Oliver! True to its punctuation, this is a very big movie--are there any musicals that aren't? But, despite everything, it felt very slow and very long. Each song was about a minute-and-a-half longer that it needed to and had any right to be. And a number of the songs were totally unnecessary and awkward. With the way the movie was going, I kind of expected grumbly Bill Sikes to sing a, "I'm just a misunderstood miscreant..." type song. I definitely drifted in and out of paying attention to lyrics in many of the big numbers, like "Who Will Buy?" and "Consider Yourself." Though I definitely appreciated those songs as introductions to the yuckiness of 19th-century London and the shiny whiteness of the suburb.
All things considered, I did not hate this movie. I did not even dislike it. I appreciated Fagin's blatant Semitic stereotype and Bill Sikes's disturbing sexiness (thanks Oliver Reed for proving yet again that you can be simultaneously a drunken jerk and a beautiful, beautiful man). I liked the costumes, though I felt they were period-inappropriate, as many of the coats were late Victorian or even Edwardian, and Oliver Twist was written in the early-Victorian era. I was a big fan of how incredibly '60s everything was, especially the hair and camera angles/shots. There is one quick-zoom (I'm not sure the technical term), which immediately reminds the viewer that this movie was filmed in the late '60s. The acting was good. I really liked Jack Wild, who played the Artful Dodger. It was probably my favorite supporting role. His awesome bow-tie didn't hurt.
My own little notes...I love that we're watching these movies in order, because I can note that this is the second Best Picture winner (after It Happened One Night) to feature a sleeping-in-a-haystack scene. Fagin's look and attitude reminded me of Jim Carrey's portrayal of Count Olaf (Brett Helquist, illustrator for Lemony Snicket, probably drew inspiration from Dickensian fashion). Everything about this movie was like the poor man's James and the Giant Peach (the Henry Selick movie musical)--poor, pathetic orphan, dirty England, evil adults, and a great supporting cast. Mark Lester, who played Oliver, even had a similarly pathetic voice to the kid who plays James. 7/10
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It's always amusing to watch period pieces from the '60s - the hairstyles in particular. I sometimes wonder if, in 20 or 30 years, we'll look back on period pieces from the '90s and think they look "'90s"?
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