Oliver!

What’s the Story?

Based on Charles Dickens' Oliver Twist, this glorious musical (an Oscar-winner for Best Picture) centers on young Oliver (Mark Lester), an orphan who so outrages the orphanage staff by asking for a second bowl of gruel that he's sold to undertaker Mr. Sowerberry as an apprentice. He runs away from the abuse and meets charming rapscallion Artful Dodger (Jack Wild). Dodger is part of a gang of child pickpockets led by Fagin (Ron Moody), who takes young Oliver in as his new apprentice thief. Oliver is arrested for picking the pocket of wealthy Mr. Brownlow, who takes an interest in him and brings him home. Bill Sikes (Oliver Reed), a murderous thief who works with Fagin, kidnaps Oliver to prevent him from giving away the details of their enterprise. Bill kills his girlfriend, Nancy, when she tries to help Oliver escape. Bill himself is killed, and Oliver is returned to Mr. Brownlow, who turns out to be his uncle.

Is It Any Good?

With many truly glorious songs and stellar performances, this 1968 film version of the Broadway musical earned six Oscars. Although young Oliver is truly alone in the beginning of the film, Fagin and the boys give him a sense of family, singing warmly to him that he's to "consider yourself one of us!" They're the first to see him as an individual instead of as a troublesome animal and the first to give him any affection.

On the less warm-and-fuzzy side, there are some truly nefarious adult characters here. Bill Sikes is entirely amoral, willing to do anything to further his own interests. Orphanage manager Mr. Bumble and undertaker Mr. Sowerberry, both considered by themselves and those around them to be sterling, law-abiding citizens, aren't much better. Like Bill, they have no compunctions about putting their own interests first, no matter what the cost is to others. But Nancy and Fagin have limits. They'll engage in small crimes, but have some sense of fundamental integrity.