Cheap Fitzwilly (Video) (Delbert Mann) Price

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Customer Reviews of Fitzwilly

Family Christmases Remembered
This is an excellent Christmas film for the nostalgic, as it does date back to the late sixties. There is charm and the Van Dyke mystic, plus a wonderful performance from (agent 99) Barbara Feldon. The plot is simple, the Butler (of course had to do it) must bring in money to keep the woman he works for (a mother figure to him) from knowing she was broke. He does this thru inventive criminal activity (stealing like only the rich can do). He must keep an outsider (the new secretary played by Barbara Feldon) from finding out and in the process falls in love, as does she, and so she doesn't run to the police when she finds out. I simply love the main caper, pulled at Gimbles department store pre-christmas. It is charming. Perhaps this was Gimbles answer to Macy's Miracle on 34th Street. It brings back my happy memories of Family Christmas time in the late sixties. A wonderful film!

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A Modern Robin Hood Romp
Videotapes first became popular in 1980, and Fitzwilly, one of my favorite films, had been made 13 years before. So naturally the arbitrary powers that be kept the video version off the shelves for over 20 years!

But finally this lost Dick Van Dyke treasure is available, and we can only hope that its DVD version will not be another pan-and-scan nightmare like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was. Remember that both Chitty and Fitzwilly were shot in Panavison, meaning that only a widescreen format can do them justice on DVD.

Yes, Van Dyke's Mary Poppins and Bye Bye Birdie are available in beautiful widescreen, but they really dropped the ball with Chitty. I was astounded when the DVD of it was finally released, and noticed that they had taken a film about a flying car yet - and reduced half the picture down to dismal pan-and-scan, which also reduced by 50% the feeling the viewer gets of flying.

I can now happily note, however, that the studio finally woke up and later released a widescreen version of Chitty, after their dismal standard frame dud bit the dust. The makers of Willy Wonka also released a far superior version of their film in widescreen - after likewise goofing up by first putting out a similarly lousy pan-and-scan bomb. But sadly, such repenting studios later showing they have "seen the light" about widescreen are very rare.

Tech specs aside, as to the plot of Fitzwilly itself, the Robin Hood bunch does keep some money to maintain their households but funnels the rest of it through the old lady's hands into the hands of the poor. In the end, some rich businesses got stung a bit (but they were insured) and the lives of hundreds of poor folks were enriched. The only one who would gripe about something like that happening would be some other selfish rich businessman.

Dick Van Dyke has for decades been one of the Top 5 comedians of all time, and Fitzwilly is one of his Top 5 movies. Need one say more? Only this - oh great creators of Fitzwilly, please release this movie soon on DVD and make it in WIDESCREEN !!!

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Dick Van Dyke as a charming "Robin Hood" butler
Dick Van Dyke plays the title character of this 1967 comedy, a butler whose full name is Claude Fitzwilliam. He is in service to Miss Victoria Woodworth (Edith Evans), who comes from old money, which has now run out. Even worse, Miss Vicki is committed to a lot of philantrophic endeavors. However, Fitzwilly and the rest of the staff are dedicated to making sure she does not find out and towards that end they come up with creative (okay, criminal) ways of making money. Now, servants taking care of their mistress is an effrontery to Marxist thought if you are talking Karl, but if your leanings are more towards Groucho then you can appreciate the humor.

There is also a romantic subplot between Fitzwilly and Juliet Nowell (Barbara Feldon, in a credible first screen appearance for the co-star of television's "Get Smart"). But the part of this film that I remember most fondly is the "Dictionary for Dopes" that Miss Vicki is working on. Her idea is that people who do not know how to spell need a dictionary that makes it easier for them to find the correct spelling, working from all the possible phonetic spellings of a problematic word. The idea always appealed to me since my spelling is so atrocious that even spellcheckers are thwarted by my creativity, but there is also a nice little twist regarding Miss Vicki's dictionary as well. The project is what requires the hiring of Juliet, who cannot be entrusted to know what the rest of the staff is up to with their fun little capers.

This is an enjoyable film, mainly on the strength of Van Dyke's charming performance, which overcomes the dubious morality of the shenanigans that are going on. You will recognize a host of well-known character actors such as John McGiver, Cecil Kellaway, Norman Fell, Laurence Naismith and John Fielder. The score and song "Make Me Rainbows" are the work of young composer John Williams, who, for the last time, was credited as "Johnny Williams." Speaking of variations on a name, this film was known as "Fitzwilly Strikes Back" in the United Kingdom and was also released as "A Garden of Cucumbers."