Just as if you have a bad Blanche DuBois in A Streetcar Named Desire, the entire play will fall flat, if you have a bad Dolly Levi in Hello, Dolly, the musical won't be any good. This Broadway musical is a highly sought after role for middle aged women, a tour-de-force they hope to play, usually to warm up for or coast after playing Mama Rose in Gypsy. Barbra Streisand would have been an excellent choice for the famous matchmaker, except in 1969 she was too young. Dolly Levi is supposed to be a middle-aged widow who sings the show-stopping song "Before the Parade Passes By" because it's a metaphor for her life, not a twenty-seven-year-old woman with impeccable makeup and a hair color that's as flattering as her clothes.Unfortunately, the lack of a gray wig on Babs is not the only flaw in Hello, Dolly! Michael Crawford plays Cornelius, and it takes an enormous amount of suspension of disbelief to buy into the love story between him and Marianne McAndrew. In the original film The Matchmaker, starring Shirley Booth, the young romantic leads were played by Shirley MacLaine and Anthony Perkins. Anthony is handsome and sweet, so it makes sense that Shirley M considers giving up a fortune for true love. Michael Crawford is bumbling, gangly, and almost acts like he's mentally off. Plus-sorry Phantom of the Opera fans-but his voice leaves much to be desired. Ironically, his romantic companion did have her voice dubbed! Walter Matthau plays Babs's love interest, and there's no feasible reason why she would ever want him, let alone when she's so young and still could have any number of men she wanted. He's unattractive, incredibly grumpy, walks through his song like it's the last thing in the world he wants to be doing, and acts like he hates the very sight of his pursuer-which, he actually did. Rumor has it that he hated Barbra Streisand so much he actually refused to kiss her! So, my great question, as it seems to be with everyone in this movie, is why was he cast? Gene Kelly directed this movie, and while he had enormous attention to detail in the costumes, production designs, and choreography, he didn't seem to have a great eye for his cast. Why didn't he pick his old sailor-suit buddy Frank Sinatra for Walter Matthau's part? He would have been the right age, he could sing without making audiences cringe, and Jerry Herman could have written him a couple of extra songs-as he did for Barbra. It would have been totally believable why Babs moves Heaven and Earth to be with him, and when he sings his song "It Takes a Woman" it would have been incredibly cute for the Guys and Dolls star to sing another ode to the fairer sex.I know I've been dissing this movie adaptation quite a bit, but there are some good parts to it. Obviously, if Hello, Dolly! is one of your favorite musicals, you're going to want to rent the movie. Barbra Streisand in her gold dress during the title song is a pretty famous image. And Barbra does have a wonderful voice, so it's fun to watch her take control of the screen, especially in the show-stopping "So Long Dearie". Also, if you're a fashion fanatic, you'll probably want to rent this one just to look at Irene Sharaff's gorgeous dresses. Besides that, this is one of those movies you'll watch once to say you did and then not really want to show your friends.

