Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory1971

I’m constantly amazed at how tight this movie is. Even “Cheer Up, Charlie” is sincere, even while it might not be a favorite repeat watch for youngsters. Kids movies work best when they’re playing on another level, one that adults can appreciate and one where kids don’t feel like they’re being talked down to. Deadpan newscasters, a psychotic psychiatrist, a wise-cracking Wonka-bar locating computer, and a woman who can’t decide between ransoming her kidnapped husband or keeping her last box of Wonka bars. It’s genius material for a kids movie. That’s not to even get into the brutal mutilation of the lucky golden ticket finders. Mel Stuart’s version of Roald Dahl’s Classic checks all the boxes for inventiveness, whimsy, humor, suspense, and healthy display of class, poverty, greed, selfishness, untruthfulness, and goodness. But above all, the shining star of this feature will always be Gene Wilder. It was he who requested that Wonka come out limping, so that no one could trust him going forward. His dialogue is perfection. 93% crazed genius, 6% insults, 4% more insults, and 2% butterscotch ripple. “You should open your mouth a little wider when you speak,” “With your buoyancy, sir, rest assured...” This is within the first few minutes of knowing each other and moments after Mrs. Gloop’s son just got sucked away in a strange factory tube: Mrs. Gloop: My son! He’ll be made into marshmallows in five seconds! Wonka: Impossible, my dear lady! That’s absurd! Unthinkable! Mrs. Gloop: Why?! Wonka: Because that pipe doesn’t go to the marshmallow rooom! It goes to the fudge room! Mrs. Gloop: You terrible man! It only gets better every time I watch it. Probably because I identify with Willy Wonka more with every passing year.