Delayed Reaction: Oliver!

Premise: A poor orphan boy want some more, please sir.

 

Finally, I did it! I have finally seen all the Oscar winners for Best Picture. I can't say why it ended on Oliver! It just happened that way. It's fitting, because the 60s are the decade I have the hardest time getting a grasp on. It has remarkably fewer movies I love than the 50s or even the 40s. While some Best Picture winners are incredible (West Side Story, The Apartment, The Sound of Music), it also has many that made no impression on me (Tom Jones, My Fair Lady, A Man for All Seasons).

 

So, I hated this movie. And I thought I wasn't alone in that. Looking at the Best Picture winners around it tells a pretty clear narrative. It was a year after In the Heat of the Night and a year before Midnight Cowboy. Oliver! is the dying gasp of a studio system about to be rocked by the New Hollywood movement. Oliver! is this cloying, extravagant classic musical that is so boring in comparison to the other offerings of the time. Midway through this movie, I looked up some Best Picture winner rankings online, wondering how close to the bottom Oliver! was. To my surprise, it's middle of the pack in almost all the lists I could find. My only theory about this is that Oliver! is harmless. There's little to piss people off like a Crash. There's no greater legacy to attach to the movie, so people forget about it and rank it where it could do the least damage.

I disliked it strongly though. It was all flash and no substance. I don't really like the songs. The child actors/singers were too winsome. It felt big, yet somehow still stage-bound. I couldn't shake the feeling that I was watching a community theater production with exceptional resources and budget. This definitely fits into the box of "Best Picture winners you only need to see for completionism."

 

Verdict: Strongly Don't Recommend