Hello, Dolly! (1969)

Director:

Gene Kelly

Writers:

Michael Stewart (based on a stage play by)
Thornton Wilder (based on the book "The Matchmaker" by)

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 | Merchant | New York City | Widow | Niece

Awards:

Won 3 Oscars. Another 1 win & 13 nominations

Cast

  (Credited 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
Tommy Tune	...	Ambrose Kemper
Joyce Ames	...	Ermengarde Vandergelder
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	...	Louis Armstrong

Also Known As:

Hello, Dolly! (Argentina) (Peru) (Spain) [es]
Alô, Dolly! (Brazil) [pt]
Alo!... Dolly... (Greece) [el]
Cici kiz (Turkey: Turkish title) [tr]
Hello Dolly (Denmark) [da]
Hello, Dolly! (Poland) [pl]
Hello, Dolly! (France) [fr]
Hello, Dolly! (Finland) [fi]

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) | DTS 70 mm (70mm re-release)

Certification:

Iceland:L | Canada:PG (Ontario) | Norway:7 | New Zealand:G | Peru:PT | 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:

Also in the original musical, Cornelius Hackl and the Widow Molloy sing "It Only Takes a Moment" in the courtroom during Horace Vandergelder's trial; in the movie, however, they sing "It Only Takes a Moment" in Central Park. The entire arrest and trial sequence was dropped for the movie version.

Goofs:

Continuity: Near the finale of "Now That I'm Dancing", the female dancers leap forward over a park bench via a low platform behind it. In the following wide shot, this riser has disappeared.

Quotes:

Horace: You are a seven-foot-tall nincompoop!
Ambrose Kemper: That's an insult!
Horace: All the facts about you are insults!

Movie Connections:

Referenced in The Dark Side of Tomorrow (1970)

Soundtrack:

It Takes a Woman

Put on your Sunday Clothes

This gargantuan musical was the last of its kind. It's like a dinosaur ear-marked for extinction and yet it's highly entertaining. Parts of it are terrible, (mostly those scenes in which Babs doesn't appear), and Gene Kelly's direction is never as light on its feet as his dancing used to be but when the aforementioned Miss Striesand is on screen, the movie soars. Critics complained that at 27 she was much too young for the part of Dolly Levi but she's a bona-fide star, so what the heck; her Dolly is ageless and as musical-comedy performances go this is one of the best.

The Jerry Herman score is decidedly old-fashioned Broadway. Sondheim may be the greater composer but Herman gave us tunes we could hum and the production numbers here are terrific, in particular the title song which gives us Striesand, high-kicking waiters and Louis Armstrong. Purists will always prefer the Joseph Anthony version of Thornton Wilder's original play "The Matchmaker" but this is no disgrace, so put on your Sunday clothes and let's have a whale of a time.