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Hello, Dolly!
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Synopsis
Twenty-seven-year-old Barbra Streisand seemed an inappropriate choice for middle-aged, match-making widow Dolly Levi, but her energy carries her right through the role and dominates the lackluster movie around her. The plot, drawn from Thornton Wilder's The Matchmaker (itself based on a 19th-century British farce), is set in motion when Yonkers feed store clerk Cornelius Hackl (Michael Crawford) celebrates his promotion by taking his pal Barnaby Tucker (Danny Lockin) to New York City for a "corking good time." But Cornelius and Barnaby can't avoid crossing paths with their boss Horace Vandergelder (Walter Matthau), who'd give them Holy Ned if he saw them in a fancy restaurant with two fancy girls instead of tending the store. Mr. Vandergelder himself is the object of Dolly's affections, though she pretends to have only a professional interest in the widowed merchant, going through the motions of finding him a new wife when in fact she'd like to be the lucky bride herself. The film's musical set pieces include a show-stopping rendition of the title number, with Louis Armstrong more or less playing himself. The biggest number is "Before the Parade Passes By," in which thousands of costumed marchers and atmosphere extras cavort before a huge replica of a New York City thoroughfare in the 1890s (actually the main entrance of the 20th Century-Fox studio, with period facades adorning the office buildings). An artifact of an era in which Broadway musicals were a significant part of popular culture, Hello Dolly seemed bizarrely irrelevant in the social turmoil of the late 1960s, and it became one of the late-1960s big-budget failures that led Hollywood studios toward a different kind of filmmaking in the 1970s. ~ Hal Erickson, All Movie Guide

Cast

Joyce Ames Ermengarde
Louis Armstrong Orchestra Leader
Richard Collier Vandergelder's Barber
Michael Crawford Cornelius Hackl
David Hurst Rudolph Reisenweber
Judy Knaiz Gussie Granger
Danny Lockin Barnaby Tucker
Walter Matthau Horace Vandergelder
Marianne McAndrew Irene Molloy
J. Pat O'Malley Policeman In Park
E.J. Peaker Minnie Fay
Tommy Tune Ambrose Kemper
Barbra Streisand Dolly Levi

Production Crew

Roger Edens Associate Producer
Michael Kidd Choreography
Harry Stradling Cinematographer
Jerry Herman Composer (Music Score)
Lennie Hayton Composer (Music Score)
Lionel Newman Composer (Music Score)
Irene Sharaff Costume Designer
Gene Kelly Director
William H. Reynolds Editor
Dan Striepeke Makeup
Alexander Courage Musical Arrangement
Lennie Hayton Musical Direction/Supervision
Lionel Newman Musical Direction/Supervision
Ernest Lehman Producer
George James Hopkins Production Designer
Herman A. Blumenthal Production Designer
Jack Martin Smith Production Designer
John De Cuir Production Designer
Raphael Bretton Production Designer
Walter Scott Production Designer
Ernest Lehman Screenwriter
George James Hopkins Set Designer
Raphael Bretton Set Designer
Walter Scott Set Designer
Jerry Herman Songwriter
Art Cruickshank Special Effects
Emil Kosa, Jr. Special Effects
L.B. Abbott Special Effects
Year: 1969
Runtime: 146
Country: USA
MPAA Rating: G
Category: Feature

Genre
Musical

Color type
DeLuxe Color

Produced by
20th Century Fox
Chenault

Awards
1969 - Best Picture - Academy
1969 - Best Picture - Musical or Comedy - Golden Globe
1969 - Best Picture - Academy
1969 - Best Picture - Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Scie