Skip to main content

Hello, Holly! (1969)

Friday, February 6, 2009

Hello, Dolly!. Feature film. (1969, 146 mins) IMDB

...One of the last big Hollywood musicals ever produced....

H

ello, Dolly! has to be one of the last monster musicals made in Hollywood. I don't know what the budget was, but bigger than large is probably a good starting point. The cast is enormous and since it's a period piece, the costumes were many and varied and expensive. Then the sets. Some on location, with construction to fit the times, but in addition massive sound stage sets and backlot sets. It's miracle this film was made at all and it looks good, no great, but that's probably the best you can say about this film.

Walter Mathau fits the bill as a cranky bachelor, but he can't sing or dance and, guess what, it's sort of important in a musical.

Of course Streisand can sing, we all know that, but there aren't many songs worth the effort. There really is only one memorable song in the movie, the title song and it's not associated with Streisand. That would be Louis Armstrong. They bring him in but only give him only a minute of screen time. That makes no sense.

Michael Crawford can do it all, but his voice didn't sound right in this film.

And I'm sorry, but Tommy Tune looked lanky and out of place. He looked like sticks moving. Long, long sticks.

A Hollywood musical is a love story where the plot takes us from one action sequence (i.e., song and dance) to the next. It ends with the biggest production piece that blows the top off. The biggest set-piece occurs in a restaurant before Act III. The ending seemed week and low-budget compared to what transpired before. I know they didn't shot it in sequence, but it was almost as if they ran out money when it came time to shot Act III.

There is a love story narrative to this film. Dolly is Mrs. Levi, a matchmaker and widow. She's trying to set up Mathau, a wealthy businessman with some wealthy woman, but it hasn't worked out too well. Mahtau has a niece who wants to marry Ambrose, the local artist. The uncle thinks he's a fool and bum and not worthy of his niece, but she's in love.

Mathau has two clerks working in his store. Cornelius and Barnaby. Both are young, naive etc. They take a trip to NYC from Yonkers just to kiss a girl for the first times in their lives.

Need I say they all end up marching into a church for a wedding? I didn't think so.

Posted 2009/02/06 at 10h39ET in Movie Commentary.

Labels:

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

If Only We Could Agree

Monday, June 11, 2012 ... have you been accused of misspelling a word you know is correct ... S usanne O’Leary wrote an interesting article on her experience with the variations of the English language in different countries. You know the obvious ones like colour with or without a “u” but less obvious ones like travelled versus traveled. Growing up in Sweden she learnt English in school—the UK variation. In publishing her books, she read reviews where she was criticized for improper spelling. False accusations as it turns out. While I write tire and cozy, it’s not incorrect to write tyre or cosy. Same language. Both accepted. Just different. You can read her write-up here along with the numerous comments posted by readers. I found it interesting, but that’s me. As a Canadian I deal with this issue everyday. I feel her pain when she’s criticized for something based on ignorance. No fun. I was told by a boss that “data are” isn’t correct. It should be “data is.” Read...
2 comments
Read more

Day 109: Writing a Novel—The Deep Blue Hold

Sunday, March 6, 2017 Note: Unedited writings from my notebook for this novel. Square bracket items represent added comments. At 18:47 Office ... I barely remembered anything about this story ... H as it really been three months? I guess it has. I put it out of my mind [so much so] that I barely remembered anything about this story. Not even the title. [Unreal!!!!!!] I had the general premise and an ending—enough I thought for a novel. What I lacked was a determination and desire to want to write it. Why bother… I wasn’t enjoying the process and I had no reason to believe the result wouldn’t be anything more than what’s gone before—nothing. James Piper Kitchener, Ontario Post comments on facebook page. Follow me on twitter. Posted 2017/04/14 at 14h02ET in The Deep Blue Cage | Writing A Novel
Post a Comment
Read more

Words: BONE—GONE—LOAN—BOAN

Friday, March 31, 2017 You’d think BONE would rhyme with GONE but no. This is the English language after all. But BONE does rhyme with LOAN so we’ll spell it BOAN. It will take some time to update all the existing writings but it can be done. Meanwhile, if you smash up your car, the insurance company will allow you to get a LOANER and if you happen to meet the right person you may get a BOANER. boan Post comments on facebook page Posted 2017/03/31 at 17h28ET in Words .
Post a Comment
Read more