Hello, Dolly! (film)

Hello, Dolly! is a 1969 American romantic comedy musical film based on the 1964 Broadway production of the same name. Directed by Gene Kelly and written and produced by Ernest Lehman, the film stars Barbra Streisand, Walter Matthau, Michael Crawford, Danny Lockin, Tommy Tune, Fritz Feld, Marianne McAndrew, E. J. Peaker and Louis Armstrong (whose recording of the title tune had become a number-one single in May 1964). The film follows the story of Dolly Levi, a strong-willed matchmaker who travels to Yonkers, New York in order to find a match for the miserly "well-known unmarried half-a-millionaire" Horace Vandergelder. In doing so, she convinces his niece, his niece's intended and Horace's two clerks to travel to New York.
Released on December 16, 1969, by 20th Century Fox, the film won three Academy Awards for Best Art Direction, Best Score of a Musical Picture and Best Sound and was nominated for a further four Academy Awards, including Best Picture. Although the film eventually broke even, it was not a commercial success.
Plot.
In 1890, all of New York City is excited because widowed and brassy Dolly Levi (Barbra Streisand) is in town ("Call On Dolly"). Dolly makes a living through matchmaking and numerous sidelines ("Just Leave Everything to Me"). She is currently seeking a wife for grumpy Horace Vandergelder (Walter Matthau), the well-known "half-a-millionaire", but it becomes clear that Dolly intends to marry Horace herself. Dolly travels to Yonkers, New York to visit Horace. Ambrose Kemper (Tommy Tune), a young artist, wants to marry Horace's weepy niece, Ermengarde (Joyce Ames), but Horace opposes this because Ambrose's vocation does not guarantee a steady living. Horace, who is the owner of Vandergelder's Hay and Feed, explains to his two clerks, Cornelius Hackl (Michael Crawford) and Barnaby Tucker (Danny Lockin), that he is going to get married because "It Takes a Woman" to cheerfully do all the household chores. He plans to travel to New York City to propose to Irene Molloy (Marianne McAndrew), who owns a hat shop there. Dolly arrives in Yonkers and sends Horace ahead to the city. Before leaving, he tells Cornelius and Barnaby to mind the store.
Cornelius decides that he and Barnaby need to get out of Yonkers. Dolly knows two ladies in New York City they should call on: Irene Molloy and her shop assistant, Minnie Fay (E. J. Peaker). She enters Ermengarde and Ambrose in the upcoming polka competition at the fancy Harmonia Gardens Restaurant in New York City, so Ambrose can demonstrate his ability to be a breadwinner to Uncle Horace. Cornelius, Barnaby, Ambrose, Ermengarde and Dolly take the train to New York ("Put on Your Sunday Clothes").
Irene and Minnie open their hat shop for the afternoon. Irene does not love Horace Vandergelder and declares that she will wear an elaborate hat to impress a gentleman ("Ribbons Down My Back"). Cornelius and Barnaby arrive at the shop and pretend to be rich. Horace and Dolly arrive and Cornelius and Barnaby hide. Minnie screams when she finds Cornelius hiding in an armoire. Horace is about to open the armoire himself, but Dolly "searches" it and pronounces it empty. After hearing Cornelius sneeze, Horace storms out upon realizing there are men hiding in the shop, although he is unaware that they are his clerks. Dolly arranges for Cornelius and Barnaby, who are still pretending to be rich, to take the ladies out to dinner at Harmonia Gardens to make up for their humiliation. She teaches Cornelius and Barnaby how to dance since they always have dancing at such establishments ("Dancing").
The clerks and the ladies go to watch the Fourteenth Street Association Parade together. Alone, Dolly asks her first husband Ephram's permission to marry Horace, requesting a sign. She resolves to move on with life ("Before the Parade Passes By"). After meeting an old friend, Gussie Granger (Judy Knaiz), on a float in the parade, Dolly catches up with the annoyed Vandergelder as he is marching in the parade. She tells him the heiress Ernestina Semple (changed from the stage version's Ernestina Money; also Judy Knaiz) would be perfect for him and asks him to meet her at Harmonia Gardens that evening.
