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Willy Wonka (screenplay by the genius Roald Dahl) has one of my favorite scenes in film and I invite you all to watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz9jc5

Willy Wonka (screenplay by the genius Roald Dahl) has one of my favorite scenes in film and I invite you all to watch it: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz9jc5blzRM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz9jc5blzRM > In 1970, when originally offered the lead role in Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory by director Mel Stuart, the great Gene Wilder accepted on one condition. "When I make my first entrance,” he explained, “I'd like to come out of the door carrying a cane and then walk toward the crowd with a limp. After the crowd sees Willy Wonka is a cripple, they all whisper to themselves and then become deathly quiet. As I walk toward them, my cane sinks into one of the cobblestones I'm walking on and stands straight up, by itself; but I keep on walking, until I realize that I no longer have my cane. I start to fall forward, and just before I hit the ground, I do a beautiful forward somersault and bounce back up, to great applause." Asked why, Wilder said, "Because from that time on, no one will know if I'm lying or telling the truth." Quote from: http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/06/part-of-this-world-part-of-another.html http://www.lettersofnote.com/2012/06/part-of-this-world-part...

donohoe 10y ago
"Wonka's Grand Entrance" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz9jc5blzRM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz9jc5blzRM
- kornish 10y ago
  This is the exact link which was posted in the post you commented on. (great scene, though!)
  - btreesOfSpring 10y ago
    The Wonka Redundancy Department of Redundancy approves this approval.
  - smcl 10y ago
    Perhaps it wasn't present in the original comment when that reply was posted
  - nhangen 10y ago
    yes but it is buried in a longer and more eclectic video.
cmdrfred 10y ago
I grew up poor. I think part of the reason I've always been a fan of that film was because Charlie was the first poor kid I had seen in a movie. I'm not an emotional man but the end still makes me tear up a bit, made me ball my eyes out with happiness when I was 10. "So shines a good deed in a weary world", thanks for that Gene. If it's been a while: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgVS1OhucbI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgVS1OhucbI
- manachar 10y ago
  It got growing up poor better than many others. To see all the other kids stuffing themselves with candy and to be left out of that society just because of a lack of money - that was such a great visceral scene to watch growing up.
  - ArkyBeagle 10y ago
    But it managed that without sentiment. Dahl had such a deft touch. the book is, of course, a top level masterpiece of children's fiction. It was unashamedly pointed about moral issues in a way no other children's books I've read are. The irony is of course that Charlie never had the resources to develop the bad habits the other children had.
grovulent 10y ago
I wonder if younger folk today watch that and think how quaint, old and dated it seems... or if they see it and wonder if their current modern cinema fair is really missing something these strange films had.
- oneeyedpigeon 10y ago
  It's a great sadness to me that many children have grown, and will grow, up with the perception that the vastly inferior Tim Burton remake is the definitive version. The film starring Wilder should be included on future releases of the former as a public service.
  - ralusek 10y ago
    I'll save you of this sadness with the assurance that absolutely nobody, young or old, thinks of Tim Burton's remake as the definitive version.
  - jgamman 10y ago
    We love it but TBH with a young 'un we skip to the GW scene described and I try to skip the boat ride. Seriously, beheading a chicken in a children's film is a dark dark choice...
    - gohrt 10y ago
      The world has darkness, and seeing some of it helps a child understand the world they live in.
      - gameofdrones 10y ago
        Or end up with universities with safe-spaces, trigger-warnings and thin-skinned cowards.
        cholantesh 10y ago
        Nah
mikefivedeuce 10y ago
Came here to post this link as well. I remembered loving the opening scene as a kid. After reading this on Letters of Note a few years back it gave me a whole new appreciation for the genius of Gene's portrayal.
- rhizome 10y ago
  To be sure, this scene doesn't come until like 30min into the movie! :) The first act is all the poor Charlie and golden ticket stuff.
foldr 10y ago
> screenplay by the genius Roald Dahl Roald Dahl didn't write the screenplay, he wrote the book the movie is based on. edit: Correction, he did write it for the 1971 movie. Oops.
- luhn 10y ago
  He wrote the screenplay as well.
  - foldr 10y ago
    Oops, looked up the wrong movie to confirm my hunch. Thanks.
- Eric_WVGG 10y ago
  Ronald Dahl also thought the movie was so bad that he walked out of the premiere. (I agree, and it's making me sad to see all the memorials on Twitter with stills from that film... Wilder did vastly better work)
  - chadcmulligan 10y ago
    Ronald was Roalds less successful brother though
    - Jaruzel 10y ago
      He took his lack of success so badly that he ended up changing his surname to McDonald, just to get out from under Roald's shadow.
    - Eric_WVGG 10y ago
      >_< autocorrect
gohrt 10y ago
The letter from My Wilder is so beautiful. The man had genuine class and artistic wisdom: "I've just received the costume sketches. I'll tell you everything I think, without censoring, and you take from my opinion what you like. I assume that the designer took his impressions from the book and didn't know, naturally, who would be playing Willy. And I think, for a character in general, they're lovely sketches. ... What I don't like is the precise pin pointing in place and time as this costume does..." Nearly all of Mr Wilder's suggestions made it into the movie, except the hat-band color.
AdamJacobMuller 10y ago
While I do love his entrance, Pure Imagination is, quite possibly, my favorite thing in all of that genre of cinema. There's just so much possibility in that song. > If you want to view paradise? Simply look around and view it > Want to change the world? There's nothing to it Seriously words to live by.
aaron695 10y ago
I didn't think that quote would be true. Confirmed true here - http://92yondemand.org/gene-wilder-truth http://92yondemand.org/gene-wilder-truth

