Hello, Dolly!

One of the last of the lavish Old Hollywood musicals. The performances are all fine, with Streisand the obvious standout, vocally and otherwise. Michael Crawford is a little goofy but I guess he's supposed to be. He's a little Dick Van Dyke-ish at times. Your mileage may vary on whether that's a good thing or not. I was less interested in his plot than the one involving Streisand and Walter Matthau. Pretty much anytime Babs is on screen things are much more lively. I say this as someone who isn't her biggest fan, but she really does own this film. The direction from legend Gene Kelly is solid and appropriately old-school for its time. It really feels like a throwback to the MGM musicals of the 1940s and 50s, with great sets and costumes and big production numbers. The cinematography is also very beautiful. So it's a great-looking movie with an upbeat tempo throughout and some very nice songs. The length is the biggest negative, and I did find myself checking my watch during a couple of the lengthy Crawford segments. But it's still a good movie with a lot to recommend, especially for fans of older musicals.

I'm still not sure why I like this movie as much as I do. I'm not overly fond of Barbara Streisand, but this movie showcases her in just the right light. The music is wonderful, the dancing, especially durning the Harmonia Gardens dinner scenes, is fantastic. Louis Armstrong, who originally recorded the song without ever seeing the Broadway show, adds just the right touch to the showmanship of the picture.

"Hello, Dolly!" is the film version of the Broadway play that won ten Tony awards in 1964, including best musical, and best actress in a musical: Carol Channing. As the original Dolly Levi, Channing starred in the Broadway version for a year and a half in the mid 60's, and then toured with the production nationally, off and on, even into the 90's. Substituting "Lyndon" for "Dolly", she even sang the title song at the 1964 Democratic National Convention, to the delight of LBJ, who adopted the tune as his presidential theme song. Such was the stature of Carol Channing in the 1960's, and the acclaim she brought, both to the character of Dolly, and to the entire "Hello, Dolly!" Broadway production. Through the years many actresses have tried to play Dolly Levi. But none could equal the legendary Carol Channing, in my opinion. I saw her stage performance; she, and she alone, had the ability to make the character of Dolly credible. But, unfortunately, for whatever reason, the powers that be decided not to cast Channing in the film, one of the saddest errors in movie musical history. The film was a box office disappointment. Although Channing's absence is the film's single biggest letdown for me, it is not the only letdown. With a DVD run time of 146 minutes, the film gushes with lengthy and, at times, totally unnecessary scenes. The gaudy parade spectacle alone, with all that pomp and mass of humanity, goes on for six minutes, while doing nothing to further the plot. Similarly, all those scenes in the Harmonia Gardens are over produced, over directed, and just plain overblown. Further, "Hello, Dolly!" is supposed to be a comedy. At least the stage version with Carol Channing was funny. The film does have a few good points. Louis Armstrong makes a welcome, but too brief, appearance toward the end of the film. The late Danny Lockin, with tons of talent, gives a wonderfully animated performance. And Marianne McAndrew, with her perfect posture and stunning overall appearance, is excellent in the role of Irene. These few gold nuggets aside, the film does not live up to what it could have been, had there been some restraint in production, some careful editing, and especially the inclusion of Carol Channing in the title role.

Hello Dolly is really a fun film, it's based on Thorton Wilders "The Matchmaker" And thats just what Dolly is, She interferes with peoples lives for a living. From this ensues a lot of toe tapping music and enthusiastic energy. I really love this film, and I think it's one of the great musicals and people can't help but be swept up by it. It's brassy and loud but a great film to see. Barbra Streisand is not my favorite actress, but she brings vitality and loud mouth approch to the role that is pretty funny. My favorite characters are Cornelius Hackl and Baraby Tucker, they make a good comedy team (one tall, one short). I love the way they get nervous when first entering Miss Malloy's Hat shop. I enjoyed every minute of the movie. If you're in the mood for a good old fashioned musical with great energy, go for Hello Dolly.

