Cinema Sunday: Fitzwilly

 

This week’s Cinema Sunday takes a look an obscure but delightful little film from 1967 called Fitzwilly starring Dick Van Dyke. 

Fitzwilly is a butler named Claude Fitzwilliam who leads a staff that is completely devoted and loyal to "Miss Vicki", one Miss Victoria Woodworth, an elderly heiress who is not quite as wealthy as she thinks she is.  Since she still insists on writing checks to various charitable enterprises,  Fitzwilly and the staff engage in various cons and swindles to keep their beloved Miss Vicki afloat in the style to which she has become accustomed.  

These various rolling schemes to con the truly wealthy out of some of their wealth to support their beloved employer begins to unravel when a newcomer enters the fold.  Miss Vicki has decided to embark on a pet project to create a dictionary for people who can’t spell so she hires an assistant, Juliet Nowell (Barbara Feldon, Agent 99 from the TV series Get Smart).  

Barbara Feldon as Agent 99 on Get Smart

Juliet is a pretty sharp cookie and quickly sussess out that Fitzwiloy and his staff are up to something. 

Fitzwilly and Juliet fall in love and well, that messes up everything.

Fitzwilly crafts one last big project that he hopes will set up Miss Vicki for a long while, an elaborately staged con to steal all the cash from the Gimbel’s department store on Christmas Eve.  

The “It’s That Person Who Was In That Thing” Department 

John McIver is Albert, Miss Vicki's devoted footman but his loyalty to her is frequently tested by his religious faith which tells him all this stealing is wrong .  McIver is the epitome of "Hey, it's that guy who was in that thing" with  more than a hundred appearances in television and motion pictures over a two-decade span from 1955 to 1975. If you've see any movies or TV shows from that time period, there is a very good chance you've seen John McIver in something.  

Similarly to McIver,  John Fiedler (as Morton Dunne) is another frequent member of the "Hey, it's that guy who was in that thing" club.  With a 55 year career in film and television, you've likely seen Fiedler in something. Or heard him. He was the voice of Piglet in Winnie the Pooh cartoons.   

Normal Fell  is Oberblatz, the super stressed accountant at Gimbels who is scared to death the store is going to get robbed, a fear that Fitzwilly manipulates to rob the store.  Normal Fell is a ubiquitous presence on TV with his most notable role as Mr. Roper on Three's Company.   

As Oliver in a blink or you'll miss it role is a young Sam Waterston, long before becoming the craggy Mt. Rushmore face of Law & Order.    

The opening credits identify the score as being composed by Johnny Williams.  That couldn't possibly be the same John Williams who composed the scores for dozens of Steven Spielberg movies? Yep, it is! 

Fitzwilly is a light concoction with Dick Van Dyke in fine form as Fitzwilliam playing the chameleon, being the proper butler, the conniving con man, adopting various disguises and accents (one time adopting a certain Cockney accent from Mary Poppins and in another scenario, sounding very like Cary Grant). It's a fun and versatile role for Dick Van Dyke, providing for a bit of a rogue spin on his normal sort of role.  

The romance between Fitzwilly and Juliet feels a bit contrived but kudos to the natural charms of Barbara Feldon and Dick Van Dyke to make their relationship sparkle nonetheless.  

With a large supporting cast that always shines, Fitzwilly is a satisfyingly fun and funny movie.  

The movie poster announcing that "Fitzwilly strikes again!" suggests this is some kind of sequel. It is not.

And a personal note: Fitzwilly was the last movie Andrea and I watched on our old 2 decade old TV before we swapped it out last weekend.