Hello, Dolly!

Twenty-seven-year-old Barbra Streisand seemed an inappropriate choice for middle-aged, match-making widow Dolly Levi, but her energy carries her right through the role and dominates the lackluster movie around her. The plot, drawn from Thornton Wilder's The Matchmaker (itself based on a 19th-century ...more

Produced for a then-astronomical 24 million dollars, Hello, Dolly!'s disappointing box-office performance temporarily tarnished the promising career of Barbra Streisand. However, while the star is clearly too young for the role, the main problem with the film is that the source material did not transfer well from the stage to the screen. Director Gene Kelly's work lacks spark and inspiration and Michael Kidd's choreography, though energetic, comes across as forced. Part of the problem is the ...more