Willy Wonka (1971 film character)

This article is about the 1971 film character, you might be looking for the 2005 version or 2023 version.

"If you want to view paradise, simply look around and view it. Anything you want to do, do it. Want to change the world? There's nothing to it."
— Wonka singing Pure Imagination

Willy Wonka is one of the main protagonists of the 1971 film, Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory, played by the late Gene Wilder.

Biography[]

Early life[]

See: Willy Wonka (2023 film character)

The Tour[]

In 1971, Willy Wonka has hidden five Golden Tickets amongst his famous "Wonka Bars." The finders of these special tickets will be given a full tour of his tightly guarded candy factory as well as a lifetime supply of chocolate. The contest sets off a global craze, with everyone desperately seeking the tickets. They are eventually found by five children from around the world: Augustus Gloop from West Germany, Violet Beauregarde and Mike Teavee from the United States, and Veruca Salt and Charlie Bucket from the United Kingdom.

The Inventing Room is the second room that the tour goes through. Mr. Wonka states that all of his ideas are simmering and bubbling in this room, and that Slugworth will give his false teeth to stay inside for five minutes. The room is home to Wonka's new (and still insufficiently tested) candies, such as Everlasting Gobstoppers, exploding candy and Wonka's greatest idea so far, The Three-Course Dinner Chewing Gum. This gum is a three course dinner all in itself, "Tomato Soup", Roast Beef & Baked Potato, and the dessert, Blueberry Pie". However, once the chewer gets to the dessert, there is a side effect: they turn into a giant "blueberry". This happens to Violet Beauregarde after she rashly grabs and consumes the experimental gum.

Violet is subsequently taken to the Juicing Room to be squeezed before she explodes. The tour then leaves the Inventing Room. They view the lick-able wallpaper and then go into the bubble room where Fizzy Lifting Drinks are produced. Wonka refuses to allow the children to sample some due to them being "still too powerful", but Charlie and Grandpa Joe disobey Wonka's directive rule and sample some; they float to the ceiling and nearly get sucked into a turbine fan before burping back to the ground.

Next, the tour visits the room containing geese that lay golden chocolate eggs. Veruca Salt tries to take one for herself and sings her musical number, "I want it Now!", but falls down the eggdicator and to the garbage chute. Her father follows her down the chute, both of them judged "bad egg"s. The tour then rides the Wonkamobile through the factory while being sprayed by foam.

Next the tour visits the television room where a television invention called Wonkavision produces unusually large chocolate bars into a picture on a television screen that the person at home can take out of the screen. Mike Teevee disobeys Wonka's orders and allows himself to be shrunken and put on television by the Wonka camera. To Mike and his Mom's horror, Wonka reveals that the damage done to Mike is unfixable and the only way to make him normal again is stretching him from the "Taffy puller".

When the tour is over, Wonka dismisses Grandpa Joe and Charlie without mentioning or awarding Charlie his lifetime supply of chocolate. He then disappears into his office. When Charlie and Grandpa Joe enter his "half-office" and inquire him further about it, Willy Wonka informs them that Charlie broke the rules by sampling the fizzy lifting drinks without permission and as a result, he would not be awarded his prize. He then furiously dismisses them with a "good day sir!" Grandpa Joe chides Wonka after that which causes him to dismiss them again. He suggests to Charlie that they give Slugworth the gobstopper in revenge, but Charlie refuses and goes up to Willy Wonka, apologizes, and gives him back the gobstopper. Before Charlie can exit the office, Willy Wonka abruptly changes his attitude, informs Charlie that he "passed the test" and reinstates his prize. He then brings Mr. Wilkinson - a man who posed as Wonka's rival, Arthur Slugworth, revealing that Mr. Wilkinson was in on the whole thing and that Wonka's rant was only a final test of character.

Wonka takes Charlie and Grandpa Joe into the "Wonkavator" and they fly up out of the factory and over the city. On the Wonkavator, Wonka reveals to Charlie that the actual prize of the tour was not a life-time supply of chocolate, but the factory itself; Wonka needed a heir to take over his factory and take care of his candy-making secrets and Oompa Loompas when he retired. He informs an ecstatic Charlie that he and his family can move into the factory immediately. He then tells Charlie to remember what happened to the man who got everything he wanted; "He lived happily ever after".

Pure Imagination[]

Come with me and you'll be
In a world of pure imagination
Take a look and you'll see
Into your imagination

We'll begin with a spin
Traveling in the world of my creation
What we'll see will defy
Explanation

If you want to view paradise
Simply look around and view it
Anything you want to, do it
Want to change the world?
There's nothing to it

There is no life I know
To compare with pure imagination
Living there, you'll be free
If you truly wish to be

If you want to view paradise
Simply look around and view it
Anything you want to, do it
Want to change the world?
There's nothing to it

There is no life I know
To compare with pure imagination
Living there, you'll be free
If you truly wish to be

Quotes[]

"You stole fizzy lifting drinks! You bumped into the ceiling which now has to be washed and sterilized, so you get nothing! You lose! Good day, sir!"

Trivia[]

Roald Dahl wished Spike Milligan or Peter Sellers to portray Willy Wonka instead, feeling Gene Wilder was too flamboyant, pretentious and bouncy.
Gene Wilder, Wonka's actor, was unhappy with the idea of the 2005 remake, feeling it was a cashgrab.
An image of Wonka became an Internet meme in 2011 known as Condescending Wonka.