As the first movie I can remember seeing in the theater, this movie will always be special to me. I watched it every time it came on TV, and still do usually. I also had the soundtrack on an LP that got lots of use.
I'm well known within my family for the childhood movies that scared me, The flying monkeys form The Wizard of Oz were terrifying to me, and it's honestly still hard to watch the scenes with them. Those were hard to look at, but for really scaring the crap out of me, it was Chitty Chitty Bang Bang's Child Catcher, none other than Benny Hill. He gave me nightmares of him chasing me with chicken livers in a butterfly net.
Yet, that's a small part of the movie. The other parts I always thought were simply magical. From the musical candy (Toot Sweets) to the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car itself. I wanted Dick Van Dyke to be my dad, and honestly, who didn't see Truly Scrumptuous as the most beautiful woman in the world? This movie was so much a part of our lives then that we even named our guinea pig Choo Chi Face, from the song with the Baron and Baroness.
I tried to get my own kids interested in this movie, and while they liked it, they just didn't see it as magical as I always did. I suppose once you've been exposed to the things they have, the magic of a flying car and musical candy wouldn't be so exciting. But no matter how old I am, I will never fail to see the magic in it.
I'm well known within my family for the childhood movies that scared me, The flying monkeys form The Wizard of Oz were terrifying to me, and it's honestly still hard to watch the scenes with them. Those were hard to look at, but for really scaring the crap out of me, it was Chitty Chitty Bang Bang's Child Catcher, none other than Benny Hill. He gave me nightmares of him chasing me with chicken livers in a butterfly net.
Yet, that's a small part of the movie. The other parts I always thought were simply magical. From the musical candy (Toot Sweets) to the Chitty Chitty Bang Bang car itself. I wanted Dick Van Dyke to be my dad, and honestly, who didn't see Truly Scrumptuous as the most beautiful woman in the world? This movie was so much a part of our lives then that we even named our guinea pig Choo Chi Face, from the song with the Baron and Baroness.
I tried to get my own kids interested in this movie, and while they liked it, they just didn't see it as magical as I always did. I suppose once you've been exposed to the things they have, the magic of a flying car and musical candy wouldn't be so exciting. But no matter how old I am, I will never fail to see the magic in it.
