Fitzwilly

Dick Van Dyke and Barbara Feldon are absolutely charming in this lighthearted comedy fluff. Van Dyke plays the title character Fitzwilly (short for the more proper Fitzwilliam) who is the butler and head of the household staff for an eccentric but lovable philanthropist whom he addresses as Miss Vickie; Feldon plays Juliet a Columbia University graduate that Miss Vickie hires as a secretary for the purpose of assisting her in writing a "dictionary for illiterates" - listening to Miss Vickie's explanation will provide you with some genuine laughter. Miss Vickie is quite a charitable person, making sizable donations to nearly anyone who will call on her at home and ask her. Fitzwilly has kept his employer out of financial straits by resorting to pulling off some rather clever criminal thefts at nearly every upscale department store in New York City. He accomplishes these feats of derring-do with the assistance of the rest of the household staff who are expert con men and pickpockets. When Juliet joins the staff her nosy nature and honest desire to protect her new employer puts the whole scheme in jeopardy; when they're found out it's up to Fitzwilly to run interference on Juliet so the staff can keep Miss Vickie "cash rich" and keep themselves out of jail!As I said this movie is a piece of fluff that has tremendous appeal if you are partial to either of the two stars or the kinds of comedy capers that the late sixties made so great back then. Not only are Van Dyke and Feldon fun to watch but the rest of the cast is rounded out with many familiar faces such as John McGiver as the footman and expert pickpocket (and former minister!) Albert; Norman Fell is quite funny as the neurotic head of finances at Gimbels; Cecil Kellaway appears briefly as the affable elderly gentleman who operates the "thrift store" the con men (and women!) use as a front; John Fielder is a gullible piano store salesman, a pigeon waiting to be plucked by Van Dyke; the household staff is cast with many faces you will recognize - most noticeably a very young Sam Waterston making his film debut. All of the capers that they pull off are great and will give you a smile each time they con someone. They range from the very elaborate to the very simplistic; early in the film one of the women reports that she was able to return a tie for a full refund at seventeen different stores with the same receipt - a new record Fitzwilly proclaims! But the showstopper involves a very daring and intricately planned Christmas Eve robbery at Gimbels department store that has to be seen to believed. One of the steps involves having one of the con men walk up behind unsuspecting ladies and pinching their rears. The women react, as one would expect them to, by turning and slapping the man nearest them! Great Fun! Another big plus is that Alan & Marilyn Bergman provide the perfect song "Make Me Rainbows" for the film.For years I had been forced to get by with only a poor videotape copy of a cable TV presentation of 'Fitzwilly' filled with countless commercial interruptions. Then I happily discovered that it had finally been released on cassette and available at Amazon. This is the first movie my parents took me to see and all I could remember for years afterwards was Juliet finding the basement filled with the gang's ill-gotten booty and the great comedic finale at Gimbels. Now that I have a legitimate videotape of 'Fitzwilly' it has become my favorite film to watch on Christmas Eve...next to 'It's A Wonderful Life' that is.

Love this movie.

Dick Van Dyke and Barbara Feldon are a big hit with us every Christmas in FitzWilly. It is an off-the-wall sort of heist movie - unlike any other.

Very entertaining and lighthearted comedy from a master. Dick Van Dyke shines as always in any role he assumes. The ensemble cast around him complements the movie perfectly.

This has been a favorite movie of mine since childhood. I was a Navy brat and often I would be sent, with my brothers and sisters, to the base movie theater just to get me out of my parents' hair. The movie one Saturday was "Fitzwilly." I had no idea what it was about, only that it starred Dick Van Dyke and Barbara Feldon, who I knew from their TV shows. The movie captured my heart from the opening scenes. As movies at the base theater were only a dime in those days, I dug into my piggy bank and went back to see it several more times. (I used to do that sort of thing as a kid.)I rediscovered the movie in adulthood and have added it to my holiday movie lineup. It's still so much fun to watch, as Van Dyke leads his happy-and-willing staff of butlers, footmen, housekeepers and cooks through various capers as con men and thieves.

This comedy revolves around a lovable rogue butler played by Dick Van Dyke. I think I was about nine or so when I saw it in the sixties. I thought it was great though admittedly I was immature. I'm 62 now and I saw it was on Amazon Prime so why not revisit my childhood. Well, it's still great, although in a more modest way. Van Dyke is great as the central character and his would-be foil/romantic interest of Barbara Feldon provides a smart chemistry. You might say the secret weapon is the utterly fantastic supporting cast. It's admittedly by today's standards a bit of fluff, but what an entertaining fluff it is I say. The film is in fine form with some film grain and natural well-defined colors. It's definitely the type of film that simply isn't done anymore and as such a sweeter side of the sixties though I'm sure some would point out it makes light of swindling and such (I'll leave it at that). It's just a decent spoof comedy with a great performances by all.

Excellent family Christmas movie for a family!!

THIS movie is a keeper. Many good actors from yesterday and just good fun to watch.