I love this movie so much

Fanciful, disturbing, and wildly original, it announces the arrival of a fresh, bold voice in American cinema.

If you like to be scared, if you like to laugh, and if you like to learn a thing or two at the movies, this absolutely cannot be missed.

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Barbra Streisand & Walter Matthau star in this classic of Hollywood. Also cast is Michael Crawford (in his youth) who will later star at the Phantom of the Opera in both the West End & Broadway and Tommy Tune's first film.Matchmaking is Dolly's game and she has her eye set on someone for herself!I didn't realize how many of the songs I've heard before elsewhere.Entertaining if you love musicals and any of the stars...

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.

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.

One of the most underrated films of all time (even by IMDb viewers!!) What's not to Love about this film? It showcases Barbra Streisand at her Barbra Streisand best, and has one of the top five musical numbers in the history of Broadway. It's a sweetly innocent, escapist billowy tale, old-fashioned and charming, set within a gorgeous palate of lavish Belle Epoque era interiors, and Hudson River Valley Scenery, with a Louis Armstrong appearance that is the cap-per of a truly delightful entertainment. Those of you who haven't seen the film--please ignore the naysayers and the snobbish critical reviews--just escape into an earlier, innocent time, where strolling down the Avenues of turn-of-the 20th century NY, enjoying a lavish, calorie and cholesterol - laden banquet at a beautiful restaurant, watching with child-like glee a great old-fashioned parade and relishing the simple beauties of a sun-filled day all dressed up with tuneful melodies and snappy dancing warms your heart and provides a jolly good time! Relish and enjoy this treasure of an American Musical! Heck with the critics! This is one of the most fun musical entertainments ever captured on film!