Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory is a 1971 British-American musical fantasy film directed by Mel Stuart, and starring Gene Wilder as Willy Wonka. It's an adaptation of the 1964 novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl and tells the story of Charlie Bucket (Peter Ostrum) as he receives a Golden Ticket and visits Willy Wonka's chocolate factory with four other children from around the world.