Since I have started the Genre-ary DailyView, it has given me the opportunity to see some classic musicals that I probably wouldn’t have watched several of these films. Oliver! is a good example of this. 

Oliver! from 1968 was an Oscar winning movie based on a stage musical which was based on the Charles Dickens novel Oliver Twist. Carol Reed won an Academy Award for Best Director and the picture received the Best Picture Oscar.

An orphan named Oliver (Mark Lester) wound up under the influence of a street criminal named Fagin (Ron Moody), who added Oliver to his troop of street urchin pickpockets, which included the Artful Dodger (Jack Wild). One of Fagin’s accomplices, Bill Sikes (Oliver Reed), showed a more violent and cruel nature. 

It is fun to hear songs that I recognize, but never knew where they originated from. Songs such as “Consider Yourself,” “Food, Glorious Food,” and “As Long as He Needs Me” are songs that I knew prior to watching this film. 

Our villains of the story were excellent. The character of Fagin was one of the best movie villains around, deep and developed, and Sikes was sinister and scary.

Mark Lester does a solid job as the young Oliver. He holds his own with all of the actors around him. 

Clearly this is a classic and you can understand why it won six Oscars.