Movie: Oliver!

Release Date: September 26, 1968

Director: Carol Reed

Starring: Ron Moody, Oliver Reed, Harry Secombe, Shani Wallis, Mark Lester, Jack Wild

Personal History: Watched Before

Rating: 9.5 Oscars out of 10

“Please sir, I want some more.” That is exactly what I say every time I finish watching ‘Oliver!,’ one of the best named movies of all time.

Nominated for eleven Academy Awards winning six including Best Picture, ‘Oliver!’ was a commercial and critical success when it was released in 1968. Although it does not make the American Film Institute’s best musical list, it did make mine. The film made my list of all time favorite movies when I did the 365 Movie Day Challenge in 2020. To read what I said then, just click on that glorious name – ‘Oliver!‘.

The story, the music, the acting and (goodness gracious) the choreography are so impeccably done in this light and equally dark musical drama. Like my recent reviews of ‘West Side Story’ and ‘The Sound of Music’, I could go on and on about how much I adore this movie, but I will try not to bore you that much. Just make sure to check out what I wrote about it the last time I watched it, almost three years ago.

‘Oliver!’ was the last musical to win the Best Picture Oscar until 2002’s ‘Chicago,’ another all time favorite of mine. It’s not that there weren’t any great musicals released in those 34 years, it’s just the genre kind of lost some steam when it came to the Academy and the American people. What a shame.

‘Oliver!’ really is a tremendous movie and it was just as entertaining today as it was three years ago and the first time I watched it as a child. Even if you are not a fan, you have been influenced by it, whether you know it or not. Those songs have been a part of pop culture now for decades. I mean, who hasn’t sung “Food Glorious Food” right before they started a meal. It can’t just be me, right?