Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory (1971)

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.

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Promoted as a family musical by Paramount Pictures, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory is more of a black comedy, perversely faithful to the spirit of Roald Dahl's original book Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. Enigmatic candy manufacturer Willy Wonka (Gene Wilder) stages a contest by hiding five golden tickets in five of his scrumptious candy bars. Whoever comes up with these tickets will win a free tour of the Wonka factory, as well as a lifetime supply of candy. Four of the five winning children are insufferable brats: the fifth is a likeable young lad named Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum), who takes the tour in the company of his equally amiable grandfather (Jack Albertson). In the course of the tour, Willy Wonka punishes the four nastier children in various diabolical methods -- one kid is inflated and covered with blueberry dye, another ends up as a principal ingredient of the chocolate, and so on -- because these kids have violated the ethics of Wonka's factory. In the end, only Charlie and his grandfather are left. Ostensibly set in England, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory was lensed in Germany (as revealed by the film's final overhead shot). ~ Hal Erickson, Rovi

It's even better than a golden ticket.

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

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This beloved classic will be accompanied by special commentary from TCM hosts Robert Osborne or Ben Mankiewicz, who will provide insight, background and more, making this film come alive.

Directed by Mel Stuart. With Gene Wilder, Jack Albertson, Peter Ostrum, Roy Kinnear. A poor but hopeful boy seeks one of the five coveted golden tickets that will send him on a tour of Willy Wonka's mysterious chocolate factory.

Mel Stuart’s Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory (1971)

The iconic book was twice made into movies.