Just perfect...

Good concept, poorly executed.

It's not great by any means, but it's a pretty good movie that didn't leave me filled with regret for investing time in it.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Probably one of the most underrated musicals of all time (next to THE WIZ), it is a shame that this movie is labeled overblown and excessive, which it is NOT; it is lavish and elegant and larger-than-life.Barbra Streisand is as magnificent here as she is in FUNNY GIRL, and at least very deserving of an Oscar nomination for her splashy, vibrant and effortlessly spontaneous and vivacious performance.Gene Kelly not being nominated also for directing this classic is as much a travesty as Steven Spielberg not being nominated for directing the best film of 1985, THE COLOR PURPLE, then again, A.M.P.A.S has made many faux pas over its existence. Here's to you Dolly Levi, and Barbra Streisand, so glad to have you both where you belong, in such a beloved and highly admired musical film.

One of the last of the lavish Old Hollywood musicals. The performances are all fine, with Streisand the obvious standout, vocally and otherwise. Michael Crawford is a little goofy but I guess he's supposed to be. He's a little Dick Van Dyke-ish at times. Your mileage may vary on whether that's a good thing or not. I was less interested in his plot than the one involving Streisand and Walter Matthau. Pretty much anytime Babs is on screen things are much more lively. I say this as someone who isn't her biggest fan, but she really does own this film. The direction from legend Gene Kelly is solid and appropriately old-school for its time. It really feels like a throwback to the MGM musicals of the 1940s and 50s, with great sets and costumes and big production numbers. The cinematography is also very beautiful. So it's a great-looking movie with an upbeat tempo throughout and some very nice songs. The length is the biggest negative, and I did find myself checking my watch during a couple of the lengthy Crawford segments. But it's still a good movie with a lot to recommend, especially for fans of older musicals.

An expensive, large-scale and larger-than-life musical stars an odd pairing of Barbra Streisand and Walter Matthau, it is only Streisand's second film after her surprising Oscar coup in big screen débutante FUNNY GIRL (1968), what's more opportune than an out-and-out musical to exploit Streisand's mellifluous voice and continue her winning streak as a new movie star was born! Also directed by the musical legendary Gene Kelly, it is one of the most lavish and enjoyable vaudeville ever! It is one of the top-grossing movie of 1969, but due to the decline of the cinema attendance, it was unsuccessful to earn back its pricey budget, hereinafter, the genre once was Hollywood's predominant sustenance began to ebb until MOULIN ROUGE! (2001,8/10) and CHICAGO (2002, 8/10) have bucked the trend in the noughties. An opening tracking shot follows galloping hoofs, shining shoes from motley passengers, widow-cum-matchmaker Dolly Levi (Streisand) needs a splendid entrance to give away her name-card in the train station, she is on her way to conquest the half-a-millionaire bachelor Horace Vandergelder (Matthau) in Yonkers, so she assists the elopement of Horace's niece Ermengarde (Ames) with the willowy artist Ambrose (Tune), sabotages Horace's proposal intention with milliner Irene Molloy (McAndrew) by setting her up with Horace's clerk Cornelius (Crawford) beforehand. In the New York one-day excursion, it encompasses a park cruise, a grand parade and a sumptuous banquet with many delightful interludes, culminates in a boisterous roughhouse leaving Horace and Dolly negating their possibility of marriage and whatsoever. Maybe it drags too long (a total running time of 2.5 hours) for all the fanfare of the stunningly orchestrated choreography and catchy music number renditions (Louis Armstrong has a charming cameo as the band leader in the hotel ), the banal and invariable happy-ending arrives hastily no matter how reluctant it seems to be. Leaving aside the pompous man-seeking character settings of Dolly Levi (an overachieving rip- off of MARY POPPINS 1964, 7/10), who is inexplicably a power house figure in the posh New York high society, and the sanctimonious quest of a sign from her late husband to let her go, Streisand is a composed singer radiant with her own flair, garrulously eloquent in her non- singing performances, but the lack of spark between her and Matthau is embarrassing. It is Crawford and McAndrew who vindicate the true romance in their subplot, which dissipates the stinking haughtiness all over the place. In a word, HELLO, DOLLY! is a family-friendly, entertaining picture but curtailed by its own unwieldy flamboyance, but Gene Kelly and Jerry Herman should be hailed for their paramount knack in cooking such a superfluously dazzling banquet which would be much better with some sensible self-moderation.

After hearing about this musical for decades, I finally watched this movie version of the Broadway musical Hello, Dolly! just now on Netflix Streaming. What a wonderfully tuneful movie this was with great choreography and perfect camera angles. And why not as the director is Gene Kelly who's such a great hoofer himself. Okay, so maybe Barbra Streisand was indeed a bit young for the title role but her singing and acting more than makes up for it. And Walter Matthau is perfect as the man who eventually...well, watch the movie if you want to know. And seeing Michael Crawford way before his triumphant run in Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera was another fine treat here. But the real one was seeing the great Satchmo-Louis Armstrong-belt out the title tune with Ms. Streisand several years after making a recording of that song with the result of him not only being the first to hit No. 1 on the Billboard Hot 100 after The Beatles' 14 weeks there with their first three U.S. releases, but also becoming the oldest-at 63 then-to do so which still stands. Incidentally, the youngest to do so was Little Stevie Wonder at 13 with "Fingertips, Part II" the year before. So on that note, Hello, Dolly! is highly recommended. P.S. Since this is Black History Month, besides Armstrong, Scatman Crothers also appears with Ms. Streisand in the beginning number giving her a line or two.