1968 - Oliver!

Thank you, Netflix, for this synopsis:

"Director Carol Reed's lively musical adaptation of Charles Dickens' classic tale stars Mark Lester as the titular orphan who escapes the workhouse and is taken under the wing of wily pickpocket Fagin (Ron Moody).  Befriended by the crafty Artful Dodger (Jack Wild) and resented by brutish bill Sikes (Oliver Reed), Oliver navigates his way through 19th-century London in this highly touted film that captured six Oscars, including Best Picture."

Well, you all know I love me a musical...and, after spending the day doing my grocery shopping, going to Home Depot and Ace Hardware, stripping the beds, washing the sheets, remaking the beds, and raking leaves - I decided to have a little me time and watch Oliver.  Let's just leave off the pretentious little exclamation point off the title, now shall we?

Anyhow, I sit down with the DVD and away we go.  I am immediately lost.  Now, I realize that I'm not a mental giant (as my former husband loved to point out on a regular basis), but I can usually follow your average film.  Yet, here I sat, completely and utterly without a clue.  From the high horse that only a seasoned film critic can mount, I shook my head, snorted, and made all sorts of rather guttural noises.  Whatever happened to character development?  Who are these people?  What on earth are they doing?  Am I just supposed to know, instinctively, what's going on???

This film is 2 hours and 26 minutes long.  About an hour and 15 minutes into it, I got the distinct feeling that we were wrapping things up.  Major characters were getting killed off.  Music was crescendoing.   You get the idea.  It was at this point that I figured out Mr. Netflix's secret - this was a 2-sided DVD, and I started with side 2.

So, my dearest reader, I watched the last half of the Best Picture Winner for 1968.

I take back all of the snide comments and most of the snorts.  Obviously, it would be colossally unfair of me to rate this; and now that I know who dies, I really am not in the mood to watch side 1.

Let's just say, if you like musicals, go ahead and watch it.  Just don't give away the beginning, I haven't seen it.