Cornelius is determined to get a kiss before the night is over. Since the clerks have no money to hire a carriage, they tell the girls that walking to the restaurant shows that they've got "Elegance". In a quiet flat, Dolly prepares for the evening ("Love is Only Love"). At the Harmonia Gardens Restaurant, Rudolph (David Hurst), the head waiter, whips his crew into shape for Dolly Levi's return. Horace arrives to meet his date, who is really Dolly's friend Gussie. As it turns out, she is not rich or elegant as Dolly implied, and she soon leaves after being bored by Horace, just as she and Dolly planned.
Cornelius, Barnaby and their dates arrive and are unaware that Horace is also at the restaurant. Dolly makes her triumphant return to the restaurant and is greeted in style by the staff ("Hello, Dolly!"). She sits in the now-empty seat at Horace's table and proceeds to tell him that no matter what he says, she will not marry him. Fearful of being caught, Cornelius confesses to the ladies that he and Barnaby have no money, and Irene, who knew they were pretending all along, offers to pay for the meal. She then realizes that she left her handbag with all her money in it at home. The four try to sneak out during the polka contest, but Horace recognizes them and also spots Ermengarde and Ambrose. In the ensuing confrontation, Vandergelder fires Cornelius and Barnaby (although they claim to have already quit) and they are forced to flee as a riot breaks out. Cornelius professes his love for Irene because "It Only Takes a Moment". Horace declares that he wouldn't marry Dolly if she were the last woman in the world. Dolly angrily bids him farewell; while he's bored and lonely, she'll be living the high life ("So Long, Dearie").
The next morning, back at the hay and feed store, Cornelius and Irene, Barnaby and Minnie, and Ambrose and Ermengarde each come to collect the money Vandergelder owes them. Chastened, he finally admits that he needs Dolly in his life, but she is unsure about the marriage until Ephram sends her a sign. Vandergelder spontaneously repeats a saying of Ephram's: "Money, pardon the expression, is like manure. It's not worth a thing unless it's spread about, encouraging young things to grow." Cornelius becomes Horace's business partner at the store, and Barnaby fills Cornelius' old position. Horace tells Dolly life would be dull without her, and she promises that she'll "never go away again" ("Finale").
Musical numbers.
The soundtrack was released on the vinyl LP format and 8-track tape format in December 1969. It was released on compact disc in November 1994. Both the LP and compact disc omit selections 1, 3, 10, and 17.
Production.
Filming.
The town of Garrison, New York, specifically the Garrison Landing Historic District around the train station, was the filming site for scenes in Yonkers. In the opening credits, the passenger train is traveling along the Hudson River. Provided by the Strasburg Rail Road, the train is pulled by Pennsylvania Railroad 1223 (now located in the Railroad Museum of Pennsylvania) retrofitted to resemble a New York Central & Hudson River locomotive. The locomotive, used in "Put on Your Sunday Clothes", was restored specifically for the film. The Poughkeepsie (Metro-North station) trackside platform was used at the beginning when Dolly was on her way to Yonkers.
The church scene was filmed on the grounds of the United States Military Academy at West Point, New York, but the church's facade was constructed only for the film. New York City scenes were filmed on the 20th Century-Fox lot in California. Some of the exteriors still exist. The film was photographed in 65 mm Todd-AO by Harry Stradling
The film was beset by tension on the set, with Streisand clashing with costar Matthau and director Kelly. Michael Kidd, the choreographer, had conflicts with costume designer Irene Sharaff and Kelly, to the point that he and Kelly were no longer on speaking terms. Tensions came to a head in a heated argument between Streisand and Matthau on June 6, 1968, on a hot day in Garrison the day after the assassination of Robert F. Kennedy.
Music.
