Chitty Chitty Bang Bang
Two great influences on 1960’s film combined in Chitty Chitty Bang Bang:
the story came from Ian Fleming, creator of superspy James Bond; and
the setting, composers and lead actor Dick Van Dyke came from Disney’s
classic Mary Poppins.
The result was a quirky children’s adventure story complete with
precocious tots, bombastic song and dance routines and a flying car
called Chitty Chitty Bang Bang.
Eccentric inventor Caractacus Potts (Van Dyke) and his two
children, Jemima and Jeremy, purchase a broken-down wreck of a
motorcar, and Potts immediately goes to work on it. When he’s finished,
the car is a shiny, purring beauty. Potts takes his kids and the truly
scrumptious Truly Scrumptious (daughter of candymaker Lord Scrumptious,
of course) out for a picnic, where he spins a tale of the car’s magical
abilities to float and fly.
In the story, Baron Bomburt, ruler of a tiny potentate where
children are illegal, covets Chitty Chitty Bang Bang and sets out to
kidnap both car and inventor. The bullyish Baron gets the wrong man and
car, abducting Pott’s loony father instead, forcing Potts, kids and
Truly to fly to the rescue.
While not the spectacular success that Mary Poppins was (or that the Bond franchise was, for that matter), Chitty Chitty Bang Bang performed admirably, earning an Oscar nomination for its title song.
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