Chitty Chitty Bang Bang

***Chitty Chitty Bang Bang*** is a 1968 musical adventure fantasy film, directed by Ken Hughes with a screenplay co-written by Roald Dahl and Hughes, loosely based on Ian Fleming's novel *Chitty-Chitty-Bang-Bang: The Magical Car* (1964). The film stars Dick Van Dyke, Sally Ann Howes, Adrian Hall, Heather Ripley, Lionel Jeffries, James Robertson Justice, Robert Helpmann, and Gert Fröbe.

The film was produced by Albert R. Broccoli and John Stears supervised the special effects. Irwin Kostal supervised and conducted the music, while the musical numbers, written by Richard M. and Robert B. Sherman, were staged by Marc Breaux and Dee Dee Wood. The song "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" was nominated for an Academy Award.

## Plot

The story opens with a montage of European Grand Prix races in which one particular car appears to win every race it runs in from 1907 until its final race in 1909, when the car crashes and catches fire, ending its racing career. The car eventually ends up in an old garage in rural England, where two children, Jeremy and Jemima Potts, have grown fond of it. However, a man in the junkyard intends to buy the car from the garage owner, Mr. Coggins, for scrap. The children, who live with their widowed father Caractacus Potts, an eccentric inventor, and the family's equally peculiar grandfather, implore their father to buy the car, but Caractacus cannot afford it. While playing truant from school, they meet Truly Scrumptious, a beautiful wealthy woman with her own motor car, who brings them home to report their truancy to their father. After she leaves, Caractacus promises the children that he will save the car, but is taken aback at the cost he has committed himself to. After the children go to bed Caraticus and his father have a talk, he points out that even though they aren't rich, the children don't ask for much and therefore Caraticus should do this one thing as Caraticus loves to see his children happy. He decides to look for ways to raise money to avoid letting them down.

Later that evening, Potts discovers that the sweets produced by a machine he has invented can be played like a flute. He tries to sell the "Toot Sweets" to Truly's father, Lord Scrumptious, a major confectionery manufacturer. He is almost successful until the whistle attracts a pack of dogs who overrun the factory, resulting in Caractacus's proposition being rejected.

That night, the children try to comfort their father about what happened, and he tells the children with a heavy heart that he can't afford the car. The children tell their father, they have things he can sell for money, but he tells the children as valuable as these objects are, not everyone sees things the. way they do. After singing the children to sleep, Caractacus takes his automatic hair-cutting machine to a carnival to raise money, but his invention accidentally ruins the hair of his customer Cyril. Potts eludes the vengeful Cyril by joining a song-and-dance act. He becomes the center of the show and earns more than enough in tips to buy the car and rebuild it. They name the car "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" for the unusual noise of its engine. In the first trip in the car, Caractacus, the children, and Truly picnic on the beach. They have a wonderful time and Truly even takes some time to bond with the children who tell her they like her name. While Mr Potts is tinkering with Chitty, the children and Truly go for a walk together and start to bond. After getting back in the car, they see a ship out at sea and Caractacus tells them a tale about nasty Baron Bomburst, the tyrant of fictional Vulgaria, who wants to steal Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.

As Potts tells his story, Baron Bomburst spots Chitty and tells everyone he wants that car, suddenly the quartet and the car are stranded by high tide. The story then continues, in which they are attacked by pirates working for the Baron. All of a sudden, Chitty deploys huge flotation devices and transforms into a powerboat, and they manage to escape Bomburst's ship and return to shore. The Baron sends two spies to capture the car, the two disguise themselves as two English Gentlemen and follow the car. Potts drops off Truly at her mansion and takes the two sleeping children home. As he leaves, Truly admits that she loves Potts and one day they may be together. The next day the two spies try to capture the car by blowing up the bridge which doesn't work and hiding a carriage under a bridge but they capture Lord Scrumptious, then Grandpa Potts by accident, mistaking each for the car's creator. Caractacus, Truly, and the children see Grandpa being taken away by airship, and they give chase. They almost catch up with Grandpa, but they accidentally drive off a cliff.

As they approach the bottom, Chitty sprouts wings and propellers and begins to fly. The chase continues, and they follow the airship to Vulgaria and find a land without children; Baron and Baroness Bomburst fear and abhor them and imprison any they find. Grandpa is taken to the castle, and has been ordered by the Baron to make another floating car just for him. He bluffs his abilities to the Baron to avoid being executed. The Potts' party is helped and hidden by the local Toymaker, who now works only for the childish Baron. Chitty is discovered and then taken to the castle. While Caractacus and the toymaker search for Grandpa and Truly searches for food, the children are caught by the Baron and Baroness’ Child Catcher.

The Toymaker takes Truly and Caractacus to a grotto beneath the castle where the townspeople have been hiding their children. They concoct a scheme to free the children and the village from the Baron. The Toymaker sneaks them into the castle disguised as life-size dolls for the Baron's birthday. Caractacus snares the Baron, and the children swarm into the banquet hall, overcoming the Baron's palace guards and guests. In the ensuing chaos, the Baron, Baroness, and the evil Child Catcher are captured. Chitty comes to their rescue and, at the same time, they are reunited with Grandpa. The Potts family and Truly bid farewell to the Toymaker and the rest of the village, then fly back home to England.

When Caractacus finishes the story they set off for home, stopping to drop Truly off at Scrumptious Manor, where Caractacus dismisses any possibility of them having a future together, with what she regards as inverted snobbery. The Potts family arrive back at their cottage where Lord Scrumptious is with Grandpa as it turns out they were in the army together. Lord Scrumptious surprises Caractacus with an offer to buy the Toot Sweets as a canine confection, re-naming them Woof Sweets. Caractacus, realizing that he will be rich, rushes to tell Truly the news. They kiss, and Truly agrees to marry him. As they drive home, he acknowledges the importance of pragmatism as the car takes off into the air again, this time without wings.

After the credits, a screen with the words "Exit Music" appears with a reprise version of the "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" theme playing.

## Cast

* Dick Van Dyke as Caractacus Potts
* Sally Ann Howes as Truly Scrumptious
* Adrian Hall as Jeremy Potts
* Heather Ripley as Jemima Potts
* Lionel Jeffries as Grandpa Bungie Potts
* Gert Fröbe as Baron Bomburst
* Anna Quayle as Baroness Bomburst
* Benny Hill as the Toymaker
* James Robertson Justice as Lord Scrumptious
* Robert Helpmann as the Child Catcher
* Barbara Windsor as Blonde
* Davy Kaye as Admiral
* Stanley Unwin as the Chancellor
* Peter Arne as the Captain of the Guard
* Desmond Llewelyn as Mr. Coggins
* Victor Maddern as Junkman
* Arthur Mullard as Big Man
* Max Wall as Inventor
* Gerald Campion as Minister
* Max Bacon as Orchestra Leader
* Alexander Doré as First Spy
* Bernard Spear as Second Spy
* Richard Wattis as Secretary at Sweet Factory (uncredited)
* Phil Collins as Vulgarian Child (scene cut)

## Trivia

* A stage musical based on the film premiered in London's West End in 2002.
* A documentary on the film, talks about how Heather was sad during the film because she was far away from her family, but the cast was able to cheer her up.
* Dick Van Dyke says that his favorite scene was the candy factory.
* Despite The Child Catcher being deemed a scary character by many, Heather says that Robert Helpmann was not scary but was in fact a really nice person.