Hello, Dolly! (1969)

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:

Broadway Musical | Based On Musical | 1890s | Hat | Wealthy

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	...	Louis, Orchestra Leader

Also Known As:

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

Certification:

Iceland:L | New Zealand:G | Norway:7 | Canada:PG (Ontario) | 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 Inc.

Trivia:

When director George Roy Hill heard about the turn-of-the-century New York set constructed for the film, he wanted to use the set to film a brief sequence in which Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (1969) and Etta Place visit the Big Apple. The producers were proprietary about the set, and didn't want it to appear in another movie. 20th Century Fox, however, allowed Hill to take still photographs of his stars Paul Newman, Robert Redford and Katharine Ross on the set, surrounded by the extras (who appear it the old-time, tinted photos as city crowds) which were used in a montage sequence that served as a transition between the U.S. West and Bolivia sections of the movie.

Goofs:

Anachronisms: The Budweiser Clydesdales and beer wagon appear in the 14th street parade. They were not formed until 1933, well after the period in which Hello Dolly is set.

Quotes:

Horace: I'm going to march in the 14th street parade with the only kind of people I can trust: 700 men.

Movie Connections:

Referenced in "The Nanny: You Bette Your Life (#4.23)" (1997)

Soundtrack:

It Takes a Woman

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.