For her second movie, Barbra Streisand wisely or unwisely (you decide) picked the most plum stage musical of the 1960's (still running on Broadway at the time after almost 6 years) and made a true spectacle of it with director Gene Kelly's help. What is now Century City was remade by 20th Century Fox into both Yonkers and various parts of Manhattan for probably the most awaited movie musical since "The Sound of Music". More than forty years later, people argue over the success or failure of the movie, and the truth lies somewhere in the middle, an elephantine epic of audacity, but one that surprisingly still charms in spite of its weaknesses.The Ruth Gordon (Broadway) and Shirley Booth (Movie) Dolly Levi of "The Matchmaker" got a bit campier when given Jerry Herman songs and a splashy Gower Champion staging (overseen with great authority by producer David Merrick) for its 1964 Broadway premiere. Carol Channing took the character player out of Dolly to make her a fabulous broad, one certainly not past her prime, but certainly not the flower of youth anymore either. Glamour girls like Betty Grable, Ginger Rogers and Dorothy Lamour also got to add their talents to Dolly, while funny ladies like Martha Raye, Eve Arden, Molly Picon and Phyllis Diller and individual personalities like Pearl Bailey and Ethel Merman also took the role of the century on.So where does the 20-something Barbra Streisand fit into this mix? She's obviously a very young widow and there's no disguising that in her feathered hats and beaded dresses. Streisand is instantly apparent to be wise beyond her years, and that makes a perfect fit for Dolly. She's as zany as Channing, as brassy as Merman, yet as vulnerable as Grable. The hatred allegedly felt between Streisand and her Vandergelder (Walter Matthau) is invisible on-screen, and they play perfectly off of each other. Matthau is the obvious choice for the cantankerous but lovable storekeeper, and if you listen to David Burns' Broadway Horace, you can see why Matthau is a perfect fit for the part. He is a non-singing actor who is even more convincing in his songs than Rex Harrison was in "My Fair Lady".Future "Phantom" Michael Crawford gets to steal "Put on Your Sunday Clothes", and Broadway audiences will instantly recognize the lanky Tommy Tune as the admirer of Matthau's niece. Marianne McAndrew doesn't have the name value for the secondary female lead of Irene Malloy (Ann- Margret was the original choice) but she has charm and beauty, and it is truly shocking that after this, she was never heard from again.There's so much to comment on here, but to cover the most important point, you must focus on the songs. This is a heavy dancing show, from the Currier and Ives look of "Dancin'" to the big Fifth Avenue Parade of "Before the Parade Passes By" and finally, the Harmonia Gardens set title song where Streisand shares the screen momentarily with the legendary Louis Armstrong who had made a hit out of the title song even before the show opened on Broadway. He's not just a flash in the pan with a needless cameo here; His presence adds much needed pizazz, and it was a wise decision to include him. So while "Dolly" apparently went on to loose money in the very cynical late 60's (audiences were tiring of these big road show musicals), it has stood the test of time. In fact, "Dolly" hasn't made it back to Broadway except for touring productions in which both Channing (three times!) and Bailey repeated the role, and like "Funny Girl", the reason could be is that it is difficult to find anyone who could erase the memories of the previous actresses (in this case, the original set of veteran stars and its film lead) to play the role now.

In 1890 New York City, well-dressed young widow Barbra Streisand (as Dolly Levi) sings along city streets while soliciting customers for her job as a marriage broker. As "matchmaker" business dictates, she is off to beautiful uptown Yonkers, where wealthy older client Walter Matthau (as Horace Vandergelder) desires a wife to help with housework. She may not be interested in cooking and cleaning, but Ms. Streisand is aware of Mr. Matthau's great wealth. Streisand secretly schemes to make Matthau her husband...Twentieth Century Fox gambled on the casting of Streisand in "Hello, Dolly!" and we lost. At times, Streisand is clearly doing an impression of Mae West. She's also photographed most attractively. Matthau is grumpy in his funny way, but has zero chemistry with Streisand. At least she can sing, though lyrics in the title song ("Look at the old girl, now") and "Before the Parade Passes By" betray the ruse. The new movie star demanding, "Don't Rain on My Parade" in "Funny Girl" (1968) more accurately captured Streisand...There are other reasons to watch. Witness how director Gene Kelly guides the supporting cast through heavily produced numbers. Michael Crawford (as Cornelius Hackl) and Danny Lockin (as Barnaby Tucker) have all the "Elegance" (a highlight) you need. While obviously dubbed with "Ribbons Down My Back", Marianne McAndrew (as Irene Molloy) is lovely. E.J. Peaker (as Minnie Fay) and others contribute a stage aura nicely. And, hearing Louis Armstrong sing a few lines of his great hit is cause for applause.***** Hello, Dolly! (12/16/69) Gene Kelly ~ Barbra Streisand, Walter Matthau, Michael Crawford, Danny Lockin

