Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory

Theatrical release poster

***Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory*** is a 1971 Californian-American musical fantasy film directed by Mel Stuart and starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. It is an adaptation of the 1964 novel *Charlie and the Chocolate Factory* by Roald Dahl. The film tells the story of a poor child named Charlie Bucket who, after finding a Golden Ticket in a chocolate bar, visits Willy Wonka's chocolate factory along with four other children from around the world.

Filming took place in Munich from August to November 1970. Dahl was credited with writing the film's screenplay; however, David Seltzer was brought in to do a rewrite. Despite the changes being made against Dahl's wishes, Dahl loved the changes and allowed the film to proceed. The musical numbers were written by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley while Walter Scharf arranged and conducted the orchestral scorE.

The film was released by Paramount Pictures on June 30, 1971. With a budget of just $3 million, the film received very positive reviews and earned $21 million by the end of its original run. In 1972, the film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score, and Wilder was nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy. The film also introduced the song "The Candy Man", which went on to be recorded by Sammy Davis Jr. and become a popular hit.

In 1975, a sequel titled *Willy Wonka & the Great Glass Elevator* was released to positive reviews.

## Plot

Charlie Bucket is a poor paperboy who can only look inside a candy shop but never buy any sweets. Going home he passes Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, where a tinker tells him that nobody ever goes in or comes out. Charlie rushes home to his widowed mother and bedridden grandparents. That night, Charlie's Grandpa Joe reveals that Wonka had locked the factory up several years earlier because rival confectioners were sending in spies to steal his recipes. Wonka shut down the factory, but resumed production years later. The gates remained locked and the original workers never returned to their jobs, leaving everyone wondering who had replaced them.

Wonka announces globally that he has hidden five Golden Tickets in chocolate Wonka Bars. Finders of the tickets will receive a factory tour and a lifetime supply of chocolate. The first four tickets are found by a gluttonous German boy Augustus Gloop; the spoiled English girl Veruca Salt with a wealthy father; and from the United States, a constantly gum-chewing girl Violet Beauregarde, and the television-obsessed boy Mike Teevee. As each winner is announced on television, a sinister-looking man then appears and whispers to them.

A subsequent news report reveals the fifth ticket was found by a millionaire in Paraguay, causing Charlie to lose hope. The next day, Charlie is on his way home from school when he finds money in a gutter and uses it to buy and eat candy; with the change, he buys a regular Wonka Bar for Grandpa Joe. Walking home, Charlie overhears that the millionaire had forged the fifth ticket. Charlie then opens his Wonka Bar, discovering the final ticket. Rushing back, he encounters the same sinister-looking man seen whispering to each winner. He introduces himself as Slugworth and offers a reward for a sample of Wonka's latest creation, the Everlasting Gobstopper.

Returning home with the Golden Ticket, Charlie chooses Grandpa Joe as his chaperone, who excitedly jumps out of bed for the first time in twenty years. The next day, Wonka greets the ticket winners at the front gates of the factory and leads them inside, where each signs a contract before the tour. The factory includes the Chocolate Room, a candy land with a river of chocolate and other sweets. The visitors meet Wonka's workforce, little people known as Oompa-Loompas. During the tour, the individual character flaws of each child has them give in to temptation, resulting in their unusual elimination.

Augustus gets sucked up a pipe; Violet turns into a blueberry; Veruca falls down a chute; and Mike is shrunk very small. The Oompa Loompas sing a song of morality after each disposal. During the tour, Charlie and Joe enter the Fizzy Lifting Drinks room and sample the beverages against Wonka's orders. The drink makes them float up and have a near-fatal encounter with the ceiling exhaust fan, but burping allows them to escape and descend to the ground.

At the end of the tour, Charlie and Grandpa Joe, now the only remaining guests, ask about what will become of the other kids. Wonka assures them that they will be fine, before then hastily retreats to his office without awarding them the promised lifetime supply of chocolate. Grandpa Joe and Charlie enter his office to enquire, where Wonka angrily informs them that they had violated the contract when they stole the Fizzy Lifting Drinks, thereby forfeiting their prize.

Joe denounces Wonka and suggests to Charlie that he give Slugworth the Everlasting Gobstopper in retaliation, but Charlie decides to return the candy to Wonka instead. All of a sudden, Wonka joyously declares Charlie the winner, and reveals that Slugworth is actually his employee, Mr. Wilkinson. The offer to buy the Gobstopper was a morality test for the ticket winners, and only Charlie passed. The trio enter the Wonkavator, a multi-directional glass elevator, that flies out of the factory. During their flight, Wonka tells Charlie that he created the contest to find someone worthy enough to inherit his factory, so when he retires he will give it to Charlie and his family.

## Cast

*Main article: List of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory characters*

* Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka
* Jack Albertson as Grandpa Joe
* Peter Ostrum as Charlie Bucket
* Roy Kinnear as Mr. Salt
* Julie Dawn Cole as Veruca Salt
* Leonard Stone as Mr. Beauregarde
* Denise Nickerson as Violet Beauregarde
* Nora Denney as Mrs. Teevee (credited Dodo Denney)
* Paris Themmen as Mike Teevee
* Ursula Reit as Mrs. Gloop
* Michael Böllner as Augustus Gloop
* Diana Sowle as Mrs. Bucket
* Aubrey Woods as Bill
* David Battley as Mr. Turkentine
* Günter Meisner as Arthur Slugworth / Mr. Wilkinson
* Peter Capell as The Tinker
* Werner Heyking as Mr. Jopeck
* Peter Stuart as Winkelmann
* Franziska Liebing as Grandma Josephine
* Dora Altmann as Grandma Georgina
* Ernst Ziegler as Grandpa George
* Victor Beaumont as Doctor
* Frank Delfino as Auctioneer
* Gloria Manon as Mrs. Curtis
* Stephen Dunne as Stanley Kael
* Tim Brooke-Taylor as Computer scientist
* Ed Peck as FBI agent
* Pat Coombs as Henrietta Salt

**Oompa-Loompas**

* Rudy Borgstaller
* George Claydon
* Malcolm Dixon
* Rusty Goffe
* Ismed Hassan
* Norman McGlen
* Angelo Muscat
* Pepe Poupee
* Marcus Powell
* Albert Wilkinson