Dolly Levi (Barbra Steisand), an elderly widow who for some reason looks twenty-five and stunning, decides to give up her matchmaking career and find herself a match. Her target is wealthy Horace Vandergelder (Walter Matthau). On her path to getting him, she fixes up the relationships of his niece Ermengarde (Joyce Ames), who she sends off with poor artist Ambrose Kemper (Tommy Tune), and his employees Cornelius (Michael Crawford) and Barnaby (Danny Lockin), who she matches with shopkeeper Irene Molloy (Marianne McAndrew) and her assistant Minnie (E.J. Peaker). Everyone ends up in New York City for one big, wild, romantic night.
I’ve gone to some effort defending Oliver! against being an out-of-touch antique, but with Dolly!… Wow, this film is a dinosaur. It doesn’t feel like a 1969 film. It feels a bit like 1955, but more like 1933. Busby Berkeley would be at home with the never ending musical numbers that are disconnected from the story. Yes, everyone is dancing, but why is everyone dancing? In ’69, unlike ’33, that feels like a question there ought to be an answer to.
I tend to only trust my views in reviewing films, but in the case of Hello, Dolly!, the filmmakers themselves may be the best judges. Walter Matthau said (to her and anyone who would listen) that Barbra Streisand couldn’t act, and he didn’t say it nicely. Streisand thought Matthau was a petty asshole, but did agree she was miscast, decades too young for the part. They both agreed they had no chemistry. Director Gene Kelly was sure he could have helped Streisand find the character of Dolly, if he’d been given more time; but he wasn’t… Choreographer Michael Kidd thought Kelly had the wrong focus and Kelly thought Kidd wasn’t doing his job as well as he could have. And they were all correct.
Taking Streisand’s side, which is hard to do as Matthau is a fine actor, it’s important to note that this is a musical, and she could sing. She couldn’t act, or dance, but she could sing. That’s a talent he lacked. There is no reason to ever have Walter Matthau sing. Or be within a city block of any musical.
What’s surprising is that considering how flawed it is, that Hello, Dolly! is watchable at all, but it is. The characters who aren’t Horace or Dolly are quite pleasant to spend an afternoon with (I’m particularly fond of Irene, who seems brighter and more capable than everyone else, and has a sense of fun). Most of the songs aren’t memorable, but they aren’t bad either. Call them enjoyable filler. The title track, on the other hand, is very catchy and worth sitting through quite a bit of nothing to get to. As for those perpetual dance routines, they are amiable in an unfocused way, and only fail due to lasting twice as long as they should. And the one for Put on Your Sunday Clothes actually works all the way to its distant end. There are worse problems a musical can have than dancing that won’t stop. Everything without the two leads would be quite good if it was just trimmed a bit.
As for those leads, well, there’s not a lot good that can be said about Matthau. He can, mostly in other films, do a lot with the grumpy old man role, and every once in a while that shows through here. But he’s not nearly amusing enough for the time we spend with him, and as mentioned, he can’t sing. And every moment with him and Streisand is cringe-worthy. She’s far too pretty and young for the role, which makes it impossible to figure why Dolly wants to end up with the unpleasant Horace. It’s clear she could do better, and that cuts the romance off at the knees. I don’t want them to get together. The fault really lies with the script. There is no arc for Horace. There’s no scenes of him slowly falling in love with Dolly or realizing the error of his ways. He’s obnoxious, and he stays that way, just for some reason he ends up with Dolly.
As for Streisand without Mathau, her lack of acting skill is evident, but when she’s in pixie mode, rushing about causing happy chaos for the other couples, she works well enough. And when she sings, her sins are forgiven.
Yes, it nearly bankrupted Fox, but that blame can be divided among it, Star!, and Doctor Dolittle, and there’s no excuse for Doctor Dolittle. Hello, Dolly! is a mess, but it isn’t an unpleasant one.