Potts eventually comes up with the money to buy Chitty and begins to fix her up. It’s said that he could be seen in New Zealand at the WETA Workshop driving Hobbit cast members around while playing the film’s main theme through a sound system. After a fun song, a new friendship is formed between Truly and Caractacus – even though they didn’t make the sale to her father.īonus Fun Fact: The current owner of Chitty is Peter Jackson, director of Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit. Scrumptious, Truly pushes him to not take “no” for an answer. Discouraged, and feeling he has no chance at selling his candy to Mr. Potts runs into Truly again and finds out that her father is the owner of the factory. His invention: candy with holes that whistle while you eat them. Potts decides to take in his latest creation to the Scrumptious candy factory. The next day, after promising the children he will get the money to buy Chitty for them, Mr. This quickly turns into an argument, ending in a very angry Truly driving away.
Potts has absolutely no problem with his children running wild, which causes Truly to give him a stern talking-to about how to raise his children. While dropping the children off we meet their father, Caractacus Potts (Dick Van Dyke), an inventor who lives with his children and his eccentric father (Lionel Jeffries) – known for his outhouse adventures. Mortified that the children are running around town and not in school (let alone running into streets with cars), she convinces them to let her give them a ride home. On the way home from the junkyard the children run into – or should I say almost get hit by – Truly Scrumptious’ (Sally Ann Howes) car. The junk man agrees – but only if they can pay him what the other man was going to give him – 30 shillings! Enter the Potts children, Jeremy (Adrian Hall) and Jemima (Heather Ripley), play-acting in a worn-out Chitty.Īfter a man shows up wanting to buy Chitty (with the intent to melt her down for scrap metal), the children convince the junk man to sell Chitty to them instead. As we watch Chitty win race after race it’s hard not to cringe when the beloved car gets into a bad wreck and is forced to live out its days in a junkyard. We are introduced to Chitty, a motor car known for winning all sorts of races. The beginning of the film starts off with a fun car race and an energizing score. Potts, invent things?” – Truly Scrumptious Plot Overview But is it really as magical as critics say? This film seems to have a touch of Disney magic. Speaking of Disney, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was the first non-Disney film to feature songs by Richard and Robert Sherman, whose fun musical numbers have an eerie Disney feel that is coupled with extremely difficult choreography and whimsical melodies. The castle used in the film was built in the 1800’s and was designed for Bavarian King Ludwig II, also known as “the mad king of Bavaria.” Oddly enough, the castle was also the model for the Sleeping Beauty castle at Disneyland as well as the Walt Disney Studio’s logo. Potts, but due to his widely-mocked accent in 1964’s Mary Poppins, Van Dyke only accepted the role of Caracatus Potts on the condition that he would not have to speak with an accent. Still shot courtesy of the author Start your engines!īy the 1960’s not many musicals were being filmed, but lucky for us in 1967 director Ken Hughes decided to take on the challenge of bringing Chitty Chitty Bang Bang to life! Dick Van Dyke was the perfect actor to cast as the colorful Mr.