Chitty Chitty Bang Bang Poster

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang (1968)

Adventure | Fantasy 
Rayting:   6.9/10 41.6K votes
Country: UK
Language: English | German
Release date: 25 December 1968

A down on his luck inventor turns a broken down Grand Prix car into a fancy vehicle for his children, and then they go off on a magical fantasy adventure to save their grandfather in a far off land.

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User Reviews

Marta 15 July 2001

"Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" is a 70mm film; a modern audience can't see it on TV today and truly understand why it was a hit in 1968, and remembered so fondly by us 40-50ish adults. If you saw it on a wide screen in 1968, like I did as an 11-year-old at the Astro Theatre in Omaha, it was delightful and overpowering. The dark theatre, the glow of the screen, the wonderful scenes of the English countryside during the day and as the sun set, the magnificence of the newly-refurbished old car as it is wheeled out of the dark garage accompanied by a swell of the evocative theme music, and the panoramic view of Neuschwanstein Castle, left an impression on me that lingers today. This is a film that cries out for wide screen theatre re-release, and if it were we'd have a whole generation of children who would fall in love with it again. Tiny, box-like megaplexes have stolen a lot of the grandeur from the film-going experience, which is a terrible loss to us, the film-going public.

While I usually agree with most of his reviews, I'm going to take violent exception to Leonard Maltin's review of this film (as I do with his inexplicably bad review of the fantastic 1980 film "Popeye"). This film has an outstanding score that I've remembered for 32 years, and excellent special effects that fit very much within the timeframe of the film, which is why they are done the way they are done. The score is by Richard and Robert Sherman, who create songs just as memorable as they did 4 years earlier in "Mary Poppins." The title song and main theme have stayed with me all these years, and I sometimes find myself singing it for no apparent reason. "Posh" is a comic masterpiece and Lionel Jeffries was a perfect choice to sing it. "Hushabye Mountain" is a lovely lullaby, and "Chu-chi Face" is hilarious. "Me Ol' Bamboo" is an wonderful, energetic production number akin to the Chimney Sweep song in Mary Poppins, and "The Roses of Success" has long been a favorite of mine. And the duet between Van Dyke and Howe when they posed as a marionette and music box dancer, respectively, is just about my favorite part of the film.

Dick Van Dyke is perfect as the inventor; Sally Anne Howe is a lovely singer and a competent actress, but doesn't have the screen presence Julie Andrews does. That's the only detriment to the major casting of the film. Gert Frobe and Anna Quayle are delightful standouts as the evil and spoiled King and Queen Bomburst; their time on screen is far too short. My only quibble is that the film is a trifle too long, and one of the earlier musical numbers could have been cut. Other than that it's perfect.

This is a great film that deserves to be seen by everyone in the way it was intended - on a wide, wide screen in glowing 70mm with stereo sound. If you've never seen it in that fashion, you're missing an essential movie experience.

simonrosenbaum 12 December 2002

Fmovies: With a little trepidation I saw this after many years and was surprised how enjoyable it still was. The critics seemed to hate it especially the songs but having just watched "Seven Brides For Seven Brothers" which the critics all love, I'll take "Chitty's" songs every time. It must be a generation thing. For a two and a half hour film I wasn't bored for a second, although the scenes with the baron's two spies were a mistake and seemed to belong to a different film. At least half the songs are classics that every "kid" of my age know instantly. Some of the humour is quite dark and the child catcher is still rather frightning. It's a children's classic that has been treated very unfairly over the years. (I've just found out that Lionel Jeffries is actually 6 months younger than his son!!) (8/10)

rosepup 13 May 2004

I had mostly forgotten this movie after 30+ years, but my 2 year old received it as a gift, and is obsessed with it. It's fantastic, really. The locations are stunning, the musical numbers are (mostly) so lively, the physical humor is great! There is such a range of stuff in it, unlike current movies. I even like it for its flaws. It's really beautifully made. The thing I didn't remember, and that disappointed me at first, was that the whole story is a fantasy, a story within the story. I even like that the kids don't sing so well. They seem more real, less like little prodigies.

tufftexan 22 August 2004

Chitty Chitty Bang Bang fmovies. After 36 years this movie is still loved by young children who see it. My 8 and 3 year old girls just love this movie and it's songs. Dick Van Dyke has done an absolute wonderful job putting out great quality movies for Disney and others. Sally Ann Howe sounds great and personally I prefer her over Julie Andrews anyway.

