Meet Charlie Bucket, our hero.
He's a poor boy from a poor extended
family where everyone lives in a small house with only one room. For the
most part, Charlie and his mother are the only people earning money for
the family. Charlie has a paper route, and his mom works in a laundery
matt. We get a feeling early on in the film that of all his bed stricken
family, Charlie likes his Grandpa Joe the best.
Charlie does his best to keep his family
comfortable. He puts every cent
he earns into food for his realitives. Although, like many childeren his
age, he would like to spend his money on things like candy and other
treats. Charlie dreams for better things for his family, and when the
mysterious Wonka Chocolate Factory starts a contest where the grand prize
winner gets a lifetime supply of chocolate, Charlie sees his chance to
break his family out of poverty.
Here's how the contest works. There are five golden tickets hidden in bars of Wonka Chocolate. These chocolate bars are shipped all around the world. Whomever finds the golden ticket is entitled to a tour of the factory that no one has ever seen it inside of. And, as if that were not enough, they get that lifetime supply of chocolate. Each prize winner is allowd to bring a guest to the factory as well.
The Wonka contest has turned the world upsidedown. Candy stores are turned into war zones. Shop keepers cannot keep the candy on the shelves. People are crazed to try to find the golden tickets.
It does not take long for the first
Golden Ticket to turn up. A boy
named Augustus Gloop is the lucky finder. Augustus is a big boy. When
he is asked how he feels about finding the ticket he replies, "I feel
sorry for Wonka. Its going to cost him a foutune in fudge." As
Augustus' mother is being interviewed by news crews we see a man whisper
into Augustus' ear. We can't make out what is being said, but Augustus
stops eating to listen.
For Charlie's birthday the whole family makes him a scarf, and his Grandfathers pitch in to get him a Wonka bar. Charlie eagerly opens the wraping to find only chocolate.
We are then introduced to Veruca Salt. A
very demanding daughter of a
sucsesful business man. Mr. Salt has stopped the regular work at his
factory so he could have his workers open case after case of Wonka bars.
Veruca is not pleased that she hasn't been given the Golden Ticket that
her father promiced her. Finally one of the workers finds Golden Ticket
number two and is escorted through the factory to put the Golden Ticket
in the waiting hands of the impatient little Veruca. Again, we see this
mysterious man whispering into Veruca's ear after she grabs the Golden
Ticket. Veruca also seem genuinely interested in whatever the man is
saying.
More scenes of mob attacks on anyone selling Wonka bars. All over the world stores are sold out. Shipments are now being moved in armored cars with armed guards. People are going to extreme lengths to get the Golden Tickets. Newly developed computers have even been used to try to locate the Golden Tickets.
Ticket number three is soon discovered in
the USA. Violet Beaureguard,
the daughter of a used car salesman, and avid gum chewer heard about the
contest and decided that her gum chewing could wait. Now that she has
the Golden Ticket, she is back on her gum. Again we see this
mysterious man whispering into the ear of the Golden Ticket finder.
Violet listens closely while still chewing her precious gum.
Charlie still hasn't found his Golden Ticket yet. He is starting to get pretty down on himself. His mom tries to "Cheer Up Charlie" but when a small boy thinks that his hopes and dreams are out of reach there isn't much she can do.
Golden Ticket number four is discovered by
Mike Teevee. The news
interviewers can't get his attention away from the television set. His
mother explains that that's all he does is watch television. Westerns
are what he is interested in mostly. The mysterious man is here too.
His whispering is interesting enough to Mike that he turns his gaze away
from the television. We still can't hear what he is saying.
Again we see more examples of how desperate people are when it comes to finding the last remaining Golden Ticket. But we soon find out that a man in Paraguay has found the last Golden Ticket, the contest is over and Charlie is devestated.
The next day on his way home from school Charlie finds some money in the
street. He decides to reward himself by feeding his sweet tooth. He
buys the biggest bar of chocolate he can find, and eats it right away.
As he is leaving, he decides to get Grandpa Joe a Wonks bar with the rest
of the money. As he gets to his paper stand to get the papers for his
delivery route he finds that is is surrounded by a swarm of people all
very eager to get a paper. Charlie overhears people talking. As it
turns out, the Golden Ticket found in Paraguay was a fake and that there
was in fact one more Golden Ticket out there somewhere. Charlie walks
away from the crowd and gets out the Wonka bar that he bought for Grandpa
Joe. He slowly opens it and to his shock as well as the people around
him, he has found the fifth Golden Ticket!
Charlie runs straight home,
but on his way there, the mysterious man who was around all the other
Golden Ticket winners stops him. He introduces himself as Mr. Slugworth,
President of Slugworth Chocolates. He offers Charlie a great sum of
money if Charlie would just bring him a new invention from the Wonka
Factory, an "Everlasting Gobstopper". Charlie runs home even faster, and
bursts through the door shouting that he has the fifth Golden Ticket.
The family didn't know about the fake Golden Ticket in Paraguay so they
didn't believe Charlie at first. They change their minds as Grandpa Joe
reads the Golden Ticket. Charlie desperately wants Grandpa Joe to go the
Factory with him. Grandpa Joe slowly gets out of bed and discovers that
he can still walk. They dance around the small house and celebrate their
good fortune and prepare for the factory tour the next day.
Back to the index.
Willy Wonka, according to Grandpa
Joe is the best of all the candymen.
He is a total recluse, working in complete isolation from the rest of the
world in a factory where no one ever goes in and no one ever comes
out. His secrecy started many years earlier when a rival candy company
(Slugworth Chocolates) stole one of Wonka's secrets. Wonka went into
hideing and nothing was heard of him for a long time. Then the factory
started working again at top speed. Nobody knew how, but Wonka's candy
was made even better than before.
