Hello Dolly!

20th Century Fox, 1969
Directed By Gene Kelly
Starring Barbara Streisand, Walter Matthau, Michael Crawford, and Marianne McAndrew
Music and Lyrics by Jerry Herman

The Story: Dolly Levi (Streisand) is a matchmaker (and pretty much everything else) in 1890 New York City who has been engaged by wealthy feed store owner Horace Vandergelder (Matthau) to find a husband for his niece Ermengarde (Joyce Ames). Horace has his own interest in Irene Malloy (McAndrew), who runs a hat shop with her friend Minnie Faye (E.J Peaker). They're not the only ones visiting New York, either. Dolly encourages Horace's clerks Cornelius (Crawford) and Barnaby (Danny Locklin) to close the feed store and head to the big city in search of excitement and their first romances. She also brings together Ermengarde with her artist sweetheart Ambrose (Tommy Tune).

After a disastrous afternoon at Irene and Minnie's shop, everyone finally ends up at the Harmonia Gardens restaurant, Dolly's old favorite stomping grounds. A friend of Dolly's (Judy Knaiz) keeps Horace from fleeing while Dolly makes her big entrance. He's not as happy when she ends up judging a dancing contest...and his clerks and niece are involved in it. Dolly has to figure out how to bring all these couples together...including Horace and herself.

The Song and Dance: Let's get the elephant out of the room. Yes, Barbara Streisand was probably too young to be playing Dolly. Honestly, she's having so much fun (especially in "So Long, Dearie"), it doesn't really matter. Walter Matthau is even better as the cranky object of her affections. This movie was so expensive, it almost bankrupted Fox, but it was money well-spent. There's so many wonderful details of 1890 New York and Yonkers bursting from every frame, you can spend a viewing alone trying to catch them all. The cinematography's nice too, especially on some of the bigger numbers like "Dancing" and "Before the Parade Passes By."

Favorite Number: Kelly and choreographer Michael Todd are at their best in vigorous ensemble pieces like "Put On Your Sunday Clothes," "Dancing," and the title song. "Before the Parade Passes By" features a powerhouse performance from Streisand and one of the most expansive and realistic parades ever on film. Crawford's lovely "It Only Takes a Moment" and the hilarious "Elegance" are also fun.

What I Don't Like: Crawford's American accent keeps going in and out and is distracting at times. Like many musicals of the late 60's-early 70's, it's too big, with too much going on. Pretty much everyone working on the film, from Kelly and Kidd to Streisand and Matthau, clashed, making this a troubled production all around, and the tension does show on occasion, especially during the second half.

The Big Finale: Critics have been rough on it since it came out, and it took it being one of the first movies released on home video in 1978 for it to recoup it's costs. (Despite it being one of the biggest hits of 1969, it still lost money.) I think they're too rough on it and am more inclined to agree with big Dolly fan Wall-E. This is a charming romp if you're a fan of Streisand or Matthau or like your musicals as big and bold as possible.

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