''Fitzwilly'' is a 1967 American romantic comedy film directed by Delbert Mann, based on

Poyntz Tyler John Poyntz Tyler (May 30, 1906 – March 23, 1971) was an American writer. He wrote the 1960 novel ''A Garden of Cucumbers'', which was the basis for the 1967 comedy film ''Fitzwilly''. He was also the compiler-editor for the "Reference Shelf" bo ...

's 1960 novel ''A Garden of Cucumbers'' (the title refers t
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and adapted for the screen by Isobel Lennart. Its title refers to the nickname of its protagonist, Claude Fitzwilliam, an unusually intelligent and highly educated mastermind of a

butler A butler is a person who works in a house serving and is a domestic worker in a large household. In great houses, the household is sometimes divided into departments with the butler in charge of the dining room, wine cellar, and pantry. Some a ...

played by

Dick Van Dyke Richard Wayne Van Dyke (born December 13, 1925) is an American actor, entertainer and comedian. His award-winning career has spanned seven decades in film, television, and stage. Van Dyke began his career as an entertainer on radio and telev ...

. The film co-stars Barbara Feldon in her first feature-film role.

Plot

Claude Fitzwilliam serves as butler to Miss Victoria Woodworth, an elderly heiress whose tremendous wealth is a myth fostered by Fitzwilliam; unbeknownst to her, her financier father actually left her $180. "Fitzwilly" has been leading the household staff on numerous thefts, raids and swindles — including the operation of the fictional charity and thrift shop,

St. Dismas The Penitent Thief, also known as the Good Thief, Wise Thief, Grateful Thief, or Thief on the Cross, is one of two unnamed thieves in Luke's account of the crucifixion of Jesus in the New Testament. The Gospel of Luke describes him asking Jesus ...

— to maintain "Miss Vicki" in the lifestyle to which she is accustomed. The staff's secret operations threaten to unravel when Miss Vicki hires an assistant, Juliet Nowell, to assist with her creation of a dictionary that contains all possible phonetic misspellings of words. Juliet is surprised to learn from Miss Vicki that Fitzwilly graduated with honors from Williams College, and she opines that he should be doing something more "worthy" than being a butler, like joining the Peace Corps. After Juliet inadvertently foils several minor operations, Fitzwilly becomes determined to get rid of her. He conceives a plan to court her in order to induce her to quit; this becomes complicated when they fall in love. Still unaware of Fitzwilly's secret life, Juliet does quit when Fitzwilly refuses to discuss ending his life in service. Juliet stumbles upon evidence of Fitzwilly's past crimes, and returns to the mansion to confront him. Fitzwilly proposes marriage and agrees to end the criminal operations and tell Miss Vicki everything, but there is a problem: due to Juliet's past interference, the household is $75,000 short of funds, and they have to raise the money by Christmas Day. This leads to a complex setpiece in which the Woodworth staff orchestrates the robbery of

Gimbels Gimbel Brothers (known simply as Gimbels) was an American department store corporation that operated for over a century, from 1842 until 1987. Gimbel patriarch Adam Gimbel opened his first store in Vincennes, Indiana, in 1842. In 1887, the compa ...

department store on Christmas Eve. Although the operation is initially successful, one of the household, Albert, a former minister, allows himself to be caught to "atone" for his sins. He steadfastly refuses to implicate anyone else. Miss Woodworth casually blackmails the assistant district attorney ("the son of my oldest friend") into engineering a suspended sentence on a lesser charge, and blithely offers to write a counter check to the store to cover the amount of the take, money that she doesn't know she doesn't have as part of that supposed inheritance. Believing that the entire household is destined for prison, Fitzwilly uncomfortably toasts his and Juliet's engagement with Juliet, her father and Miss Vicki. His discomfort is alleviated when it is revealed that Miss Vicki's dictionary has been rewritten as a screenplay, and sold to a Hollywood studio for $500,000.

Cast

– Claude Fitzwilliam * Barbara Feldon – Juliet Nowell * John McGiver – Albert *

Edith Evans Dame Edith Mary Evans, (8 February 1888 – 14 October 1976) was an English actress. She was best known for her work on the stage, but also appeared in films at the beginning and towards the end of her career. Between 1964 and 1968, she was no ...

– Miss Victoria Woodworth * Harry Townes – Mr. Nowell * John Fiedler – Mr. Morton Dunne * Anne Seymour – Grimsby * Norman Fell – Oberblatz * Cecil Kellaway – Buckmaster *

Stephen Strimpell Stephen Strimpell (January 17, 1934 - April 10, 2006) was the star of the Universal Television series '' Mister Terrific''. Personal life Strimpell was born on January 17, 1934. He was a junior Phi Beta Kappa at Columbia College, a graduate of ...

– Byron Casey * Helen Kleeb – Mrs. Mortimer * Paul Reed – Prettikin * Albert Carrier – Pierre * Nelson Olmsted – Simmons * Dennis Cooney – Assistant D.A. Elliot Adams * Noam Pitlik – Charles * Anthony Eustrel – Garland * Sam Waterston – Oliver * Billy Halop – Restaurant Owner (uncredited)

Soundtrack

The film features an early

symphonic A symphony is an extended musical composition in Western classical music, most often for orchestra. Although the term has had many meanings from its origins in the ancient Greek era, by the late 18th century the word had taken on the meaning com ...

score by

John Williams John Towner Williams (born February 8, 1932)Nylund, Rob (15 November 2022)Classic Connection review ''WBOI'' ("For the second time this year, the Fort Wayne Philharmonic honored American composer, conductor, and arranger John Williams, who wa ...

, credited both on the album and on screen as "Johnny Williams". Notably the score includes "Make Me Rainbows", the film's love theme and end credits song and Williams' first collaboration with co-writers

Alan Alan may refer to: People *Alan (surname), an English and Turkish surname * Alan (given name), an English given name **List of people with given name Alan ''Following are people commonly referred to solely by "Alan" or by a homonymous name.'' *A ...

and Marilyn Bergman. The score was released commercially at the time by United Artists (and re-issued in 1980 by MCA Records), and was referred to as the film's "original motion picture score" and not as the "original motion picture soundtrack recording" because instead of performances that had actually been heard in the film Williams opted to release arrangements designed for separate listening. In 2004 a limited edition compact disc was released by Varèse Sarabande's CD Club which paired the scores of ''Fitzwilly'' and

Robert Altman Robert Bernard Altman ( ; February 20, 1925 – November 20, 2006) was an American film director, screenwriter, and producer. He was a five-time nominee of the Academy Award for Best Director and is considered an enduring figure from the New H ...

's 1973 film '' The Long Goodbye'', another Williams credit. The soundtrack, including the re-recording album and the original complete soundtrack, composed by

was released on the Music Box Records label.

References

External links

* * * *
Music Box Records entry for ''Fitzwilly''
{{Delbert Mann 1967 films 1960s Christmas comedy films 1960s Christmas films 1960s crime comedy films 1960s heist films 1967 romantic comedy films American Christmas comedy films American crime comedy films American heist films American romantic comedy films Fictional butlers Films about the upper class Films based on American novels Films directed by Delbert Mann Films produced by Walter Mirisch Films scored by John Williams Films set in department stores Films set in New York City Films shot in New York City United Artists films 1960s English-language films 1960s American films

Plot

Cast

Soundtrack

See also

References

External links