Using as its source Dickens' overstuffed novel about the tragic orphan 'boy for sale,' Carol Reed's film, an adaptation of the very successful stage presentation, introduces us to young Oliver (Mark Lester), who suffers in Mr. Bumble's (Harry Secombe) horrible orphanage until the day he dares to say those famous and fateful words while in the dinner line: 'Please, sir. I want some more.' Tossed out and wondering if he'll ever taste 'Food, Glorious Food' again, he soon falls in with a gang of child pickpockets led by the always affable Artful Dodger (Jack Wild) and managed by Fagin (Ron Moody), a lieutenant of the evil Bill Sikes (Oliver Reed), perhaps the scariest musical villain this side of The Sound of Music's Nazis. It's the Artful Dodger who tells Oliver to 'Consider Yourself' one of the family. Soon, they're thieving together, under the protective wing of Sikes's girlfriend Nancy, the quintessential whore-with-a-heart-of-gold for whom, the Artful Dodger admits, 'I'd Do Anything.'
A lot of activity swirls around Oliver as his story progresses. He's rescued, adopted, kidnapped, and returned to Sikes, with an amazing amount of plot-appropriate singing and dancing propelling things along. The second half is especially dramatic, with an increasing suspenseful climax delayed by Nancy's heartbreaking Act II showstopper, 'As Long As He Needs Me.' How cruel that only minutes later, 'he,' as in Sikes, is seen beating her to death with his cane (a cinematic scene burned into my innocent childhood memory like few others).
Though Lester didn't do his own singing (they used a young girl's voice), he's winning as young Oliver, and he's helped greatly by the Oscar-nominated Wild, who would go on to freak out a generation of American kids in the early '70s with his starring role in the hallucinogenic H.R. Pufnstuf TV series. The movie's five Oscar wins (out of 11 nominations) were for Reed and four technical categories, and deservedly so. The film looks fabulous, with Dickensian London carefully depicted in all its squalor. From the widest street scenes to the most intimate close-ups, the film feels as real as any musical can, and that's no small feat. Suspending your disbelief is not a problem.
Though four musicals won Best Picture in the '60s, with Oliver! as the last, it would be another 34 years before Hollywood could make it happen again with Chicago. Perhaps that's because Oliver! was such a tough act to follow.
He got some more, all right.
