How many people can believe it’s been fifty years since Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory came out? Some that have seen this movie were kids back then, some weren’t even born yet, and many people that have seen this movie remember it fondly since it was a great deal of fun to watch. The remake with Johnny Depp has been maligned more than once, and even the original has been looked at from more than one perspective that’s been anything but kind, but the overall feeling is that this movie is still and might remain a classic for many years to come. Seeing the original child actors get together to discuss what went on during the movie and the memories that they still have of it was kind of interesting since a couple of them had gone on to act in other productions during their lives, but it was evident that their time spent in this movie was something special. Sadly though, Gene Wilder passed away in 2016, while Denise Nickerson, aka Violet Beauregarde, passed away in 2019 from pneumonia. Considering how long it’s been since the movie was released one has to think that each of the child actors are getting up there in age, even if they’re entirely elderly at this point.
But their absence is still felt, since they did their part to make this movie what it was, and as a result, it’s easy to lament their passing and remember them fondly as the characters they played. There were plenty of things to be disturbed by in this movie as well though since there were unscripted moments that made it in, and there were moments when children and adults alike might have been disturbed by the content. But looking back at it now one kind of needs to take into account that a lot of what happened back then in the movie is no worse than anything that happens in many movies today. To be a little clearer, the content of the movie back then is no worse than what is seen in a lot of movies, kid’s movies included, in this day and age.
One thing about this movie is that it apparently did create a bond between various people during the creation since the memories that have been kept concerning the movie are indeed precious to many of those that worked on it. Gene Wilder was beyond what anyone expected since the character of Willy Wonka became an icon at one point and has been revered for many years now thanks to Wilder’s inspired acting talent. It feels fair to say that not a lot of people were ready for what he would bring to the movie and had no idea what they were in for once the picture started rolling. But once they figured out that he was someone who was fun but still kind of on the kooky side it was a lot easier to accept that he wasn’t going to be entirely one way or the other since he was a mix of both happy and sad elements that were continually emerging when the moment was right.
In another 50 years, it’s going to be interesting to see if the memory of this movie is still around since it’s obvious that the actors will no longer be with us. It brings to mind the type of memories that have been kept and upheld from the early days of cinema, and what people back then must have thought about as time continued to pass. Did anyone think about what the industry would be like back then? Did they even believe that it would survive and continue to push forward? Those are the questions we have now, though the assurances that such will happen appear to be much stronger, no matter that the pandemic made it clear that a big enough catastrophe could very well cripple the arts and even threaten the industry in a very big way. But if there’s one lesson to learn from this movie, it’s that even when things appear to be as hopeless as they can possibly be, there’s always some hope that might come along to make things right. It might be chaotic, it might bring a great deal of change we’re not ready for, but there’s always that one ray of hope.
Yes, that sounds dramatic and even a bit silly, but like many movies, Willy Wonka & The Chocolate Factory did have a lesson to it that people could choose to pay attention to or ignore since the movie itself was a great deal of fun, but not necessarily prone to instructing people how to do more than behave. Apart from that, it was a memorable movie that one generation after another has continued to pass on, and will hopefully be passed onto the next several generations in the same manner.
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