Just so...so bad

i must have seen a different film!!

Brilliant and touching

A great movie, one of the best of this year. There was a bit of confusion at one point in the plot, but nothing serious.

The first hour of this movie is frightfully boring, up till the big ending there really isn't much to see. Now I was expecting a lot since Dick Van Dyke was in it, but honestly NONE of his great comic talents were showcased in this movie! No slapstick or funny face or anything, it's like watching Donald O'Connor playing a John Garfield role! What's the point of having Dick Van Dyke?? Fred Macmurray would have been plenty for this role. Dick does look smashing in a tux but that's about it.I was also excited because he's partnering with the lovely Barbara Feldon, however their romance makes no sense to me, neither was there any funny scenes between them. Even though it has a great premise, as a comedy it is barely funny at all, and it's also too long. As for organized crime it's not really clever enough, more "hanky panky" than "Grand Budapest". I could picture a way better version of this story, starring Cary Grant probably..

Am still wondering how that brilliant actress-Dame Edith Evans, who gave us monumental performances in "The Nun's Story," as well as "The Chalk Garden," and "The Whisperers" ever allowed herself to be talked into this nonsense.In this film she plays an elderly dowager. At least, she thinks she has money but she does not. Her butler, Dick Van Dyke, and an assortment of workers steal to keep her in the lifestyle she is used to and of course make plenty of extras for themselves.Van Dyke, who is always quite adept at comedy, is no different here. Miss Evans acts like an aristocratic woman to what we saw Margaret Dumont try to do in the Marks Brothers' Films of the 1930s and '40s.The film has an ample supply of supporting characters. Barbara Feldon is witty as the Columbia graduate school who comes to work for Evans and in the process discovers what has been going on. John MacGiver plays a former priest who is in with the group. Only Ann Seymour, who portrayed Broderick Crawford's wife in the Oscar-winning "All the King's Men," is above aboard. You know about their capers but they are unbelievably carried out and some times even hard to follow the methodology. It is only with the gang's last caper at Gimbels Department Store that the film takes on an hilarious body of scenes.As I stated above, Fitzwilly is basically silly. Famed script-writer Isobel Lennart bombed away here.

For reasons you will discover when watching the film, this used to be shown every Christmas on TV. I think the word which perhaps describes it best is, "cute". If you enjoy other lighthearted 60's comedies, you should like this one also. It's a shame this is still available only on VHS pan-and-scan, but it doesn't distract from the plotI noticed Turner Classic Movies is showing it Dec. 22, 2005. Perhaps they show it every year, I don't know. So if you want to see it in its original wide screen version, all you need is basic cable. Otherwise, you're stuck with this old tape. Does anybody really use VHS anymore?!ENDHere is some extra text so my review comes up to the required 10 lines. Personally, I prefer shorter reviews. I don't want to know all about a movie before I see it, just a clue of whether or not I would enjoy watching it. I think the less you know of a movie beforehand the more enjoyment is retained! Well, that should about make the required 10 lines!

Videotapes first became popular in 1980, and Fitzwilly, one of my favorite films, had been made 13 years before. So naturally the arbitrary powers that be kept the video version off the shelves for over 20 years!But finally this lost Dick Van Dyke treasure is available, and we can only hope that its DVD version will not be another pan-and-scan nightmare like Chitty Chitty Bang Bang was. Remember that both Chitty and Willy were shot in Panavison, meaning that only a widescreen format can do them justice on DVD.Yes, Van Dyke's Mary Poppins and Bye Bye Birdie are available in beautiful widescreen, but they really dropped the ball with Chitty. I was astounded when the DVD of it was finally released, and noticed that they had taken a film about a flying car yet - and reduced half the picture down to dismal pan-and-scan, which also reduced by 50% the feeling the viewer gets of flying. Please, Disney, re-release Chitty on widescreen DVD!(After all, the makers of Willy Wonka finally released a far superior version of their film in widescreen - after goofing up by first putting out a dismal "standard screen" dud.)Tech specs aside, as to the plot of Fitzwilly itself, the Robin Hood bunch does keep some money to maintain their households but funnels the rest of it through the old lady's hands into the hands of the poor. In the end, some rich businesses got stung a bit (but they were insured) and the lives of hundreds of poor folks were enriched. The only one who would gripe about something like that happening would be some other selfish rich businessman.Dick Van Dyke has for decades been one of the Top 5 comedians of all time, and Fitzwilly is one of his Top 5 movies. Need one say more? Only this - oh great creators of Fitzwilly, please release this movie soon on DVD and make it in WIDESCREEN !!!