Musical Matinees: OLIVER!

OLIVER! is the award-winning 1968 British period film, based on Lionel Bart's 1960 state musical, itself an adaptation of Charles Dickens' 1838 novel Oliver Twist. In this award-winning film adaptation of the Broadway musical based on the Charles Dickens novel, 9-year-old orphan Oliver Twist (Mark Lester) falls in with a group of street-urchin pickpockets led by the Artful Dodger (Jack Wild) and masterminded by the criminal Fagin (Ron Moody). When Oliver's intended mark, Mr. Brownlow (Joseph O'Conor), takes pity on the lad and offers him a home, Fagin's henchman Bill Sikes (Oliver Reed) plots to kidnap the boy to keep him from talking.

At the 1968 Academy Awards, OLIVER! was nominated for eleven Academy Awards and won six, including Best Picture, Best Director for Reed, and an Honorary Award for choreographer Onna White.

At the 26th Golden Globe Awards, the film won two Golden Globes: Best Motion Picture – Musical or Comedy and Best Actor – Musical or Comedy for Ron Moody.

The British Film Institute ranked Oliver! the 77th-greatest British film of the 20th century. In 2017, a poll of 150 actors, directors, writers, producers and critics for Time Out magazine ranked Oliver! the 69th-best British film ever.