oliver manages to work his way out of the orphanage. He winds his way through the country to London where he meets up with a group of juvenile delinquents, headed by Dodger, the smart talking, quick handed pick-pocket. The leader of this gang is named Fagin, an older fellow who sells all the stolen goods.

But all is not well in London town when Bill Sykes played by Oliver Reed and his loving girlfriend Nancy get tangled up with Oliver, Fagin and his young troops, and the law. What ensues is a marvelous tale of love, affection, and great musical numbers.

Whether or not you like musicals or not, one listen to these tunes and you will be humming them all day long. Oliver! is a triumph on and off the stage and is a timeless work of art.

Oscar-winning director Carol Reed helmed this expansive, expensive musical-adaptation of Charles Dickens' "Oliver Twist", which had been a stage hit and here is successfully opened up on the screen. The "Who Will Buy?" sequence with vendors singing in the streets is probably the most splendid scene, featuring one of the many songs you'll either warm to or hate outright. Plot has Oliver Reed doing his scary-villain thing as a henchman for orphaned pickpockets who is determined to get little Oliver away from a rich benefactor. Why does he want him back? And does Oliver feel any compassion for or loyalty to his former friends? The movie doesn't really say. It hasn't got a particular message about love overcoming upbringing, it exists just to be sprightly and fun. Most of the picture is well done and quite stylish, but it is also heavy and a little overly-cute. Jack Wild is charismatic as the Artful Dodger, but Carol Reed is too quick to cut to Wild for reactions, and the camera is always on him a little too soon (it robs Wild of mystery). Mark Lester has a sweet banality in the lead, other performances by Ron Moody and Shani Wallis are solid (if theatrical). Aside from the director, the film won the Oscar as Best Picture, also Best Scoring, and a special award to Onna White for the dancing (which looks rather corny by today's standards). *** from ****

The same difficulty I have with the musical version of "Les Miserables" applies equally to "Oliver." Instead of the composers' writing in the stylistic period of the play settings, they merely wrote Broadway-type melodies, which were historically unidiomatic and stylistically skewed.

Too, the blatant brutality and unsavory activities of the dramaturgy do not mix well with some of the sunny ditties which permeate the score. It's a uncomfortable mixture that leaves a decidedly sour undertaste.

The casting of the boy Oliver doesn't help matters: tentative of timbre and vexingly precious, there's something less than solid here. Fagin performs his traditional routine adequately, though the tunes he's obliged to sing have little basis in period manner.

"As Long As He Needs Me" is given a strident rendition, throaty and strained. The two big production numbers, "Who Will Buy" and "Consider Yourself" seem over-produced, with everything but the kitchen sink thrown in. It's one thing to go all out, yet another to cross over the line into excess.

The gloom, despair and depravity of much of the novel does not seem to lend itself to such ditties and choreography. While the novel is considered a classic, I must confess I have trouble with Mr. Dickens' consciousness, in that his works tend to emit a negative vibration. This may be due to the extension of his joyless personal life, which was full of disappointment and regret.

Not all the combined talent of this production, either on- or behind camera, can overcome the unconstructive nature of the basic material. All this results in an uncomfortably downer experience for me.

Its strange that the film that won the best picture Oscar at the 1968 Academy Awards was a film made in England, but if ever a movie deserved that honor, I think it is Oliver. This movie is a true classic that should be on every best picture list and given a place of honor at The American Film Institute. Movie musicals died out a long time ago and it is a shame because this is the best movie musical I have ever seen. Usually movie musicals are slipshod with some great numbers mixed in with some poor ones. Oliver does the impossible, because every number and every dance in this film hits the bullseye! From "Food Glorious Food" to "Consider Yourself" to "Who Will Buy This Wonderful Morning". Ron Moody, Shani Wallace (as Nancy) and Mark Lester as Oliver all give outstanding performances. Mark Lester was at one time the most famous child actor in the entire world. He was the Ricky Schroder of his day or the MacAuley Culkin of his day (I'll bet he wishes he could have made the kind of money they did!). Mark Lester is now a doctor in England and I wrote him a couple e-mails and he talked about Oliver and what a fine experience it was making the film. Shani Wallace was a fine English actress who never got the credit she deserved. She was so good as the sweet, loving Nancy who took a shine to little Oliver and gave her life saving him (her murder scene still makes me shiver, even Charles Dickens said that bothered him when he wrote it!). Doctor Lester wrote me that Shani Wallace was like a big sister to him and it shows on the screen. Ron Moody is delightfully hammy as Fagin. He sort of reminds me of Charles Laughton the way he carries the part to its ludicrous extreme but you savor it along with him. Charles Dickens was so good at portraying the poverty and horrible living conditions of his time and this film shows that especially in the workhouse. Children really lived under those conditions and it is horrifying. The scene that got me is where they are being served horrible gruel and are walking by the dining room where Mister Bumble and his henchmen are dining like kings! That really made me angry. Anyhow, Oliver is a wonderful film that would stand up to any film today and is a good viewing experience for the whole family. It will leave you with a happy heart and a lump in your throat and what more could you ask for?

Unable to give an unbiased view as I think this is one of the Greatest films ever made! Every single aspect of the film is perfect, from the sets and costumes to the choreography and music! Every characterization is spot on. Ron Moody IS Fagin just as Jack Wilde makes an ideal Artful Dodger and seriously is it possible to imagine a more darker, more brooding more down-right nasty evil Bill Sykes than Oliver Reed? Mark Lester is a wonderfully sweetly naive & innocent lead character (OK so he doesn't sing any of the songs!) Shani Wallis is great as Nancy. To this wonderful cast of leads add some fantastic performances by the likes of Harry Secombe, Peggy Mount, Leonard Rossiter, Hylda Baker, Kenneth Cranham and I loved Hugh Griffith's cameo as the Magistrate! Lionel Bart's masterpiece score hits every right note! Every song is memorable, from the big production numbers to the heartfelt ballads. Hard to pick a favourite but I love "Consider Yourself". At no point does the 2 hours 30 minutes lag or become boring. If you have seen the film I hope you agree with me (even partially) if you have NOT seen the film I thoroughly recommend it, sit down with the whole family and allow yourself to be entertained from start to finish. I saw the film in 1968 when it was first released, I purchased the VHS tape as soon as it became available (and wore several of them out!) and now have the DVD. I have lost count of the times I have watched the film but genuinely it must be into the dozens! ALL my kids love the film. and regularly watch it as well. Oliver! is the MVP of musicals, a rollicking adventure through early 19th century London. Forget the real world and the stresses and strife, put your feet up and lose yourself in 150 minutes of pure escapism!

Olive Twist (Mark Lester) is one of the many orphans working in the Dickensian workhouse. He asks for more gruel angering Bumble who sells him into servitude to Mr. Sowerberry the undertaker. Facing more punishment, he escapes to London where he meets the Artful Dodger. He's brought to old criminal Fagin, the leader of the gang of pickpocketing kids.

It's a grand production with some great songs. The translation to the big screen worked out for this movie. It's a bit dark for a kids movie unlike 'Annie' or 'Wizard of Oz'. There is a darker moodiness in the story and music. It's still one of the great movie musicals and needs to be seen by lovers of the genre.

Please whoever the idiot was that gave this movie a G rating.This is not a G movie. PG would be much more appropriate. It's a musical yes but a musical that shows or implies domestic violence, kidnapping, theft, child slavery, and murder. Some great songs, well cast , except for Audrey Hepburn Jr. as Oliver , but not a G movie. I tried to watch it with my six year old daughter she was very upset when Sykes hits Nancy and also the general mean spiritedness of the whole movie. I watched it with her based on the box's saying it was "grand entertainment the whole family will enjoy". Well not quite the whole family if you have young children under 8 (?) avoid watching this with them.

i'm really getting old,,am in the midst of watching this 40 year old flick,and wonder what my grandchildren will be watching 40 years from now,,its an old saying,,but they don't make em like that anymore..it's not only the story,its the music,the acting both by young and old..the cast ,it would seem,were born to play their roles,,young oliver,,old Fagin..too many to mention them all,the role played by the judge oliver stands before,i've seen in other roles over the years..the artful dodger,,Ron moody as Fagin,,Mr and Mrs bumble,,the movie not only won 5 Oscars,,but took a few golden globe awards too..if you decide to see this film..do yourself a favor,,take a few if not all the children,to see this masterpiece

How does one condense a 500 page classic of Victorian literature into a 2 hr film while encompassing the rich characterisations of Dicken's characters - their wit and satire - and the grimy, scrubbed streets of downtown London, all with the addition of a full music score and lyrics? The result is one of the best film musicals ever. This is quite remarkable considering that the American school in Rodgers, Hart, Hammerstein. Kern, Porter, Berlin and Freed, had always dominated the musical scene in superlative musical and lyric writing.

Based of the 1960s stage musical by Lionel Bart, the songs are now instantly recognisable today and and irresistible to sing along to. In fact no one number in the film fails to surprise and impress you with the elaborate set design and extravagant choreography. In particular, the numbers "Consider Yourself" and "You've Got To Pick A Pocket Or Two" really took my breath away with their energy and excitement. The singing is also top notch with Fagin and Nancy both stand-out singers able to convey such joy, mischievous, sorrow and tender emotion. It was a fantastic treat to watch them dance wholeheartedly and interact so naturally with the characters and sets.

The Oscar winning direction by female(!) director Carol Reed is perceptive and very sharp with a fantastic eye for colour and movement as a musical expects. She is fully in control of every scene and explores all the camera angles and filming possibilities from what is a very lively set. Even the quiet moments in the film, filled with the "recitative" scenes are uniquely shot and keep this film fresh, ahead of it's competition.

The peripheral characters are the most charismatic in the film with Fagin shining as the sly and witty leader of and manager of street pickpockets. He encompasses the role so well and completely has a ball. Nancy (scandalously missing out on the nom) was also beautiful to watch, wholly developing from another common-street girl to a mature surrogate for Oliver, making her own courageous conscience and sacrificing a bold heart. It was a joy to watch both of them support the film and provide some of it's most memorable moments. The Artful Dodger was impossible to resist and the perfect friend you would to have on a cold, dirty, starving day. He was played with such maturity and confidence add a romping playfulness to keep things bumping along. Paradoxically, the title character was the most dull person in the film by far. He ended up being too naive and timid throughout, and was constantly overshadowed by the other characters. In the end, I didn't feel like he did anything at all or even contributed anything to the story other than his name.

For those not a fan of musicals, you may find it disconcerting when action stops to allow the musical numbers to convey the atmosphere and deepest emotions of the characters. And I must admit, it is a little abrupt at times; certainly it is extraneous. None more obvious than in the "Consider Yourself" and "Who Will Buy A Rose" numbers. While the extravagance is welcome, it is all too easy for the cynic to say "People don't stop everything and burst into song for no reason". These parts were enjoyable, and very funny.

This was a surprisingly good musical with fantastic visual and tuneful sequences. It proves that the English can do musicals with just as much flair and grandeur as the heavyweight American schools all the craze in the 30s, 40s and 50s. A deserved winner of Best Picture & Director, it it easy to overlook this film. There is no "big" message, it is a light comedic musical film, it is far from an original story and idea, and it is produced outside the grand Hollywood system. But given such modern musical classics such as The Sound Of Music, West Side Story and most recently Chicago and Dreamgirls, Oliver! shows us that great musicals come only too seldom yet when they do they provide grand entertainment.

The producers made a big mistake casting Mark Lester, who couldn't act or sing, in the title role. Aside from his very bad "acting", all of Lester's singing had to be dubbed by a girl. I don't know why they cast him at all, since there would have been so many boys who could have played the part infinitely better and done their own singing as well. Shani Wallis was far too old to play Nancy, who was only supposed to be 16. The current West End version is so much better than the movie in every way. Ross McCormack is the best Artful Dodger of all time and he is certainly far better looking than Jack Wild ever was. It was clearly political to award this old-fashioned musical so many Oscars after the tumultuous events of 1968.