Watched Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory for the billionith time today, and something occured to me that I never thought about before–that Willy Wonka knew exactly who he wanted to choose. We already know he’s a tricky character.
The major evidence is the fact that Slugworth was where the winners were. Gee, he seems to have many occupations…:
Posing as a waiter during Augustus Gloop’s interview.
He was right there when Veruca Salt’s people found her Golden Ticket.
In the background for Violet Beuragard’s (sp?) interview.
Posing as a reporter for Mike Teevee’s interview.
Suddenly showing up out of the shadows to meet Charlie Bucket. Charlie and Veruca, by the way, were the only ones not interviewed (or being shown interviewed).
I thought these odd; especially number 2 and 5. Did Willy Wonka plant his Golden Tickets? Also, it’s curious to note, that no adult ever won even though the contest was open to everybody. The only adult that won turned out to be a forgery—or did it (or is there a special Wonka Mafia, specializing in hard to find chocolate )? Slugworth never seemed to be at the location where the adult “won”. I’m wondering if Wonka knew he wanted Charlie exactly, and just planted the other tickets to make it fair.
Another case of the movie taking liberties with the book. Slugworth doesn’t show up at all except for when Charlie gets his Golden Ticket. Everywhere else in the book he’s mentioned in passim and doesn’t figure into the action at all. Whoever put that movie together threw Slugworth into the other kids’ scenes to heighten the drama.
And what was up with filming it in Holland, anyway?
Because if you filmed it in Germany you’d have to hear songs like “Ich habe eine goldene Karte” and “Der Süßigkeitmann kann” which don’t flow well at all
Plus, who wants to see Oompa Loompas in all black with berets, smoking while it’s being filmed in black and white?
Wilkenest Wonkmeister knew. He’s a crafty fellow.
Assuming this is the case, why would he choose those kids? Clearly, except for Charlie, the others were little more than personifications of some vice or another. Wonka would have known this, if he chose them. So why bother? Unless his secondary goal was to use them as moral object lessons for the others…
(Note…never read the book, so I have no idea if any of this is explained better within.)
Of course he knew. And do you remember when Mike & his mom, & Charlie and his grandpa and Wonka went for a ride in the Hsawaknow (Wonkawash)? There were only enough seats for the 5 of them. So not only did Wonka know which kids would be coming to the factory, he also know that he would be relieved of some “baggage” by that part of the journey. (Turned out to be Augustus, Violet, and Veruca). Some people have their Bible, I have Wonka.
Oh, hell no. I don’t believe Wonka is magnanimous enough to believe in fairness. Especially not to those little bastards (who end up dying for all we know.) Maybe the rotten kids were part of the test he had designed for Charlie, to see if he would stay good while everyone else around him was bad.
Gah! One more reason for me to hate that damn movie. I love the book. Love it, love it, love it, read it many times growing up and as an adult. I didn’t see the movie until I was in my 20s, and its flaws are deep and numerous. Ugh. Add one more to the list.
The scene is clear in my mind: Charlie won the Golden Ticket. It was not planted. Innocently, he opens the candy bar in front of others who try to steal the bar form him. You’ll recall this scene is soon folowed by the grnadfather (magically well enough to get out of bed) starts singing and dancing “'cause you got a golden ticket…”
That was NOT Oskar Slugworth. It was Mr. Wilkinson, and of COURSE he was planting the tickets. He was also planting the temptations for the kids.
Of COURSE Wonka knew only children would have golden tickets. He was holding auditions for an heir, and his primary requirement was that the factory be turned over to a child.
Regardless of the misbehaviors of any of the children, ANY of them could have won the real grand prize (except Augustus Gloop, who removed himself from consideration before they even boarded the Wonkatania, by falling into the chocolate river). The key to winning was GIVING BACK THE EVERLASTING GOBSTOPPER. Only Charlie did that, so Charlie won.
{on preview} Jinx, I don’t think the people were trying to steal the candy bar from Charlie; they just wanted to see the golden ticket.
Gad! The more I hear about this movie, the more I hate it. I’ve seen it, but I’ve blocked most of it out.
Read the gosh-darn book!
And in the book, the tickets were most definitely not planted. And it didn’t take a rocket scientist to figure out that Charlie was the only one of those kids worth his salt.
The fizzy drink room scene is one of the tracks. Picture this: mixed in among the well-known songs is this one track that is just an old man and a young boy belching.
Ok, out on a limb here… Wonka may be just a man, but he’s a pretty magical man. Slugworth/Wilkinson showing up at all those places never troubled me because I figured Wonka was like Santa Claus - he had some magical abilities. Not a case of planting the tickets, but rather somehow knowing when they’d been found, and getting there fast by magical means.
Alternatively, maybe the golden tickets contained some kind of tracking device.
I’ve thought about the OP and I disagree. He didn’t know who was going to get the tickets. Although it is very likely he knew from which stores they would be bought from.
Taking the stick cazzle has and running with it:
It shouldn’t be too hard for Wonka to track the magic tickets by simple, normal, everyday business procedures. He merely has to know which candy bars contained the tickets, no problem there. Which box they were put in and to which candy stores they were sent. Again no real problem. If they spaced them out nicely, say sent out 1 every week, what with the great rush on the bars they would not have sat on the shelf for more then a few days.
So Wonka says to Wilkinson “the 4th ticket is being sold to a store in Burbank, California (perhaps he picked and chose which candy stores and placed the golden ticket in their box). Kindly go there and await the winner.” And he does and then goes to interview the TV freak. This would solve all the comings and goings of Slugworth. The only kid they would have known would win before hand was Veruca since it seems likely that her father bought his shipments directly from Wonka himself.
And ‘Slugworth’ wouldn’t have been at the site where the adult ‘won’ because Wonka would have known that no golden tickets were sent there.
As for them all being kids, deus ex machina. One could also suppose that if Charlie himself proved as bad as the rest, the contest would be held again next year, and the next till finally some kid got it.
“I’ve thought about the OP and I disagree. He didn’t know who was going to get the tickets. Although it is very likely he knew from which stores they would be bought from.”
Best practices for contests and sweepstakes with high value tickets is that they are closely tracked at all times, otherwise you get too much chicanery going on. McDonald’s little fubar with their contest is just one example of what can happen if you don’t.
Of course this is just a movie, but contest law is an interest of mine, so I am just sayin’ . . . .
Now, whywould a kid from Marble Falls, Arizona go all the way to Burbank to buy a candy bar? I KNOW they have candy stores in Arizona.
But he still has to have only a KID win the factory, so only KIDS can get the golden tickets. You saw how many grownups were going to such lengths to get the tickets for themselves. Kids just wouldn’t have the economic clout to compete with that. Ergo, Wonka had to have been guiding the tickets, through Wilkinson, into the hands of children. A good subject for speculation is, to what extent was WIlkinson given autonomy in the choice of recipients?
)? Slugworth never seemed to be at the location where the adult “won”. I’m wondering if Wonka knew he wanted Charlie exactly, and just planted the other tickets to make it fair.