Fitzwilly (1967)

By Peter McGinn

With Dick Van Dyke in the lead, its lack of naughty language and the movie’s 60s look (which is of course when it was filmed), I hope I can be forgiven for wondering if this was a Disney film. I have lost track of many of them over the years. But no, apparently not. It was released in Canada by the crazy title A Garden of Cucumbers, which sounds less crazy when you know that was the title of the novel it is based on, which in turn is based on a bible quote. This is a pleasant and lighthearted comedy, one you can watch both with both family and friends as the plot is simple enough so as not to require much concentration. There is also some romance baked into it, though it is not what we think of as rom-coms these days. So there you are. And I guess after you get past Van Dyke and Barbara Feldon, the excellent ensemble cast of character actors also contributed to my wondering if Disney had made this film. Most movies don’t do this great a job choosing actors for the lesser roles. We watched this as a holiday movie, though for 90% of the movie it doesn’t feel like one. But near the end they start mentioning Christmas and the climactic scenes take place at Gimbels on Christmas Eve. I can’t say I would seek out this movie to watch again, but it was amusing enough so that I wouldn’t root around for the controller if it came on while I was doing something else with the TV on. Sitting chatting with friends and family, for example.