Oliver! is a 1968 British period musical drama film based on Lionel Bart‘s 1960 stage musical of the same name, itself an adaptation of Charles Dickens‘s 1838 novel Oliver Twist. Directed by Carol Reed from a screenplay by Vernon Harris, the picture includes such musical numbers as “Food, Glorious Food“, “Consider Yourself“, “As Long as He Needs Me“, “You’ve Got to Pick a Pocket or Two“, and “Where Is Love?“. It stars Ron Moody, Oliver Reed, Harry Secombe, Shani Wallis, Jack Wild, and Mark Lester in the title role. Filmed at Shepperton Film Studio in Surrey, it was a Romulus production by John Woolf and was distributed internationally by Columbia Pictures.
At the 41st Academy Awards for 1968, 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 it the 69th best British film ever.[2]