I had the dubious honor of being a part of my high school's production of HELLO DOLLY a zillion years ago, so there was a time when I was intimately familiar with both the play and the film. It's been a long time and truthfully, I had my reservations about the show even then. Watching the film again this past Saturday on Reel 13, I was reminded how lame the show really is and the film version, as directed by Gene Kelly, is even worse. I suspect the popularity of Jerry Herman's original production during the 60's had more to do with the Carol Channing persona than the story. If that's true, then the film was handicapped before it even began by bypassing Channing in favor of a very young Barbra Streisand, playing a character fifteen or twenty years older than she actually was. This is not to say that Streisand is bad in the role. Her strongest assets – her voice and her comic timing – are on prime display here and she imbues the character with an engaging energy and vitality. She puts forth extraordinary effort, but one has a hard time believing that a) she is a widowed matchmaker and has been out of the public scene for a decade and b) she would be a good match for Walter Matthau's Horace Vandergelder character. This is the primary plot of the film and the film suffers because it never once seems plausible. Gosh – Streisand seems even younger than the ingénue Irene Malloy character (Marianne McAndrew). Unfortunately, the rest of the cast, who were at least age-appropriate, were horribly off-the-mark in their performances. On the whole, I blame Kelly, who seems to have directed all of them (except maybe Streisand and Matthau) to be ridiculously over-the-top. This includes a baby-faced Michael Crawford as Cornelius Hackl and a I-don't-believe-he's-straight-for-a-second Tommy Tune, both of which went on to have wonderful stage careers. On film, they come off as silly and cartoonish. What's interesting to me is that as an actor, Kelly was always so smooth, sincere and understated. I'm bewildered as to why he wasn't able to bring that style to the table when he's behind the camera. It could have done wonders for the plot. It's hard enough to believe that all these people fall in love (there are four couples in the film) within a twenty-four hour period. The wide-eyed, loud and juvenile performance styles make it impossible, but I wonder what it would have been like if the characters had the opportunity to establish real connections with each other – make us care and root for them to get together. It could have made for an entirely different experience. (For more information on this or any other Reel 13 film, check out their website at www.reel13.org)

This gargantuan musical was the last of its kind. It's like a dinosaur ear-marked for extinction and yet it's highly entertaining. Parts of it are terrible, (mostly those scenes in which Babs doesn't appear), and Gene Kelly's direction is never as light on its feet as his dancing used to be but when the aforementioned Miss Striesand is on screen, the movie soars. Critics complained that at 27 she was much too young for the part of Dolly Levi but she's a bona-fide star, so what the heck; her Dolly is ageless and as musical-comedy performances go this is one of the best. The Jerry Herman score is decidedly old-fashioned Broadway. Sondheim may be the greater composer but Herman gave us tunes we could hum and the production numbers here are terrific, in particular the title song which gives us Striesand, high-kicking waiters and Louis Armstrong. Purists will always prefer the Joseph Anthony version of Thornton Wilder's original play "The Matchmaker" but this is no disgrace, so put on your Sunday clothes and let's have a whale of a time.

A lesson in miscasting! Walter Matthau is a wonderful comedic actor, but misfit in a romantic lead and has no vocal talent. Lee Marvin did much better in "Paint Your Wagon" and may have been a better choice for this lead. Barbara Streisand lives up to her "loud" reputation. The only vocal talent in this film is Barbara or silenced. Cameos by Liza and Louis only beg the issue of having a cameo at all. Neither was used to full advantage. Choreography was well done, but this is a Gene Kelly film. We would expect that. The feature song "Hello Dolly" was overdone. The song should have been presented with a much greater part by Louis Armstrong and a much smaller part by Streisand. My rating -2- objectively, a little better that totally awful.

Forget the stories about miscasting and squabbles on the set. This production of HELLO, DOLLY! is big and bright and brassy with Barbra Streisand taking center stage as Dolly Levi, the matchmaker with a mind to marry a crusty "half-a-millionaire" from Yonkers. The story line is familiar. The musical is based on Thornton Wilder's play THE MATCHMAKER and was a Broadway sensation for Carol Channing in 1964. This film version trims the story, drops a couple songs, and adds a new one ("Love Is Only Love"). Directed by Gene Kelly and choreographed by Michael Kidd, the film makes good use of location shooting around New York State. Streisand, in only her second film, is in great voice and shows a nice comic touch. Yes, Dolly is supposed to be "middle aged," but it really doesn't matter. And with those turn-of-the-century hair styles and clothes, you can't tell anyway. Walter Matthau is good as crusty Horace (though his accent wanders) and Michael Crawford makes for a delightful Cornelius Hackl. Marianne McAndrew is Irene, E.J. Peaker is Minnie, and Danny Lockin is Barnaby. Others in the cast include Judy Knaiz as Gussie, Tommy Tune as Ambrose, Joyce Ames as Ermengarde, David Hurst as Rudy, and Louis Armstrong as the bandleader. The songs by Jerry Herman are wonderful and have witty lyrics. Two huge production numbers dominate the film. In the first half, "Before the Parade Passes By" is a stunner, sung by Streisand, it turns into a gigantic parade beneath a summer sky and it's as big and brassy a musical number as you'll ever see. Of course the title song is a show stopper and well staged in the Harmonia Gardens on 14th Street. Streisand makes her famous entrance (and return to life after a period of widowhood) down a grand staircase. She wears a glittering gown of gold as she sings and dances with a battery of waiters. She also does a memorable duet with Armstrong (in his final film appearance). Yes, it's old fashioned. But the film is so bright and tuneful, it never lags. It was the #4 box-office hit of 1969. Bottom line: Streisand makes for a great Dolly, and this is a great film musical.

