Fitzwilly
| Fitzwilly | |
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| Directed by | Delbert Mann |
| Produced by | Walter Mirisch |
| Screenplay by | Isobel Lennart |
| Based on |
A Garden of Cucumbers by Poyntz Tyler |
| Starring |
Dick Van Dyke Barbara Feldon John McGiver Edith Evans |
| Music by | John Williams |
| Cinematography | Joseph Biroc |
| Edited by | Ralph Winters |
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Production
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| Distributed by | United Artists |
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Release date
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Running time
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102 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $2,100,000 (US/ Canada) |
Fitzwilly is a 1967 film directed by Delbert Mann, based on Poyntz Tyler's 1960 novel A Garden of Cucumbers 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 played by Dick Van Dyke (the novel's title refers to Isaiah 1:8). The film co-stars Barbara Feldon in her first feature-film role.
Claude Fitzwilliam (Van Dyke) serves as butler to Miss Victoria Woodworth (Edith Evans), an elderly heiress whose tremendous wealth is a myth fostered by Fitzwilliam; 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 — 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 (Feldon), 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 department store on Christmas Eve.
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