Gene Wilder had the starring role in 1971′s ‘Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.’
Gene Wilder stars as the magical candy maker, who invites five kids and their guardians from around the world to tour his super-secret factory, where rivers of chocolate flow. The kids are promised a lifetime supply of the stuff if they can make it through the tour without misbehaving and breaking the rules (“Now remember, no messing about. No touching, no tasting, no telling,” Wonka tells them.) Four of the kids are wealthy brats who bought tons of Wonka Bars to find the Golden Ticket needed to get in. The fifth kid, Charlie Bucket, is a poor newspaper delivery boy who lives with his widowed mother and four elderly grandparents. He gets the last ticket after finding a silver coin and buying the only Wonka Bar that he could afford. Charlie’s tour mates include spoiled (“I want it now”) Veruca Salt, greedy Augustus Gloop, gum-smacking Violet Beauregarde and television-fixated Mike Teavee. Temptation gets the best of all of them and they suffer ignominious punishments as a result. It’s hard to resist in a colorful wonderland of sugar-coated delights and fantastic concoctions. The Oompa Loompas — Wonka’s green-haired, orange-faced factory workers — sing tales of woe and warning following each child’s bout of mischief. The film itself was not without its controversies. Dahl’s story and script were heavily revised and completed after Dahl failed to meet production deadlines. The author would later disown the film, which deviated from the book and emphasized Wonka more than Charlie. Dahl, who died at age 74 in 1990, refused permission for any film sequels to be made. Still, Willy Wonka got mostly favorable critical reviews when it was released in July 1971, but fans flocked to see the rat-infested horror film Ben instead. (That movie’s theme became a No. 1 hit for Michael Jackson.) A year later, Sammy Davis Jr., recorded the Wonka song The Candy Man, and, he too, had a No. 1 hit. With other big hits like Dirty Harry, A Clockwork Orange, Carnal Knowledge, The French Connection and The Last Picture Show out in 1971, Wonka made only $4 million, good for 53rd place at the box office. Then a funny thing happened. The movie became a cable favorite in the mid-1970s. In 1977 producer David L. Wolper sold his company to Warner Bros., and when the videocassette craze took off in the 1980s, the movie became one of its biggest sellers. It has become ingrained in pop culture, frequently referenced by celebrities and in films (Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me), adapted for stage productions, and licensed for toys and candies. A Chicago rock band is named Veruca Salt, and Marilyn Manson makes frequent use of Wonka touchstones in his work. A more recent film version of Dahl’s work, 2005′s Tim Burton-directed Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, starring Johnny Depp and Freddie Highmore, grossed more than $200 million in the USA and $470 million worldwide.
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