Most of the original Broadway production's score was preserved for the film; however, "Just Leave Everything to Me" and "Love Is Only Love" were not in the stage show. Jerry Herman wrote "Just Leave Everything to Me" especially for Streisand; it effectively replaced "I Put My Hand In" from the Broadway production. However, an instrumental version of parts of "I Put My Hand In" can be heard in the film during the dance competition at the Harmonia Gardens. Herman had previously written "Love is Only Love" for the stage version of "Mame", but it was cut before its Broadway premiere. It occurred in the story as Mame tried to explain falling in love to her young nephew Patrick. A brief prologue of "Mrs. Horace Vandergelder" was added to the song to integrate it into this film.
Working under the musical direction of Lionel Newman and Lennie Hayton, the very large team of orchestrators included film stalwarts Herbert W. Spencer and Alexander Courage; the original Broadway production arranger, Philip J. Lang, making a rare film outing; and established television and pop arrangers Joe Lipman, Don Costa, and Frank Comstock. All of the actors did their own singing, except for Marianne McAndrew (Irene Molloy) whose singing was dubbed by Melissa Stafford for Irene's vocal solos and Gilda Maiken for when Irene sings with other characters.
Release.
U.S. premieres.
The film premiered in New York at Rivoli Theater on December 16, 1969. Production had wrapped more than a year earlier, but release was significantly delayed for legal reasons. A clause in the 1965 film sale contract specified that the film could not be released until June 1971 or when the show closed on Broadway, whichever came first. In 1969, the show was still running. Eager to release the film to recoup its cost, Fox negotiated and paid an "early release" escape payment to release "Dolly" which cost Fox an estimated $1–2 million. The following day, the film started 45 roadshow engagements around the United States and Canada before opening worldwide on December 18, starting in Belgium, the Netherlands, New Zealand and South Africa.
Critical reception.
The film received favorable reviews upon release, but some critics feel it was not a success as a musical, with Kelly and Kidd making little use of the widescreen format of the film. Critic Tom Santopietro described their approach as "shoveling more and more bodies on screen with no apparent purpose." Vincent Canby in his "New York Times" review said that the producer and director "merely inflated the faults to elephantine proportions."
In more recent years, "Hello Dolly"'s critical reputation has cooled considerably; as of April 2019, it holds a 43% "Rotten" rating on review aggregator Rotten Tomatoes based on 30 reviews, with an average rating of 6/10. The consensus states: "Though Barbra Streisand charms, she's miscast as the titular middle-aged widow in Gene Kelly's sluggish and over-produced final directorial effort." Eric Henderson of "Slant Magazine" said of the film: "More infamous for bringing Fox financially to its knees than for being the last major musical directed by Gene Kelly, "Hello, Dolly!" is one big-assed bull in a china shop. The film cost nearly as much to produce as "Cleopatra" and made far less at the box office, thus earning the film its reputation as one of Hollywood’s foremost turkeys."
Box office.
The film opened strongly, finishing in third place at the US box office behind "On Her Majesty's Secret Service" and "Easy Rider" in its opening week and initially grossed more than "The Sound of Music", but lost momentum and became a disappointment at the box office. It grossed $33.2 million at the box office in the United States, earning a theatrical rental (the distributor's share of the box office after deducting the exhibitor's cut) of $15.2 million, ranking it in the top five highest-grossing films of the 1969–1970 season. In total, it earned $26 million in theatrical rentals for Fox, against its $25.335 million production budget. Despite performing well at the box office, it still lost its backers an estimated $10 million.
The soundtrack album's sales also did not live up to expectations, and rose to only No. 49 on the "Billboard" chart.
Home media.
"Hello, Dolly" was one of the first theatrical films to be released on the then-new VHS and Betamax home video formats in the fall of 1978. It was released on DVD in 2003 and Blu-ray in 2013. It began streaming on Disney+ on May 22, 2020.
Awards and honors.
Others.
The film is recognized by American Film Institute in these lists: