Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is a 1971 American
musical fantasy film directed by
Mel Stuart from a screenplay by
Roald Dahl, based on his 1964 novel
Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. It stars
Gene Wilder as candymaker
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. With a budget of $3 million, the film received generally positive reviews from critics, but was not a big financial success, only earning $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 on repeated 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"
Charlie Bucket is a poor
paperboy who often looks inside a candy shop but cannot afford to buy sweets. Going home one evening, he passes confectioner
Willy Wonka's chocolate factory, where a
tinker tells him that no one ever enters or leaves the building. Charlie's bedridden Grandpa Joe reveals that Wonka had shut down the factory because rival confectioners sent spies to steal his recipes. Production resumed three years later, but the gates remained locked, and to prevent more sabotage, the original workers were not rehired, leaving their replacements a mystery.
Wonka announces that he has hidden five Golden Tickets in chocolate
Wonka Bars. Finders of the tickets will receive a factory tour and a lifetime supply of chocolate. The first four tickets are found by Augustus Gloop, a gluttonous German boy; Veruca Salt, the spoiled daughter of a wealthy English father; and two Americans, Violet Beauregarde, who chews gum constantly, and Mike Teevee, who is obsessed with television. As each winner is announced on television, a sinister-looking man appears and whispers to them. Charlie also takes advantage of his birthday, and a gift from Grandpa Joe, to open two Wonka bars, hoping to find a ticket, but he doesn't find one in either of them.
A news report reveals the fifth ticket was found by a millionaire in Paraguay, causing Charlie to lose hope. The next day, Charlie is on his way home from school when he finds money in a gutter and uses it to buy a Wonka Bar for himself and Grandpa Joe. Walking home, Charlie overhears that the millionaire forged the fifth ticket. Charlie opens his remaining Wonka Bar, discovering the final ticket. On his way, he encounters the sinister figure who spoke to the other winners. Introducing himself as Slugworth, one of Wonka's competitors, he offers a cash reward for a sample of Wonka's latest creation: the
Everlasting Gobstopper.
Arriving home with the Golden Ticket, Charlie chooses Grandpa Joe as his chaperone. Overjoyed, Grandpa Joe miraculously springs out of bed for the first time in twenty years. The next day, Wonka greets the ticket winners at the front gates of the factory and leads them inside. Each signs a discipline contract before the tour, which begins in the Chocolate Room, a whimsical indoor park with plants and flowers made of candy and a river of chocolate. The visitors meet Wonka's workforce: little people known as
Oompa-Loompas.
During the tour, each child's character flaws cause them to give in to temptation, resulting in their unusual elimination. Augustus gets sucked up a pipe after falling into the chocolate river; Violet swells up becoming a giant blueberry; Veruca falls down a garbage chute; and Mike is shrunk to the size of a chocolate bar. The Oompa Loompas sing a song of morality after each disposal.
While on tour, Charlie and Grandpa Joe enter the Fizzy Lifting Drinks room and sample the beverages against Wonka's orders. The drink makes them float up and have a near-fatal encounter with the ceiling exhaust fan, but burping allows them to escape and descend to the ground.
At the end of the tour, Wonka assures Charlie and Grandpa Joe that the other children will be fine before he hastily retreats to his office without awarding them the promised lifetime supply of chocolate. When they follow him in to ask about this, Wonka angrily informs them that they had violated the contract when they stole the Fizzy Lifting Drinks, thereby forfeiting their prize, and then furiously demands that they leave. Stunned and infuriated, Grandpa Joe vows to give Slugworth the Everlasting Gobstopper in retaliation, but Charlie decides to return it to Wonka instead. Seeing that Charlie did not resort to revenge, Wonka joyously declares Charlie the winner, reinstates his prize, and reveals that Slugworth is his employee, Mr. Wilkinson. The offer to buy the Gobstopper was a morality test for the kids, and only Charlie passed. The trio enters the Wonkavator, a multi-directional glass elevator that flies out of the factory. During their flight, Wonka tells Charlie that he created the contest to find someone worthy enough to inherit his factory, so he will give it to Charlie and his family upon retiring.
Oompa-Loompas[6]
Munich Gasworks as it appeared in 2011 (building on the left)
Munich Gasworks as it appeared in 2011 (building on the right)
Nördlingen, the town seen from above at the end of the film