donohoe 10y ago

"Wonka's Grand Entrance" https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz9jc5blzRM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sz9jc5blzRM

kornish 10y ago
This is the exact link which was posted in the post you commented on. (great scene, though!)
- btreesOfSpring 10y ago
  The Wonka Redundancy Department of Redundancy approves this approval.
- smcl 10y ago
  Perhaps it wasn't present in the original comment when that reply was posted
- nhangen 10y ago
  yes but it is buried in a longer and more eclectic video.

cmdrfred 10y ago

I grew up poor. I think part of the reason I've always been a fan of that film was because Charlie was the first poor kid I had seen in a movie. I'm not an emotional man but the end still makes me tear up a bit, made me ball my eyes out with happiness when I was 10. "So shines a good deed in a weary world", thanks for that Gene. If it's been a while: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgVS1OhucbI https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HgVS1OhucbI

manachar 10y ago
It got growing up poor better than many others. To see all the other kids stuffing themselves with candy and to be left out of that society just because of a lack of money - that was such a great visceral scene to watch growing up.
- ArkyBeagle 10y ago
  But it managed that without sentiment. Dahl had such a deft touch. the book is, of course, a top level masterpiece of children's fiction. It was unashamedly pointed about moral issues in a way no other children's books I've read are. The irony is of course that Charlie never had the resources to develop the bad habits the other children had.

grovulent 10y ago

I wonder if younger folk today watch that and think how quaint, old and dated it seems... or if they see it and wonder if their current modern cinema fair is really missing something these strange films had.

oneeyedpigeon 10y ago
It's a great sadness to me that many children have grown, and will grow, up with the perception that the vastly inferior Tim Burton remake is the definitive version. The film starring Wilder should be included on future releases of the former as a public service.
- ralusek 10y ago
  I'll save you of this sadness with the assurance that absolutely nobody, young or old, thinks of Tim Burton's remake as the definitive version.
- jgamman 10y ago
  We love it but TBH with a young 'un we skip to the GW scene described and I try to skip the boat ride. Seriously, beheading a chicken in a children's film is a dark dark choice...
  - gohrt 10y ago
    The world has darkness, and seeing some of it helps a child understand the world they live in.
    - gameofdrones 10y ago
      Or end up with universities with safe-spaces, trigger-warnings and thin-skinned cowards.
      - cholantesh 10y ago
        Nah

mikefivedeuce 10y ago

Came here to post this link as well. I remembered loving the opening scene as a kid. After reading this on Letters of Note a few years back it gave me a whole new appreciation for the genius of Gene's portrayal.

rhizome 10y ago
To be sure, this scene doesn't come until like 30min into the movie! :) The first act is all the poor Charlie and golden ticket stuff.

foldr 10y ago

> screenplay by the genius Roald Dahl Roald Dahl didn't write the screenplay, he wrote the book the movie is based on. edit: Correction, he did write it for the 1971 movie. Oops.

luhn 10y ago
He wrote the screenplay as well.
- foldr 10y ago
  Oops, looked up the wrong movie to confirm my hunch. Thanks.
Eric_WVGG 10y ago
Ronald Dahl also thought the movie was so bad that he walked out of the premiere. (I agree, and it's making me sad to see all the memorials on Twitter with stills from that film... Wilder did vastly better work)
- chadcmulligan 10y ago
  Ronald was Roalds less successful brother though
  - Jaruzel 10y ago
    He took his lack of success so badly that he ended up changing his surname to McDonald, just to get out from under Roald's shadow.
  - Eric_WVGG 10y ago
    >_< autocorrect

gohrt 10y ago

The letter from My Wilder is so beautiful. The man had genuine class and artistic wisdom: "I've just received the costume sketches. I'll tell you everything I think, without censoring, and you take from my opinion what you like. I assume that the designer took his impressions from the book and didn't know, naturally, who would be playing Willy. And I think, for a character in general, they're lovely sketches. ... What I don't like is the precise pin pointing in place and time as this costume does..." Nearly all of Mr Wilder's suggestions made it into the movie, except the hat-band color.

AdamJacobMuller 10y ago

While I do love his entrance, Pure Imagination is, quite possibly, my favorite thing in all of that genre of cinema. There's just so much possibility in that song. > If you want to view paradise? Simply look around and view it > Want to change the world? There's nothing to it Seriously words to live by.

aaron695 10y ago

I didn't think that quote would be true. Confirmed true here - http://92yondemand.org/gene-wilder-truth http://92yondemand.org/gene-wilder-truth