Back in the summer of 2008, I went with my older brother and his friend to see Wall-E. As it began, there was this song playing in the background and was repeated a few times throughout. The song was apparently coming from this old movie musical that the title character occasionally watched while he wasn’t cleaning up all the trash that was left behind on Earth. I remember whenever Wall-E watched that film, I kept wondering what it was supposed to be. Later on, I found out what the movie was on the IMDB page for Wall-E as well as a certain actor whose voice was heard from it...
Directed By Gene Kelly; Screenplay By Ernest Lehman; Starring Barbra Streisand, Walter Matthau, Michael Crawford, Marianne McAndrew, and Louis Armstrong.
Based on Jerry Herman & Michael Stewart's 1964 Tony-winning stage musical of the same name adapted from Thornton Wilder's 1954 play titled The Matchmaker, Hello, Dolly! follows famed New York City matchmaker Dolly Gallagher Levi (Barbra Streisand) as she receives her toughest challenge yet. She must travel to Yonkers to find a suitable match for the miserly "well-known unmarried half-a-millionaire" Horace Vandergelder (Walter Matthau). She successfully matches many others in the city, including Horace's niece (Joyce Ames) and his two young clerks (Michael Crawford and Danny Lockin), but everything seems to go wrong when it comes to matching Horace.
The original Broadway production directed & choreographed by Gower Champion with Carol Channing in the starring role opened on January 16th, 1964. Hello, Dolly! went on to win 10 Tony Awards (including Best Musical), which at the time, was an all-time record shared with South Pacific as the most awarded production in Tony history until The Producers surpassed it with 12 wins in 2001. Throughout the run, producer David Merrick was able to get several prominent performers to take on the titular role after Channing's departure such as Ginger Rogers, Martha Raye, Betty Grable, Pearl Bailey, Phyllis Diller, and Ethel Merman. The original production ended its run on December 27th, 1970 after 2,844 performances.
In 1965, Richard Zanuck bought the film rights to Hello, Dolly! from David Merrick. In the deal, an agreement was made not to release the movie until the Broadway production ended its run. Yet as Fox was determined to have another blockbuster on their hands following their enormous success with The Sound of Music, they forged ahead on Hello, Dolly! anyway. Written into the contract was a seemingly insignificant clause which stipulated that Fox could not release the film until the musical closed on Broadway or until June 20th, 1971-whichever came first. When the movie was completed, the original contract was renegotiated to allow for its release (at a significant penalty to Fox). The film opened on December 16th, 1969, even though the show was still going strong on Broadway.
Despite all the success she received in the original stage production, Carol Channing was considered too zany and wacky to repeat her signature role for the screen. Having seen the results of her Oscar nominated supporting performance in 1967's Thoroughly Modern Millie, screenwriter/producer Ernest Lehman felt her outsized personality would be too much for an entire film. Box office favorites who were considered and courted for the role were Lucille Ball and Elizabeth Taylor. Yet prior to the release of the 1968 film adaptation of Funny Girl, Barbra Streisand was a fresh, new, and immensely talented performer, so giving her the chance to reinvent the age-old character of Dolly only seemed logical. Channing later remembered, "I was doing Hello, Dolly! at Expo '67 at the time, and when they announced the star for the movie on that great day I had the feeling I was Mark Twain and had just died and become an observer at my funeral."
Hello, Dolly! was shot in 1968, but the film wasn’t released until almost a year and a half later. Then, only after a large cash settlement had been made with Merrick. Life Magazine reported in its February 14th, 1969 issue that Richard Zanuck of 20th Century Fox wanted to release it but David Merrick would not let him. The film would be released in December of that year. Merrick was too shrewd a businessman to play out this string much longer. He did, however, hold on as long as he could. His one goal was to break the previous record that My Fair Lady held as longest running show. He didn’t want anything to get in his way of making that happen.