Anyway, if you have not ever seen this film and even if you don't have kids, it's very entertaining! My favorite part is when Caracus Potts and Truly Scrumptious pretend to be toys for the Baron and do a nice song and dance. The tune is just great!

I remember as a kid the Child Catcher scared the crap out of me. Robert Helpmann played this part very well. Who needs Freddy Kruger and all that gore anyway!

garethnutt 3 October 2004

My two sons (now 4 and 2) have been obsessed with this movie for over a year now. They sing along to the songs and dance too - when old bamboo comes on, they pick up their sticks and hats and copy the routine. This is like an extended pantomime, with the scariest pantomime baddie in the history of movies. My brother couldn't sleep for a week after first seeing the childcatcher when he was 8. Anyway, this movie has everything - humour, pathos, great acting (and great casting), great songs and a great script (thank you Roald Dahl). I cannot fault this movie apart from the fact that it is a little long and the bit where they go off to vulgaria is a bit overextended. My family has now been to see the stage show twice too, and we are all firm "bang bang" nuts. If your kids have not seen this movie, then they haven't had a proper childhood!

alembic 5 June 2004

Well it's been 2 years since I last posted a review for this movie... I have just purchased the "Special Edition" version mainly because at last there is a wide-screen DVD version now available! This was one movie that suffered very greatly from a standard T.V format transfer ..... Now in wide-screen,it is possible to see the cinematography as it was intended to be viewed from the original Super Panavision format,even though there is still some "enhanced" format alteration to bring it into line with 16:9 ratio and luckily it was shot in Technicolor,which was easily the best analogue colour system around. Perspectives can now be seen as intended and the beautiful sets and the dance routines look vastly better... you can actually see all the dancers ! Take for instance one scene in Caractacus Potts windmill laboratory,where he shows Truly Scrumptious one of his inventions with which he intends to transmit "pictures and sound".....in the standard format half of the shot is missing so the machine cannot be fully seen and it makes no sense.. however in wide-screen you can see the "picture" and also the whole machine; so now you can enjoy one of Emmet Rolands fantasy machine creations in full. All through the movie the scenery and sets are set up framed with objects in the foreground and back ground which lend to perspective and depth of the image. The sound track seems also to have been worked on .. in previous releases the children's voices seemed to "squeak" but now they sound much more natural. You can see how much we have been missing with previous releases and it is a lot. The Special Edition also has some featurettes on the making of the movie and other related information plus a lovely booklet as well.

As to the movie itself .... it has never lost it's magic for me. I see reviews which pan the musical numbers or say it's too long or that

after seeing it as an adult they were disappointed from what they remember as a child ... but is that not the point ? It is a movie for children and/or those adults who can still view it remembering the child in themselves. It has no coarse language , no mindless violence (except the pantomime variety).. no cynicism ...just fun. In short it is a type of movie that Hollywood can no longer make because they no longer know how ... so it should be treasured more for it. People criticize Dick Van Dykes "American" accent but I find it not intrusive at all ... in fact he would probably have been better off using his normal voice in "Mary Poppins" than attempting the cockney accent which he obviously had some difficulty with.

Kids love this movie .. let them be the judges.

Thank-you Cubby Broccoli ..we miss you. Thank-you Ian Fleming / Roald Dahl / Richard Maibaum and Ken Hughes. Thank-you Ken Adam ... a genius in design for Chitty.

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