Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is a 1971 American musical fantasy film directed by Mel Stuart from a screenplay by Roald Dahl, based on Dahl's 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It stars Gene Wilder as chocolatier Willy Wonka. The film tells the story of a poor child named Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum) who, upon finding a Golden Ticket in a chocolate bar, wins the chance to visit Willy Wonka's chocolate factory along with four other children from around the world.
Filming took place in Munich from August to November 1970. Dahl was credited with writing the film's screenplay; however, David Seltzer was brought in to do an uncredited rewrite. Against Dahl's wishes, changes were made to the story, and other decisions made by the director led Dahl to disown the film. The musical numbers were written by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley while Walter Scharf arranged and conducted the orchestral score.
Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory was released in the United States on June 30, 1971, by Paramount Pictures. While the film received positive reviews from critics, it was not a major financial success, earning just $4 million by the end of its original run. It received a nomination for Best Original Score at the 44th Academy Awards and Wilder was nominated for Best Performance in a Motion Picture – Comedy or Musical at the 29th Golden Globe Awards. The film also introduced the song "The Candy Man", which went on to be recorded by Sammy Davis Jr. and become a popular hit. Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory has since become highly popular through television airings and home video sales. In 2014, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress, as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".
Plot
Charlie Bucket, a 12-year-old paperboy from a poor family, passes by Willy Wonka's chocolate factory in Charlie's town, where a tinker tells him that nobody ever enters or exits the building. Charlie's grandfather, Joe, reveals that Wonka shut down the factory some years earlier due to espionage from rival confectioners. Though production resumed three years later, the factory remained closed to the public and the identities of the new workers remain unknown.
The next day, it is globally announced that Wonka has hidden five Golden Tickets in Wonka Bars; the finders of the tickets will receive a private tour of the factory and a lifetime supply of chocolate. The first four tickets are found by the gluttonous West German Augustus Gloop, the spoiled Veruca Salt, the gum-loving Violet Beauregarde, and the television-loving Mike Teevee. A mysterious man is seen speaking to each child.
Then, someone in Paraguay claims to have found the last ticket, but the authorities discover that it was forged. On the day before the factory tour, Charlie finds money in a gutter and uses it to purchase a Wonka Bar, which contains the fifth Golden Ticket. On his way home, he encounters the man who whispered to the other winners. The man speaks out loud this time, and introduces himself as Arthur Slugworth, one of Wonka's rivals, and offers Charlie a large sum of money in exchange for a sample of Wonka's latest invention, the Everlasting Gobstopper. Arriving home with the Golden Ticket, Charlie asks Grandpa Joe to chaperone him to the factory.
The next day, Wonka greets the children and the 5 accompanied adults at the factory gates and leads them inside, passing "Slugworth" on the way, and once inside they are required to sign a contract. Inside, they meet the Oompa-Loompas, Wonka's workforce, and receive Everlasting Gobstoppers. All of the children have separate incidents disobeying Wonka's instructions and with their adult are expelled from the tour (except Grandpa Joe and Charlie): Augustus is sucked up a pipe after falling into the Chocolate River, Violet is transformed into a giant blueberry from chewing experimental gum, Charlie and Grandpa Joe sample Fizzy Lifting Drinks causing them to float dangerously close to a large fan but descend safely by burping, Veruca and her father fall down a garbage chute, and Mike is shrunken after misusing the Wonkavision teleporter.
When the tour is over, Wonka hastily dismisses Charlie and Grandpa Joe and retreats to his office. When Grandpa Joe asks Wonka about Charlie's promised lifetime supply of chocolate, Wonka tells them that they have forfeited it on the grounds that they violated the contract by stealing the Fizzy Lifting Drinks. Grandpa Joe wishes to give the Gobstopper to Slugworth out of spite, but Charlie returns it to Wonka. Wonka declares Charlie the winner of the contest and reveals that "Slugworth" was actually one of his employees, Mr. Wilkinson, and that the offer was a test of character for the kids. Wonka then invites Charlie and Grandpa Joe to fly over the town in the Wonkavator, a multi-directional glass elevator. Wonka then explains that he created the contest to find an honest child to succeed him as the factory's owner. Charlie, having fulfilled that, is invited along with his family to come and live in the factory.
Cast
Production Development The idea for adapting the Roald Dahl book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory into a film came about when director Mel Stuart's 10-year-old daughter read the book and asked her father to make a film out of it, with "Uncle Dave" (producer David L. Wolper, who was not related to the Stuarts) producing. Stuart showed the book to Wolper, who happened to be in the midst of talks with the Quaker Oats Company regarding a vehicle to introduce a new candy bar from its Chicago-based Breaker Confections subsidiary (subsequently renamed The Willy Wonka Candy Company and sold to Nestlé). Wolper persuaded the company, which had no previous experience in the film industry, to buy the rights to the book and finance the picture for the purpose of promoting a new Quaker Oats "Wonka Bar".
