Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory facts for kids

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory
Theatrical release poster
Directed by	Mel Stuart
Produced by	Stan Margulies David L. Wolper
Screenplay by	Roald Dahl David Seltzer
Starring	Gene Wilder Jack Albertson Peter Ostrum Roy Kinnear Julie Dawn Cole Leonard Stone Denise Nickerson Dodo Denney Paris Themmen
Music by	Leslie Bricusse Anthony Newley Walter Scharf
Cinematography	Arthur Ibbetson
Editing by	David Saxon
Studio	Wolper Pictures The Quaker Oats Company
Distributed by	Paramount Pictures
Release date(s)	June 30, 1971 (1971-06-30) (United States)
Running time	100 minutes
Country	United States
Language	English
Budget	$3 million
Money made	$4 million

Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is a 1971 American musical fantasy family film directed by Mel Stuart, and starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. It is an adaptation of the 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl. Dahl was credited with writing the film's screenplay; however, David Seltzer, who went uncredited in the film, was brought in to re-work the screenplay against Dahl's wishes, making major changes to the ending and adding musical numbers. These changes and other decisions made by the director led Dahl to disown the film.

The film tells the story of Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum) as he receives a Golden Ticket and visits Willy Wonka's chocolate factory with four other children from around the world.

Filming took place in Munich in 1970, and the film was released by Paramount Pictures on June 30, 1971.

With a budget of just $3 million, the film received generally positive reviews and earned $4 million by the end of its original run. T

he film became highly popular in part through repeated television airings and home entertainment sales. In 1972, the film received an Academy Award nomination for Best Original Score, and Wilder was nominated for a Golden Globe as Best Actor in a Musical or Comedy, but both nominations lost to Fiddler on the Roof.

The film also introduced the song "The Candy Man", which went on to become a popular hit when recorded by Sammy Davis Jr.

In 2014, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant".

Plot

In a small town in 1970, Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum), a poor paperboy, watches a group of children visit a candy shop. Walking home, he passes Willy Wonka's chocolate factory. A mysterious tinker recites the first lines of William Allingham's poem "The Fairies", and tells Charlie, "Nobody ever goes in, and nobody ever comes out." Charlie rushes home to his widowed mother and bedridden grandparents. After telling Grandpa Joe (Jack Albertson) about the tinker, he reveals that Wonka locked the factory because other candy makers, including rival Arthur Slugworth, sent in spies to steal his recipes. Wonka disappeared, but after three years resumed selling candy; the origin of Wonka's labor force is unknown.

The next day, Wonka announces that he hid five "Golden Tickets" in chocolate Wonka Bars. Finders of the tickets will receive a factory tour and a lifetime supply of chocolate. The first four tickets are found by the gluttonous Augustus Gloop (Michael Bollner), the spoiled Veruca Salt (Julie Dawn Cole), the gum-chewing Violet Beauregarde (Denise Nickerson), and the television-obsessed Mike Teevee (Paris Themmen). As each winner is announced on TV, a man whispers to them. Charlie opens two Wonka Bars but finds no Golden Ticket. The newspapers announce the fifth ticket was found by a millionaire in Paraguay causing Charlie to lose hope. The next day, Charlie finds some money in a gutter in the street and uses it to buy a Scrumdiddlyumptious bar. With the change, he buys another Wonka Bar for Grandpa Joe. Walking home, as Charlie hears people reading the newspapers; revealing that the Paraguayan millionaire's ticket is a fake one, he opens the Wonka Bar and finds the fifth golden ticket. While rushing home, he encounters the same man seen whispering to the other winners, who introduces himself as Slugworth and offers a reward for a sample of Wonka's latest creation, the Everlasting Gobstopper.

Returning home with the Golden Ticket, Charlie chooses Grandpa Joe as his chaperone. The next day, Wonka greets the ticket winners and leads them inside where each signs a contract before the tour. The factory includes a candy land with a river of chocolate, edible mushrooms, gummy bears, candy canes, and other sweets and inventions. As the visitors sample these, they see Wonka's workers, small men known as Oompa-Loompas. Augustus falls into the chocolate river and is sucked up in a pipe to the Fudge Room. In the Inventing Room, everyone receives an Everlasting Gobstopper. Violet becomes a large blueberry after chewing an experimental gum containing a three-course meal, over Wonka's warnings. The group reaches the Fizzy Lifting Drinks Room, where Charlie and Grandpa Joe ignore Wonka's warning and sample the drinks. They float and have a near-fatal encounter with an exhaust fan before burping back to the ground. In the Golden Eggs Room, Veruca demands a golden goose for herself before falling into a garbage chute which leads to the furnace, with her father falling in trying to rescue her. The group tests out Wonka's Wonkavision, used to teleport chocolate bars and Mike also teleports himself and becomes only a few inches tall.

With only Charlie and Grandpa Joe remaining, they assume they have won the lifetime supply of chocolate. But Wonka reveals that they are not getting anything because they violated the contract by stealing the Fizzy Lifting Drinks. Infuriated, Grandpa Joe suggests to Charlie that he should give Slugworth the Gobstopper in revenge, but Charlie returns the candy to Wonka. With this selfless act, Wonka declares Charlie as the winner. He reveals that "Slugworth" is actually his employee Mr. Wilkinson, and the offer to buy the Gobstopper was a morality test that only Charlie passed. The trio enter the "Wonkavator", a multi-directional glass elevator that flies out of the factory. Soaring over the city, Wonka reveals that his actual prize is the factory; Wonka created the contest to find an heir worthy enough, and so Charlie and his family can immediately move in. Wonka then reminds Charlie not to forget about the man who suddenly received everything he ever wanted. Charlie asks, "What happened?" to which Wonka replies, "He lived happily ever after."

Cast

The main cast.
Back row (left to right): Michael Bollner (Augustus Gloop), Ursula Reit (Mrs. Gloop), Gene Wilder (Willy Wonka)
Front row (left to right): Leonard Stone (Sam Beauregard), Denise Nickerson (Violet Beauregard), Roy Kinnear (Henry Salt), Julie Dawn Cole (Veruca Salt), Dodo Denny (Mrs. Teevee), Paris Themmen (Mike Teevee), Peter Ostrum (Charlie Bucket), Jack Albertson (Grandpa Joe)

Oompa Loompas

See also

In Spanish: Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory para niños