Just as if you have a bad Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, the entire play will fall flat, if you have a bad Dolly Levi in Hello, Dolly, the musical won't be any good. This Broadway musical is a highly sought after role for middle aged women, a tour-de-force they hope to play, usually to warm up for or coast after playing Mama Rose in Gypsy. Barbra Streisand would have been an excellent choice for the famous matchmaker, except in 1969 she was too young. Dolly Levi is supposed to be a middle-aged widow who sings the show-stopping song "Before the Parade Passes By" because it's a metaphor for her life, not a twenty-seven-year-old woman with impeccable makeup and a hair color that's as flattering as her clothes. Unfortunately, the lack of a gray wig on Babs is not the only flaw in Hello, Dolly! Michael Crawford plays Cornelius, and it takes an enormous amount of suspension of disbelief to buy into the love story between him and Marianne McAndrew. In the original film The Matchmaker, starring Shirley Booth, the young romantic leads were played by Shirley MacLaine and Anthony Perkins. Anthony is handsome and sweet, so it makes sense that Shirley M considers giving up a fortune for true love. Michael Crawford is bumbling, gangly, and almost acts like he's mentally off. Plus-sorry Phantom of the Opera fans-but his voice leaves much to be desired. Ironically, his romantic companion did have her voice dubbed! Walter Matthau plays Babs's love interest, and there's no feasible reason why she would ever want him, let alone when she's so young and still could have any number of men she wanted. He's unattractive, incredibly grumpy, walks through his song like it's the last thing in the world he wants to be doing, and acts like he hates the very sight of his pursuer-which, he actually did. Rumor has it that he hated Barbra Streisand so much he actually refused to kiss her! So, my great question, as it seems to be with everyone in this movie, is why was he cast? Gene Kelly directed this movie, and while he had enormous attention to detail in the costumes, production designs, and choreography, he didn't seem to have a great eye for his cast. Why didn't he pick his old sailor-suit buddy Frank Sinatra for Walter Matthau's part? He would have been the right age, he could sing without making audiences cringe, and Jerry Herman could have written him a couple of extra songs-as he did for Barbra. It would have been totally believable why Babs moves Heaven and Earth to be with him, and when he sings his song "It Takes a Woman" it would have been incredibly cute for the Guys and Dolls star to sing another ode to the fairer sex. I know I've been dissing this movie adaptation quite a bit, but there are some good parts to it. Obviously, if Hello, Dolly! is one of your favorite musicals, you're going to want to rent the movie. Barbra Streisand in her gold dress during the title song is a pretty famous image. And Barbra does have a wonderful voice, so it's fun to watch her take control of the screen, especially in the show-stopping "So Long Dearie". Also, if you're a fashion fanatic, you'll probably want to rent this one just to look at Irene Sharaff's gorgeous dresses. Besides that, this is one of those movies you'll watch once to say you did and then not really want to show your friends.

The miscasting of Barbra Streisand is an interesting topic of discussion regarding this movie. She's way too young, as everyone else has said; despite slight changes to the script and giving everyone the benefit of the doubt, it's silly to think that a woman in her mid twenties would have built up both the social contacts and worldly sangfroid that the character possesses. That said, however, she does about as well as anyone could ask playing a role she was 3 decades too young for. The animosity between Barbra and Walter Matthau is another problem--they have no chemistry together whatsoever. While his annoyance with her at the beginning is believable, the turnabout at the end comes across completely false. Fortunately, the movie has many other charms to make up for that central problem. My favorite part of the movie, and the heart of the film, is the "courtship" of Cornelius & Irene and Barnaby & Minnie Fay. Michael Crawford and the late Danny Lockin are absolutely adorable as Cornelius and Barnaby. The "Dancing" and "Elegance" numbers and the dinner scene at the Harmonia Gardens are worth the price of admission alone. Barbra plays better with the rest of the cast too; she's more believable as a "woman of the world" when she's with the younger cast members. The production design is wonderful as well. While the movie was outrageously expensive for its time, just about every dollar is visible on screen. The claustrophobic musicals they've made since the Seventies really look deficient when compared to the wide-open dance scenes and crowd shots in classic musicals like this one. All in all, Hello, Dolly has much to offer. It's not the best musical ever made by a long shot, but it's undeniably fun to watch. It would be fun to see Barbra play the role now that she's a more appropriate age for it. Unfortunately, she doesn't do musicals anymore. Maybe Tyne Daly would take the part.