movie review - Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory
I showed The Boy this bizarre but lovable movie about a mopey kid who wins a much-sought-after prize to tour a chocolate factory run by a famous recluse. That recluse, played to the hilt by the incomparable Gene Wilder, leads the boy and the other winners on a tour that can possibly be described as having been influenced by Apocalypse Now if that movie hadn't come out eight years later. It's not clear that all the children actually survive the various things that happen, which again I'll liken to that other movie: the message is "never get off the damn boat"; or perhaps "don't give in to your greed and gluttony".
Oh, and I feel I have to mention the psychedelic rowing scene, which does appear in the original by Roald Dahl. In the movie, the accompanying poem is delivered by Wilder with a mania and menace that I don't quite think I've seen in another film, while disturbing images appear for no reason. The text is this:
Round the world and home againThat's the sailor's wayFaster faster, faster faster
There's no earthly way of knowingWhich direction we are goingThere's no knowing where we're rowingOr which way the river's flowing
Is it raining, is it snowingIs a hurricane a–blowing
Not a speck of light is showingSo the danger must be growingAre the fires of Hell a–glowingIs the grisly reaper mowing
Yes, the danger must be growingFor the rowers keep on rowingAnd they're certainly not showingAny signs that they are slowing.
Eh, I'll let the scene speak for itself. God bless the '70s.
Strongly recommended.