On a budget of $25,000,000 (in 1968 standards), Hello, Dolly! at the time was the most expensive movie musical ever made. Despite going on to receive 7 Academy Award nominations (including Best Picture), the film was a major box office disappointment. At the time, the era of Hollywood musicals was starting to die down with this, 1967's Doctor Dolittle, and 1968's Star!. Each of those pretty much wiped out all the profits Fox had earned from The Sound of Music. As for the quality of this film, the opening shot is pretty weird. It consists of a paused image of New York City in the year 1890 that goes through different shades of colors. It also lasts almost a minute long. That was probably the sign for how the whole movie was gonna turn out. There’s a number of problems here.
While Barbra Streisand does get to show off her many great talents as Dolly, she was still way too young to be playing a widowed matchmaker. Not to mention that she was playing opposite Walter Matthau, who was 21 years older than her. Even in the scenes where she says “Look at the old girl now, fellas,” it seemed odd watching that performed by an ingénue as she clearly wasn’t old back then. How I wish Carol Channing starred in this. If not her, Judy Garland and Ginger Rogers wouldn’t have been bad alternatives. In both the stage version and the movie, there's a subplot with Horace's niece, Ermengarde, and the poor artist, Ambrose Kemper, who wants to marry her. On stage, they both make for some fun side characters, but after getting invested with the main characters in the film, it’s almost easy to forget about Ermengarde & Ambrose until the next time they appear. Which is especially a shame because Ambrose here is played by now Broadway legend Tommy Tune.
While I understand the need to have a cameo from Louis Armstrong during the title song since he famously did a cover of that, it still made the whole number feel a little longer than it should be. There’s definitely some trimming I would’ve done here and there with the other big production numbers. The finale was weirdly put together. Cutting from Dolly & Horace’s duet to a reprise of ‘Put On Your Sunday Clothes’ followed by reprises of other songs didn’t feel right. Especially when it came to the camera moving around to different characters. I think it would’ve been a better idea to fade from Dolly & Horace to the full company singing a reprise of the title number.
In the end, Hello, Dolly! is mildly entertaining at times. A lot of the performances are good. A lot of Jerry Herman’s songs are well performed. Although the rearrangements of ‘Ribbons Down My Back’ and ‘So Long, Dearie’ don’t feel right compared to how they’re traditionally done. Plus, the new additions of ‘Just Leave Everything to Me’ and ‘Love is Only Love’ don’t fit in with the rest of the score. A lot of Michael Kidd’s choreography is eye-popping. The production design is impeccably mounted and the costumes look stunning. I just wish there was more about the movie worth writing home about.
Rating: 3/5
Based on Jerry Herman & Michael Stewart's 1964 Tony-winning stage musical of the same name adapted from Thornton Wilder's 1954 play titled The Matchmaker, Hello, Dolly! follows famed New York City matchmaker Dolly Gallagher Levi (Barbra Streisand) as she receives her toughest challenge yet. She must travel to Yonkers to find a suitable match for the miserly "well-known unmarried half-a-millionaire" Horace Vandergelder (Walter Matthau). She successfully matches many others in the city, including Horace's niece (Joyce Ames) and his two young clerks (Michael Crawford and Danny Lockin), but everything seems to go wrong when it comes to matching Horace.
The original Broadway production directed & choreographed by Gower Champion with Carol Channing in the starring role opened on January 16th, 1964. Hello, Dolly! went on to win 10 Tony Awards (including Best Musical), which at the time, was an all-time record shared with South Pacific as the most awarded production in Tony history until The Producers surpassed it with 12 wins in 2001. Throughout the run, producer David Merrick was able to get several prominent performers to take on the titular role after Channing's departure such as Ginger Rogers, Martha Raye, Betty Grable, Pearl Bailey, Phyllis Diller, and Ethel Merman. The original production ended its run on December 27th, 1970 after 2,844 performances.
In 1965, Richard Zanuck bought the film rights to Hello, Dolly! from David Merrick. In the deal, an agreement was made not to release the movie until the Broadway production ended its run. Yet as Fox was determined to have another blockbuster on their hands following their enormous success with The Sound of Music, they forged ahead on Hello, Dolly! anyway. Written into the contract was a seemingly insignificant clause which stipulated that Fox could not release the film until the musical closed on Broadway or until June 20th, 1971-whichever came first. When the movie was completed, the original contract was renegotiated to allow for its release (at a significant penalty to Fox). The film opened on December 16th, 1969, even though the show was still going strong on Broadway.
