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.

This film was certainly beautiful to look at and listen to. I was lucky to see it in 70 mm during its initial roadshow release. It was one of the few movies to have the negative actually filmed in 70 mm, rather than having the standard 35 mm merely blown up to 70 mm for the roadshow. "The Sound of Music" was another picture originally filmed in 70 mm, and we all know how beautiful the cinematography was in that. Sadly, the high cost of 70 mm has essentially ended the use of that type of film format.

"Hello, Dolly!" deserved the Oscars it won, such as musical direction, sound, and art direction-set design. About 15 years ago I stopped in the riverside village of Garrison, New York, to see where it was partially filmed. The real building that was adapted into Vandergelder's Hay & Feed was still there at the time, and "Vandergelder" was etched on the window pane from its use in the film. The bridge over the railway tracks is still there.

As much as I like the film as a whole, it does have some problems that could have been easily corrected. The early scene with Walter Matthau and Tommy Tune arguing over Ermengarde is overly dramatic and simply too theatrical. It might have been fine on Broadway, but the genre of cinema requires a bit of toning down. I blame this purely on Gene Kelly, the director, who should have known better. He is the one who is supposed to sense the pacing and delivery of lines. I get the impression he was trying to speed things up, knowing that there is a lot to fit into the picture. The screenplay was naturally required to closely follow the original material, but it could have been simplified a bit without sacrificing anything important. An example of this is the endless number of times that the audience is reminded that the main characters are going "to New York" by train. Once was enough.

Still, the music and choreography are superb, and carry the picture. Not everyone in it can sing as beautifully as Barbra Streisand, but it succeeds nonetheless. The number "Put On Your Sunday Clothes" is one of Hollywood's golden moments in terms of production quality. I have seen Carol Channing do the stage version and she was great, but I also feel that Barbra Streisand was perfectly adequate here. She can sing better than Ms. Channing and has real star quality.

If you visit the interesting Hudson River area of New York state, you will be warmly reminded of the scenic beauty in "Hello, Dolly!" Drop by the U.S. Military Academy at West Point to take the public tour and you will see the magnificent setting where the final wedding scene was done, minus the church of course.

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.

The strange history of the making of Hello Dolly could make a fine motion picture itself. The feuding between Barbra Streisand and Walter Matthau during the filming is well known and documented. The incredible costs of the thing has also become an object lesson for movie producers who are not operating in the days of the studio system and actually have to pay the talent involved what they're worth. It's the biggest reason why musical films are now so few and far between.

But I read a fascinating story in the Citadel Film series book on the films of Gene Kelly who directed Hello Dolly. It seems as though 20th Century Fox after scoring so big with The Sound Of Music decided on buying other big budget Broadway musicals hoping for lightning to strike twice. They bought the rights of Hello Dolly from producer David Merrick with the proviso that the film not be shown until the Broadway run concluded.

So Fox made the film with huge production costs with borrowed money from bankers who wanted their loans paid back as soon as possible. What Merrick did and certainly the demand was there was to keep the show running. Hello Dolly wrapped in early 1968 and was over a year sitting on the shelf not earning a dime. In the meantime the finance boys had to be repaid and with heavy interest.

Fox went to court to get out of the contract and release the film and Merrick did for some hefty financial consideration. By the time Hello Dolly sold its first ticket there was no way it could ever payback the cost. In fact it was the fifth highest grossing film of 1969 and still Fox lost big money on it. In the words of Barnaby Tucker, "Holy Cabooses".

Well they spent big money on it and it shows. The production numbers are expensive, the entire town of Garrison, New York was made up to look like Yonkers at the turn of the last century. The New York scenes were lovely to look at and expensive to the bean counters. And what the biggest musical star of her time commanded in salary ate a lot of that budget as well.

It's a great film that Kelly put together however and certainly Gene Kelly was a man who knew his way around the musical film. Between Streisand and Matthau feuding he must have felt like a referee. But both were professional enough to turn in good performances though the chemistry isn't quite there.

Louis Armstrong's record of the title song is an American classic and it was almost mandatory that he appear in the film. His duet with Barbra Streisand is a piece of cinematic musical history. A fitting end for a man who brought the joy of living to his art and shared it with a grateful world.

Besides the immortal title song Jerry Herman's score has some other gems in it as well. Streisand has one of the best numbers in her career with When The Parade Passes By and young Michael Crawford and Danny Lockin as Matthau's employees sing and dance a storm in It Only Takes A Moment.

I can't finish this review without a word about Danny Lockin who left this earth way too soon the victim of a brutal murder. His performance as Barnaby Tucker is so winning that you can't help a tear coming to your eye when you read about his fate. His dancing reminded a whole lot of Donald O'Connor, I'll bet Donald O'Connor thought so as well if he saw Hello Dolly. He lived a life that convention dictate as a gay man he could not be open about it. The closet eventually killed him, but he left us this wonderful performance to remember him by.

And to you, the late Danny Lockin this review is respectfully dedicated to. Holy Cabooses Danny, I'll bet you're giving Terpsichore a lesson in high stepping.

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.