Classic example of a brilliant Establishing Character Moment. After this harmless little deception, you know you can never fully trust anything about Wonka again- but he's certain to entertain you.
idk if anyone is gonna read this in 2022 or beyond, but Gene Wilder pitched the introduction as a condition of his casting. He said that he was adamant that is be how he was introduced because it would become impossible for people, both viewers and characters in the movie itself, to tell if he was telling the truth or lying from that moment on for the rest of the movie. Absolute genius move on his part and he nailed that somersault.
It was such a brilliant idea that Sam Mendes' stage version (which otherwise had nothing to do with this movie) recreated it almost beat for beat. Instead of a somersault, Wonka's long black overcoat appears to fall away at the same moment Wonka pretends to fall over, revealing his book-accurate purple tailcoat and green trousers underneath it.
Fun fact all the child actors even adult actors thought he was actually injured and Verucas actress had thought they were gonna cancel filming because of his limping.
Speaking of Gene Wilder: This video will give you a hidden fact about him in the movie, it's also related to this scene: ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-0BWNEmZ6P_M.html
@@MrAbradox I agree, it's too early to really know what Mr. Wonka is like, and only the deaf and the incredibly ignorant can't pick up on tonal inflections in someone's voice.
I love how watching this as an adult you see it totally different to when you were a kid. So much stuff went over my head watching this when I was a kid, same as Pinocchio. The themes are much more adult than you realise.
Hell, even now the movie scares the hell out of me! I mean, you see a boy (Augustus) fall into the chocolate river, then get sucked up into a pipe, never to be seen again. You see another, this time a girl (Violet), turned into a giant blueberry, then rolled off into the depths of the factory to have the juice squeezed out of her, again never to be seen again. Veruca Salt gets dropped down into the garbage chute ("She was a bad egg."), followed immediately afterward by her dad, diving in after her. Then, there's that little matter of the Tunnel of Terror.
I love both Willy Wonkas Johnny Depps practically insane weirdo eccentric And Gene Wilders cunning as a whip showman Both super intelligent, entertaining and effective characters
I prefer the original but I admit I'm a bit biased. Johnny Depp is a great actor and I like a lot of stuff he's been in but he missed the mark for me a little bit on this one.
I always liked that Gene Wilder’s Wonka was a businessman at heart, and never forgot the fine print. Depp’s was fine, but you’re sort of left to wonder how he built it all.
I read online once that Wonka's grand entrance was Gene Wilder's idea. It said that he accepted the role under the condition that he could make an enterance like the one he did here. The reason he wanted it to be in the film was so that people would question whether or not it was real or fake that Wilder was limping to the front gate. Also some guy in school told me that Wonka's grand enterance is supposed to be the highlight of his character. To me i wonder why it was put in the film. I mean i would've just thought that they needed a way to introduce Wonka. As he had not been shown in the first 30 something minutes of the movie.
It's because it establishes Wonka as an unreliable narrator. Because this scene is our first impression of him, in everything that follows we can't ever be sure if he's telling the truth or not/if we can trust him. Wilder had a vision for how he wanted to play this character, which is why he insisted on Wonka's entrance displaying a sort of 'dark trickster' vibe
Another thing that happened here, Wonka knew who was going to win. Watch again and you'll see which kid has empathy and sympathy, which one is judgmental, which one doesn't care, etc. Watch the kids faces. This is total genius.
I love how Gene Wilder viewed this scene. He said that from the moment he finishes his entrance upon coming out of the factory, no one would know if he were lying, telling the truth, or even both of that makes sense. 1971 Wonka: Straightforward good, albeit slightly primitive effects and deviations from Dahl's book. 2005 Charlie: Spectacular effects, pitch perfect casting and fantastic music.
I like both versions, each for different reasons GW was honestly better as Willy Wonka than JD But at least the remake's Oompa Loompas didn't look like walking carrots The remake also had better songs, but that's besides the point
Even though I was 12 when the Tim Burton/Johnny Depp version came to the screen, I learned to really appreciate this one as I came of age from a boy to a man. RIP Gene Wilder
Wilder said in numerous interviews that he threw the idea straight at the director because he wanted Wonka to appear as a cripple with people thinking "THIS is the guy who makes all that delicious candy?!" but then he instantly throws the audience off and does a roll after slotting the cane into the ground.
The entire intro was, he said he would do the movie exclusively as long as he was allowed to do this scene, just to make it so the viewers had no idea whether he was lying or not at any point & couldn't truly trust Wonka.
@isnthefkingawesome756 Eh, not really. After all, Stephen King hates Stanley Kubrick’s movie adaptation of The Shining. Yet I doubt anyone, besides Stephen King himself, really cares all that much that the movie was different from the book. Especially, since the movie was still damn good in its own right. Typically, I feel most people only really care about changes an adaptation makes from the source material, when those changes are for the worse. It’s meant to be an adaptation, not a direct 1:1 translation of the source material from one medium to another.
@@rachet9035that, and the fact that many writers on the level of King are very critical of their work. A writer is often his own biggest critic after all
The fact that Gene had the idea for the cane, then the somersault entrance, making being allowed to do it for the camera his one condition for playing the role was pure genius. Let us not also leave out how remarkable that a middle-aged man pulled off that somersault so smoothly with no help from a stuntman, all in one take, with no cuts. It's moments like this that make me miss Gene Wilder all the more.
The way Wonka uses his walking stick as a cane(note how the thing almost snaps from his weight. That’s not meant to be leaned on.) is a bit of a giveaway if you notice it.
