Hello, Dolly! (1969)

User Rating:

6.9/10   

Director:

Gene Kelly

Writers:

Ernest Lehman (writer)
Michael Stewart (stage musical)

Release Date:

16 December 1969 (USA)

Genre:

Romance | Comedy | Musical | Family

Plot:

A matchmaker named Dolly Levi takes a trip to Yonkers, New York to see the "well-known unmarried half-a-millionaire," Horace Vandergelder...

Plot Keywords:

Matchmaker | New York City | Widow | Broadway Musical | Yonkers New York

Awards:

Won 3 Oscars. Another 1 win & 13 nominations

Cast

Barbra Streisand	...	Dolly Levi
Walter Matthau	...	Horace Vandergelder
Michael Crawford	...	Cornelius Hackl
Marianne McAndrew	...	Irene Molloy
Danny Lockin	...	Barnaby Tucker
E.J. Peaker	...	Minnie Fay
Joyce Ames	...	Ermengarde Vandergelder
Tommy Tune	...	Ambrose Kemper
Judy Knaiz	...	Gussie Granger / Ernestina Simple
David Hurst	...	Rudolph Reisenweber
Fritz Feld	...	Fritz, German waiter
Richard Collier	...	Joe, Vandergelder's barber
J. Pat O'Malley	...	Policeman in Park
Louis Armstrong	...	Himself - Orchestra Leader
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Richard Monahan	...	Dancer

Runtime:

146 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

70 mm 6-Track (70 mm prints) (Westrex Recording System) | Mono (35 mm prints)

Certification:

Iceland:L | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Norway:7 | New Zealand:G | Argentina:Atp | Australia:G | Chile:TE | Finland:S | Singapore:PG | Spain:T | Sweden:Btl | UK:U | USA:G

Filming Locations:

20th Century Fox Studios - 10201 Pico Blvd., Century City, Los Angeles, California, USA

Company:

Chenault Productions

Trivia:

In the parade scene, the YWCA marching unit was the award-winning California High School Drill Team, under the direction of Ms. Jackie McCauley. The group was selected by Twentieth Century Fox based on their performance in the Hollywood Santa Claus Lane Parade on the Wednesday evening before Thanksgiving Day, 1967. The marching band in white uniforms was the UCLA Marching Band. The band in red and black uniforms was the San Fernando Valley Youth Band.

Goofs:

Audio/visual unsynchronized: During the "Hello Dolly" song at Harmonia Gardens towards the end of the movie, she's singing with Louis Armstrong, after they do their exaggerated "yeah..." she's supposed to sing "Dolly will never go away..." Her voice sings the word "will" in that phrase, but her mouth does not.

Quotes:

Ermengarde Vandergelder: But if I can't marry Ambrose, I know I'll die!
Horace: Of what?
Ermengarde Vandergelder: A broken heart.
Horace: Never heard of it.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Making of 'Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid' (1970)

Soundtrack:

It Takes a Woman (Reprise)

You all are wearing me out.

Perhaps... just perhaps... Gene Kelly INTENTIONALLY cast Barbara Streisand as a younger, more sexual Dolly rather than the older version because he thought it would make more money... obviously wrong, but nonetheless an interesting strategy. I don't remember much of that time (late 60's) but I do remember seeing the movie with my mother at a drive-in way back then, and then catching a commercial-ridden version on a local TV station in the 80's after I had significantly fallen in love with Babs by way of Yentl. I believe, if I remember correctly, that Rudy's line at the Harmonia Gardens says that Dolly has not made an appearance there in over 2 years (not 20, not 40, not 50)... Let's assume that Ephraim died some 2 years ago and Dolly in despair cut herself out of her old life. Even at 27 (Babs age at the time), she could have been widowed at 25, which at the turn of the century would have been about 7 years of marriage for most ladies... How long did she have to have been married to qualify as "experienced". She purposefully picks on Horace because she has decided not to look for another "love of her life," but rather has chosen to affect someone who is bound to spend his life alone (like she has been facing) and make something more of his life than he alone could have done. Remember she even says in her prayer to Ephraim "Oh it won't be a marriage in the sense that we had one..." Get off the "She's too young" kick and look at the movie for what it is... a big, splashy, excellent produced bit of Americana. Movie musicals will never be this audaciously classy and clever ever again.