Remember the 1960s ? Remember when skirts went up and hair come down ? Remember when all the girls were screaming for the Beatles ? Remember when things weren't just great... they were groovy. Well, if you do remember, this movie doesn't ! Back then the word classic was cursed. Some genre movies were smashed, as many many values in and out the screen. So it was obvious why one of the Veteran National Guards, (Gene Kelly), went to make the stage musical (The Matchmaker) into a feature film. I recall that Kelly, at the time, was fighting 20th-Century Fox for hiring a sexploitation director, (Russ Meyer), to make studio pictures. Actually those 2 deeds are one for an old Hollywood's Veteran National Guard.So, what's about this film ? It's big, so big. And that's, here, not great. Some scenes are too big, however not with great story, songs or actors. The story is a play on very old themes in the classic comic theater, but nothing did dazzle about it, and dealing with the characters wasn't creative. Except the title's song and (It Only Takes a Moment), the many songs aren't that excellent.The cast gave me such an awful time. First of all casting (Streisand) as (Dolly) is like casting (James Dean) to do an above 40 year old man in the last part of (The Giant), yet without make-up! That matchmaker is supposed to be a mix of a hag, spinster, and craving for love woman, while (Streisand) was craving for love only! And if we forgot that, how to forget the fact of (Streisand) being 26 year old, loving the 49 year old (Matthau) ? And if we forgot that either, how to forget the fact that there was absolutely no chemistry of any kind between (Streisand) and (Matthau) ?! I read that he didn't like her from day one, however according to his performance he looked pretty much hating what he was doing too. The younger actors weren't any better; I couldn't stand (Michael Crawford) in specific. Believe it or not, the cameo of (Louis Armstrong) not only stole the show, but proved that he was the most truly funny and rather bearable one in that cast !The humor is dry, no comedy were produced. And the dances were shot theatrically, where the bore must conquer. It's the waiters' dance where you can find some vitality and humor in this movie. Therefore with big sets, cadres, orchestra, costumes !, and big number of extras, the movie established a new level of bad, and the indistinct food was served in very huge and insanely expensive plate !Then, more dangerous problem. Its name is :1969. You know well that after 1968 everything had revolutionarily changed. It was the boom's start of anti-studio movies like (Midnight Cowboy) and (Easy Rider); where for instance after the success of the latter, Universal Studios hit upon the idea to let young filmmakers make "semi-independent" films with low budgets, no interfere in the filmmaking process, and giving the directors final cut, all in hopes of generating similar profits. It was a phase of breakthrough for some cinema, and breakdown of another. For many viewers that challenging and daring new wave made the conventional refused since it's conventional. Plus, movies like (Sweet Charity), (Paint Your Wagon), (Oh! What a Lovely War), all produced in 1969, didn't meet any high success. Regardless of being conventional musicals or not; as if being musical itself is what mattered; turning into something conventional enough back then. So what about the too conventional, too old Hollywood, (Hallo Dolly!)? Of course it wasn't an exception. Now you have to understand the reason why they put an exclamation mark after its title !It cost $25 million, to gross $13 million. And with other flops, 20th Century Fox nearly bankrupted, several top studio executives lost their jobs, and the studio produced only one picture for the entire calendar year of 1970. To a considerable extent the 1960s end passed that type of entertainment, over and above being "big" wasn't an answer for great or good, so while Kelly wanted to bang away, or – at worst – leave with a bang, he couldn't succeed in having a bang for the buck ! This is yesterday's train coming the day after. And among the golden age's musicals it is silly and overblown. So it couldn't be "groovy" by any meaning, but embodying the baroque phase of the Hollywood musicals, namely being heavily ornate and nearly soulless, which is natural to happen after the classic phase. Obviously the zenith is amusing, but the post-zenith isn't that amusing. …And (Elizabeth Taylor) was considered for the role of Dolly ?? AAAAHHHHHHHHHHH !!P.S : My first chapter, except its last line, is from the poster of (Stardust – 1974).