I would love a spinoff movie where after everyone goes inside, we have a single shot of the crowd slowly dispersing and going home over the next 20 minutes
Gene Wilder: When I come out for the first time, I want to come out with a cane, and the audience will think "Oh, Willy Wonka's crippled." Then, just as I reach the gates, my cane gets stuck in a brick, and then I keep walking without the cane and then I stop and look like I am about to fall, then just before I hit the floor, I do a forward summersault, leap up, and the audience cheers. Mel Stuart: Why do you want to do that? Gene: Because from that point on, no one will know whether I'm lying or telling the truth. Mel: You mean, if we don't let you do that, you won't do the movie? Gene: Yes, that's true Mel: Ok.
it's scenes like this that really make me appreciate the "original" and you can say well you're just older and you saw this first so you automatically think it's better but I'm not, the new one was the one I saw first... I am not from this 80's generation lmao... the concept of setting up this whole scene for just one joke is perfection
Movies are (supposedly) made to take you away from your own harsh realities, no matter how sad, or brutal. At least, I hope they are. This one did that for me. I had barely scratched the surface of those realities then. But, it worked anyway. Some will argue old or new, Wilder or Depp, book or movie, on it goes. It's never that for me. Both actors have captured both my head and my heart before; both are that good. But, like with the first girl I ever kissed, the old film with Wilder reached me first, therefore best, and that, forever. I can't even begin to imagine Gene Wilder substituting for Johnny Depp in the latter's finest roles. And, my heart can accept only GW in this one. I'd be the worst kind of fickle, boy suitor if it was any other way.
I know it’s a small thing but I like how Charlie was the only one who Wonka didn’t make a sarcastic remark about, he probably already mentally chose him before anyone else.
The fact that Charlie won the ticket just the day before and was not internationally announced he was the 5th Golden Ticket winner, was a sarcasm in itself. "Well, well, Charlie Bucket, I read all about you in the newspaper." That part always made me laugh
@@badgerbadger1391 Don't call him a coward because he has a different opinion. And search up the word "Coward" before calling someone one. (And please don't get offensive on me or this person please)
Just the fact that it was Gene Wilder’s idea to do the somersault in order to make Wonka more unpredictable, further proves that he was destined to play the role.
I never realized before, but each of the kids except Charlie come from backgrounds that most would think would be useful in a major candy industry: Veruca’s family ran a nut business, lots of overlap; Augustus was trained in ‘sampling’ the sweets; Violet’s dad was a salesman; Mike would be an expert in marketing. Really drives home how at the end Wonka says he doesn’t want to run his factory the way other people would
I never realise when I was a kid quite how well this establishes Wonka as a cunning trickster. You never quite know what he's really after, and that pays off in the final act.
The children on tour are all very similar to cast on on Arthur. Augustus is like Buster because they’re both avid foodies. Veruca is like Muffy because they both get everything they want. Violet is like Francine because they can be blunt but get fed up with their best friends’ or arch rivals’ bullying or intrusive behavior. Charlie is like Arthur because they’re always doing the right thing and being friends with everyone. Mr. Beauregard is like Mr. Crosswire in that they’re both businessmen. Mr. Turkentine is like Mr. Ratburn in that they’re both teachers. Mrs. Gloop is like Mrs. Baxter because they both have one son who likes to eat.
@@lucasdaniel8902well in my opinion, Mike is like a combination of Buster and Arthur but the unhealthy sides of them. Like they both love watching TV.
Can we take a moment to appreciate that somersault? Like, watch it again slowed down, Wilders head was waist level stiff as a board before he tucked under. Even back when I was made of rubber, rough and tumble, i couldnt tumble like that.....Friggin master!
From this scene forward you realized you were in the hands of a genius, bordering on madness. From here on out everything he says could be a lie or he could be the most honest person with a taste for the theatrics we literally will never know.
Magic, excitement, wonders, imagination, music, action, fantasy, thrills, and adventures. The grand opening to the mysterious and magical chocolate factory by Mr. Willy Wonka. He takes everyone by surprises and welcomes them with open arms, ones with the golden tickets they won. Oh, I wish I could go there and meet him and his fellow employees, the little men called Oompa Loompas. Come in a world or pure imagination. Roald Dahl, thank you. And you too, Gene Wilder. May you rest in peace and become young and handsome again. I never give up believing in fairies and magic with all my heart because I still refuse to grow up, and forget about the precious things I knew, especially those from my childhood. I am like Peter Pan and have his youthful spirit. My one and only wish is to keep the magic alive for all time. And I also wish to be a fairy to stay strong, childlike, young, and beautiful forever and ever like Tinker Bell, and the other fair folks⭐🌟🌠✴🧝🧝♂🧝♀🧚🧚♀
Wow! I can't believe my favorite wonka kid Denise nickerson is Dead Already! Now she's in the land of pure Imagination! HOPE there gum In Heaven Violet!
Nothing NeoNoah. Charlie's smile got really big after he saw Mr. Wonka do a forward roll. I used to do forwards rolls. In fact, that was the only gymnastics move I was able to do.
Julie Dawn Cole’s hair was at its longest when entering the factory gates, and as the film progresses, her hair length becomes shorter due to film makers using a candle to burn off her split ends
I have encouraged everyone to re-watch Willy Wonka as an adult and pay close attention to Gene's movements, dialogue, and responses. It becomes funnier and funnier with every new viewing - Every single thing he did and said was on purpose. My favorite BIT was when he quoted Shakespeare while everyone was in a panic trying to find a way out of the tiny room: "Is it my soul that calls upon my name?" LOLOLOL