Writing Wolper and Roald Dahl agreed that Dahl would also write the screenplay. Though credited for the film, Dahl had not delivered a completed screenplay at the start of production and only gave an outline pointing to sections of the book. Wolper called in David Seltzer for an uncredited rewrite after Dahl left over creative differences. Wolper promised to produce Seltzer's next film for his lack of a credit as they needed to maintain credibility by keeping Dahl's name attached to the production. Also uncredited were several short humorous scenes by screenwriter Robert Kaufman about the Golden Ticket hysteria. Changes to the story included Willy Wonka's character given more emphasis over Charlie Bucket; Arthur Slugworth, originally a minor character who was a Wonka industry rival in the book, reworked into a spy so that the film could have a villain for intrigue; the absence of Mr. Bucket; a belching scene added with Grandpa Joe and Charlie having "fizzy lifting drinks"; the walnut-shelling squirrels changed to golden-egg-laying geese; and the ending dialogue.
Seltzer also created a recurring theme that had Wonka quote from various literary sources, such as Arthur O'Shaughnessy's Ode, Oscar Wilde's The Importance of Being Earnest, Samuel Taylor Coleridge's The Rime of the Ancient Mariner and William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice. After completing the screenplay, Seltzer was exhausted and went on vacation to a remote cabin in Maine. However, while filming the final scene, Stuart was unhappy with the ending having Dahl's version of Grandpa Joe just exclaiming "Yippee!" The director tracked down the writer to the only phone in the area which was attached to a tree. By chance, Seltzer was passing and answered the call. Stuart told him to think up an ending quickly as the production was waiting at great expense. Seltzer could only recall the overused phrase to fairytale endings and therefore reworked Wonka's final line to Charlie: "Don't forget what happened to the man who suddenly got everything he always wanted? ... He lived happily ever after."
Songwriting Wolper decided with Stuart that the film would be a musical and approached composers Richard Rodgers and Henry Mancini but both declined. Eventually, they secured the songwriting team Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley.
Title change Different explanations have been given for the title change to Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory. In the United States during the 1960s, the term "Mister Charlie" had been used as a pejorative expression in the African-American community for a "white man in power" (historically plantation slave owners) and press reports claimed the change was due to "pressure from black groups". During the same period, U.S. soldiers in the Vietnam War used the derisive term "Charlie" for the Viet Cong, originating from the acronym VC using the callsign "Victor Charlie". The studio publicity stated that the title "was changed to put emphasis on the eccentric central character of Willy Wonka". However, Wolper said he changed the title to make the product placement for the Wonka Bar have a closer association. Stuart confirmed the matter was brought to his attention by some African-American actors and he also claimed to have changed the title, saying, "If people say, 'I saw Willy Wonka,' people would know what they were talking about. If they say, 'I saw Charlie,' it doesn't mean anything".
The book was also in the midst of a controversy when the film was announced. Protest groups including the NAACP had taken issue with the original Oompa-Loompas depicted as African Pygmies and compared them to slavery. Stuart addressed the concerns for the film and suggested making them the distinctive green-and-orange characters.
Costume Gene Wilder wanted specific changes to Wonka's costume, including what type of trousers the character should wear, "the color and cut" of his jacket and the placement of pockets. Wilder also requested making Wonka's hat smaller, saying "The hat is terrific, but making it shorter would make it more special".
Casting
Before Wilder was officially cast as Willy Wonka, producers considered many actors. All six members of Monty Python (Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Gilliam, Terry Jones, and Michael Palin) expressed interest in playing Wonka, but at the time they were deemed not big enough names for an international audience. Spike Milligan was Roald Dahl's original choice. Peter Sellers reportedly begged Dahl for the role. Joel Grey was the front runner for the part but Stuart decided he was not physically imposing enough as the actor's height was five-foot-five. The producers learned that Fred Astaire wanted the part but the 72-year-old may have considered himself too old.
Actors were auditioned for the role of Willy Wonka in a suite at the Plaza Hotel in New York and by the end of the week Wilder had walked in. It was then Stuart and producer Wolper realised that they could stop looking. Wolper remarked, "The role fit him tighter than one of Jacques Cousteau's wetsuits." Stuart was captivated by Wilder's "humor in his eyes" and said, "His inflection was perfect. He had the sardonic, demonic edge that we were looking for." Wolper tried to suppress Stuart's eagerness for Wilder as he wanted to negotiate the salary. Regardless, Stuart ran out into the hall as Wilder was leaving and offered him the part of Wonka.
When Wilder was cast as Wonka, he accepted the role on one condition: Stuart responded, "What do you want to do that for?" Wilder answered, "From that time on, no one will know if I'm lying or telling the truth." Wilder was adamant that he would decline the role otherwise.