Behind the Scenes on Chitty Chitty
This 2003 video is pretty cool, it’s like watching the Walt Disney film while the star, Dick Van Dyke, is sitting next to you telling behind the scenes stories about the production. There are lots of clips from Chitty Chitty Bang Bang so, if you’re like me and haven’t seen the film since I was a youngster, you’ll be able to assess for yourself if it was as good as you remember it to be.
The commentary is wonderful, right down to Van Dyke’s description of the actual car.
The director, Ken Hughes, wasn’t all that fond of this movie. "We took too long to make it," he was quoted as saying. "I sweated over it for about a year and really it was a only a children's film. I think such a thing should be made quickly and with enthusiasm. My enthusiasm ran out long before the end."
The finished product certainly reflected enthusiasm, although it’s forced as hell, but it was a kind of stylistic enthusiasm that Disney was enamored of.
The movie was a big hit, earning $7.5 million at the box office, a princely sum in 1968.
11 songs were written by Robert and Richard Sherman for the film, they provided the music for another Dick Van Dyke film, Mary Poppins. The song "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" was nominated for an Academy Award. And deservedly so, I can’t get it out of my head after 50 years!
VIDEO
Some scenes in this movie were shot in England and the locations have since become tourist destinations. The Cobstone windmill on the hill is near the Buckinghamshire village of Turville, racing scenes were lensed at Box Hill in Surrey.
Post-Modern Sitcoms / Actors That Wrote Books / 1987 Gilbert Gottfried Pilot Written By Larry David / Tarantino, DiCaprio & Pitt on Once Upon A Time In Hollywood / Ray Liotta and Joe Pesci Talk Goodfellas / Coming to America - The Awful Sitcom? / Robert Wagner Interview / 1990-1999 TV Commercials / More Than Myagi: The Pat Morita Story / Peter Boyle's Heart Attack on the Set of Everybody Loves Raymond / Patrick Swayze Refused To Do 'Ghost' Without Whoopie Goldberg / Houston Knights / Uncle Buck Sitcom / The Shadow Movies of the 1930s & 40s / Remembering Hal Holbrook / A Painting Saved Bill Murray's Life / Why Jim Carrey Fought to Cast Jeff Daniels in 'Dumb and Dumber' / Sopranos Creator David Chase Had to Fight to Make Tony Soprano the Mobster He Was / Joan Collins on Working With Drunk Actors / Joe Pesci HATES Practical Jokes / Dark Justice / My Fave Book About Showbiz / Peter Falk : Inside The Actor's Studio / Jason Alexander on Duckman / Robert Ebert on Robert Mitchum / Watch Dave Chappelle's New Netflix Special for Free / Margaret (Wicked Witch of the West) Hamilton Was Almost Scarred For Life Filming Wizard of Oz / Restaurant Chains We Might Lose In 2020 / Night Heat / Short History of TV Advertising / Is Ellen A Monster? / 1986-87 TV SEASON / 1988-89 TV SEASON / 1990-91 TV SEASON / Can Comic Book City Survive? / When TV Plays Politics for Laughs / The Worst Thing I Ever Saw (Part 2) / Sally Field Looks Back on Smokey and the Bandit / Gene Wilder's Sexual Chemistry with Richard Pryor / WORST Pizzas Served On Kitchen Nightmares / Ricky Gervais' Cruelly Funny 2020 Golden Globe Monologue / What It's Like To Win A New Car on The Price Is Right / Night Train! 3 - Las Vegas Comic Pat Cooper / Night Train! 