Despite all the success she received in the original stage production, Carol Channing was considered too zany and wacky to repeat her signature role for the screen. Having seen the results of her Oscar nominated supporting performance in 1967's Thoroughly Modern Millie, screenwriter/producer Ernest Lehman felt her outsized personality would be too much for an entire film. Box office favorites who were considered and courted for the role were Lucille Ball and Elizabeth Taylor. Yet prior to the release of the 1968 film adaptation of Funny Girl, Barbra Streisand was a fresh, new, and immensely talented performer, so giving her the chance to reinvent the age-old character of Dolly only seemed logical. Channing later remembered, "I was doing Hello, Dolly! at Expo '67 at the time, and when they announced the star for the movie on that great day I had the feeling I was Mark Twain and had just died and become an observer at my funeral."
Hello, Dolly! was shot in 1968, but the film wasn’t released until almost a year and a half later. Then, only after a large cash settlement had been made with Merrick. Life Magazine reported in its February 14th, 1969 issue that Richard Zanuck of 20th Century Fox wanted to release it but David Merrick would not let him. The film would be released in December of that year. Merrick was too shrewd a businessman to play out this string much longer. He did, however, hold on as long as he could. His one goal was to break the previous record that My Fair Lady held as longest running show. He didn’t want anything to get in his way of making that happen.
On a budget of $25,000,000 (in 1968 standards), Hello, Dolly! at the time was the most expensive movie musical ever made. Despite going on to receive 7 Academy Award nominations (including Best Picture), the film was a major box office disappointment. At the time, the era of Hollywood musicals was starting to die down with this, 1967's Doctor Dolittle, and 1968's Star!. Each of those pretty much wiped out all the profits Fox had earned from The Sound of Music. As for the quality of this film, the opening shot is pretty weird. It consists of a paused image of New York City in the year 1890 that goes through different shades of colors. It also lasts almost a minute long. That was probably the sign for how the whole movie was gonna turn out. There’s a number of problems here.
While Barbra Streisand does get to show off her many great talents as Dolly, she was still way too young to be playing a widowed matchmaker. Not to mention that she was playing opposite Walter Matthau, who was 21 years older than her. Even in the scenes where she says “Look at the old girl now, fellas,” it seemed odd watching that performed by an ingénue as she clearly wasn’t old back then. How I wish Carol Channing starred in this. If not her, Judy Garland and Ginger Rogers wouldn’t have been bad alternatives. In both the stage version and the movie, there's a subplot with Horace's niece, Ermengarde, and the poor artist, Ambrose Kemper, who wants to marry her. On stage, they both make for some fun side characters, but after getting invested with the main characters in the film, it’s almost easy to forget about Ermengarde & Ambrose until the next time they appear. Which is especially a shame because Ambrose here is played by now Broadway legend Tommy Tune.
While I understand the need to have a cameo from Louis Armstrong during the title song since he famously did a cover of that, it still made the whole number feel a little longer than it should be. There’s definitely some trimming I would’ve done here and there with the other big production numbers. The finale was weirdly put together. Cutting from Dolly & Horace’s duet to a reprise of ‘Put On Your Sunday Clothes’ followed by reprises of other songs didn’t feel right. Especially when it came to the camera moving around to different characters. I think it would’ve been a better idea to fade from Dolly & Horace to the full company singing a reprise of the title number.
In the end, Hello, Dolly! is mildly entertaining at times. A lot of the performances are good. A lot of Jerry Herman’s songs are well performed. Although the rearrangements of ‘Ribbons Down My Back’ and ‘So Long, Dearie’ don’t feel right compared to how they’re traditionally done. Plus, the new additions of ‘Just Leave Everything to Me’ and ‘Love is Only Love’ don’t fit in with the rest of the score. A lot of Michael Kidd’s choreography is eye-popping. The production design is impeccably mounted and the costumes look stunning. I just wish there was more about the movie worth writing home about.
Rating: 3/5