Oliver!

A boy who runs from the workhouse falls in with a gang of pickpockets in London. An old man runs the gang and teaches the children to pick pockets. The film builds the Dickens novel as a stage musical; the narrative keeps showing the poverty, but the tone lightens as songs and choreography come in. That doubleness is both its appeal and the most argued thing about it. Carol Reed directed, adapting the Broadway and West End musical. Oliver Reed plays the killer. It won the Academy Award for best picture. Before watching: it is marketed to children but contains lethal violence against a woman, and that scene is fairly hard. It also runs close to two and a half hours.