Fantasy based on the classic children's book by Roald Dahl, starring Gene Wilder. Most children, at one hungry time or another, dream of visiting a chocolate factory. For young Charlie Bucket the fantasy comes true when he finds a golden ticket in a candy bar: an invitation to tour the giant factory of eccentric sweet tycoon Willy Wonka.
Tim Burton's 2005 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory featured Johnny Depp creepily channelling Michael Jackson as eccentric sweet manufacturer Willy Wonka. In this fabulous 1971 musical adaptation of Roald Dahl's evergreen story, it's Gene Wilder who parks his buffoonish comic persona to bring a pinch of the macabre to the wide-eyed candy-maker. Dahl wrote the script and though he had misgivings about the finished article, this vibrant, imaginative fantasy still reveals a layer of grimness beneath the confection. Peter Ostrum makes a convincing Charlie Bucket, desperate to find that last golden ticket to gain entrance to Wonka's phantasmagoric factory, and Julie Dawn Cole is perfectly awful (a compliment!) as spoilt and spiky Veruca Salt. Meanwhile Jack Albertson (Grandpa Joe) and Roy Kinnear (Mr Salt) bring sugar and spice as their grown-up guardians. Add singalong ditties like The Candy Man, Pure Imagination and the Oompa-Loompa song, and you have wonderful, timeless entertainment.
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Willy Wonka | Gene Wilder |
| Grandpa Joe | Jack Albertson |
| Charlie Bucket | Peter Ostrum |
| Augustus Gloop | Michael Bollner |
| Mrs Gloop | Ursula Reit |
| Violet Beauregarde | Denise Nickerson |
| Mr Beauregarde | Leonard Stone |
| Veruca Salt | Julie Dawn Cole |
| Mr Salt | Roy Kinnear |
| Mike Teevee | Paris Themmen |
| Mrs Teevee | Dodo Denney |
| Mrs Bucket | Diana Sowle |
| Mr Bill | Aubrey Woods |
| Mr Turkentine | David Battley |
| Slugworth | Günter Meisner |
| Computer operator | Tim Brooke-Taylor |
| Henrietta Salt | Pat Coombs |
| role | name |
|---|---|
| Director | Mel Stuart |