4 - Resurrection and Death of Louis Prima / Denis Shepard of Paradise Lost / Space Force Logo is a Ripoff from Star Trek! / Michael Richards (Kramer) Really Hated It When his Seinfeld Co-Stars Messed Up / Melissa McCarthy Almost Quit Acting Days Before Landing Gilmore Girls / Bar Rescue's Wildest Customers! / How The Golden Girls and Elvis Got Tarantino's Reservoir Dogs Made / Charlie Brown Voice Actor Released From Prison / New Year's Eve on TV / Sir Laurence Olivier on the 'Genius' of Marlon Brando / 1967 Futurists Predict The 21st Century / Remembering Diahann Carroll / 50 Funniest Niles Crane Insults / TV HITS - By the Numbers / How Tom Hanks Played Mr. Rogers / Colin Farrell as The Penguin? / Alex Baldwin On His TV and Film Roles / Malcolm Gladwell on TV Crime Dramas / Why Dolly Parton Would Not Let Elvis Record 'I Will Always Love You' / Top Ten Sitcoms of the 1970s / Danny McBride Rebooting Hogan's Heroes? / Fashion on TV / Alive & Well / James Cameron Made No Money for Titanic / Whatever Happened To Miss Cleo? / Lucy Blows Off Burt Reynolds / Dave Navarro Meets His Mother's Killer / The Real Mindhunters Killers / John Goodman Breaks Down His Iconic Roles / Growing Up In The Playboy Mansion / Ed McMahon Drunk on the Air! / Lucy Interviewed by Barbara Walters / Valerie Harper Cancer / Jeff Bridges Breaks Down His Iconic Roles / Dog Fight! The KCNC Scandal / Buckley vs Hefner / Laurence Olivier vs Marilyn Monroe / Dallas vs Eight is Enough / 1974 MAD Magazine TV Special - Never Aired! / Iconic M*A*S*H Restaurant Coming To Kroger? / Matt Damon, Bill Murray, and Graham Norton - Big Laughs! / When Lucy Got Fired / Partridge Family and Brady Bunch at Kings Island theme park 1972-73 / Awkward Talk Show Moments / Allan Blye Interview / Jack Benny's Last Tonight Show 1974 / Patricia Heaton's Audition for Everybody Loves Raymond / Luke Perry's Last Role / Johnny Cash's Last Interview / Judy Garland's Last Film / Who Was Bob Gordon? / Richard Dreyfuss vs Bill Murray / Jeff Ross vs Everybody / Tennessee Williams 1972 Interview / Ed Asner Interview / Norm Macdonald vs OJ Simpson / Tony Kornheiser Interview / Freddy's Nightmares TV Series / Awful 1990s TV Shows / The Funniest Comebacks in Talk Show History / Was Sonny Bono Murdered? / Robin Williams' Mrs. Doubtfire Screen Tests / Robert Downey Jr Asks for Forgiveness for Mel Gibson / Russell Brand / Hank Williams: The Show He Never Gave / Judy Garland vs Liz Taylor / Emmy Award Multiple Winners / Nathaniel Taylor aka Rollo Lawson / Anthony Zuiker: Mr. CSI / Jimmy & Cher / Diana Muldaur: A Viewer's History / Uncle Andy's Funhouse / Bea Arthur vs Betty White / Skidoo: Worst All-Star Comedy Ever? / Every Marvel Cartoon Opening Theme From 1966 - Present / When Stars Play Themselves / My Pen Pal is in the Pen, Pal / Small Roles Big Performances / Barbara Hall / Stars Before They Were Famous / Stars Before They Were Famous 2 / Stars Before They Were Famous 3 / A Better Classic TV Network / Bill Paxton / Who Was the Black Daliah? / How Frasier Was Created / Music Videos / Chitty Chitty Bang Bang - Behind the Scenes / Shirley Jones Interview / What We Lost When We Lost VHS / When Hit TV Shows Return / Commercials Starring Sopranos Cast Members / Shows Nobody Remembers But Me 4 / Shows Nobody Remembers But Me 1 / Bryan Cranston Interview / FREE streaming movie service you didn’t know you have / The Great Cable TV Migration / Sportscaster Woody Durham / Movie Posters and the documentary 24x36 /Chris Robinson /Dallas Reboot /David Letterman /Auditioning For Game Shows in the 80s /Ghosts of Cable TV past / Honey Boo Boo - WTF?!? / Steven Bochco Tribute / Ian Abercrombie / Joe Franklin / John Nettles / Gotham / Jon Cryer / Jon Stewart / Lana Wood / David Letterman / Matt Bomer / Molly Ringwald / Morgan Brittany / Music Rights for TV Shows / Neilsen Ratings / Norman Lloyd / Not Your Dad's TV / TV Series Reunions / Rich Little / Special Bulletin with George Clooney / Howard Stern VS Jamie Foxx / Top Ten Action Movies / 2013 Emmy Awards / 2010 Celebrity Deaths It is what it is!
Directed by Ken Hughes, Chitty Chitty Bang Bang stars Dick Van Dyke, Sally Ann Howes, Adrian Hall, Heather Ripley, Lionel Jeffries, James Robertson Justice, Robert Helpmann and Gert Fröbe.
