The 1968 film "Oliver!", a British period musical drama based on Lionel Bart's 1960 stage musical "Oliver!", itself an adaptation of Charles Dickens's 1838 novel "Oliver Twist", was released in September 1968 and distributed internationally by Columbia Pictures. It had been directed by Carol Reed and produced by John Woolf. The film's screenplay was by Vernon Harris, and the picture includes such musical numbers as "Food, Glorious Food", "Consider Yourself", "As Long as He Needs Me", "I'd Do Anything", "You've Got to Pick a Pocket or Two", and "Where Is Love?".

It stars Ron Moody, Oliver Reed, Harry Secombe, Shani Wallis, Jack Wild, and Mark Lester in the title role. Filmed at Shepperton Film Studio in Surrey, it was a Romulus film production.

At the 41st Academy Awards for 1968, "Oliver!" was nominated for eleven Academy Awards. It won six Oscars, including Best Picture, Best Director (Reed), Best Art Direction, Best Score (Musical Picture), Best Sound, and an Honorary Oscar Award for choreographer Onna White.

The films "The Lion in Winter", a 1968 historical drama set at Christmas 1183 directed by Anthony Harvey, "Funny Girl", a 1968 American biographical musical comedy-drama directed by William Wyler, and "Romeo and Juliet", a 1968 period-drama film based on the play of the same name by William Shakespeare, directed and co-written by Franco Zeffirelli, were all films that were nominated for the Oscar for Best Picture. Each of these films in the end failed to win.

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