Oliver! (1968) review

The story should be familiar to most by now (if not, go to a library): waif Oliver Twist (Mark Lester) goes from an orphanage to living with an undertaker to befriending The Artful Dodger (Jack Wild) ... to "working for" Fagin (Ron Moody) as a part of his "Child Pickpocket Army."  It's fittingly dirty and grimy when it needs to be (the Underworld of London) and bright and lively when it gets to Upper Class section (where Mr. Brownlow lives), but Reed's more or less going through the motions with it, and while many of the songs are delightful, there are just entirely too many of them ... and they seem to go on longer than they should.  It's kind of exhausting to watch - it draws you in to make you nod off - but I will say that if ever there was a role the late, great Oliver Reed was built for, it was Bill Sikes: I guarantee you that he didn't have to be told to shut up and drink his gin.