# Chitty Chitty Bang Bang **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [May 15, 2006, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chitty-chitty-bang-bang/356865 "2006-05-15T17:39:29Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 15\ **Page:** 3
**Author:** ![Malacandra](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Malacandra](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Malacandra)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 2:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chitty-chitty-bang-bang/356865/41 "2006-05-17T14:27:09Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > Nope. Excluding the names of some of the characters and the fact that the car could drive/fly/float, there’s no relationship whatsoever between the book and the movie. > > And in the book, the car is sentient. And communicates (the car has a panel on it’s dashboard where it flashes words/phrases “Silly ass”, stuff like that). The book involved a plot by mobsters (Joe the Monster, Man-Mountain Fink and Soapy Sam) to blow up a bank (I think) in France. The kids get kidnapped by the bad-guys and their plan was foiled by the kids, the car and Father Christmas. > > The movie involved a non-communicating, non-sentient (or at least only quasi-sentient) car, a fairy-tale kingdom, a child-catcher, the whole “toot sweet” bit, the evil baron and baroness, Truley Scruptious (in the book, Potts is married to Mimsey), the grandfather, etc. > > In addition, the tone is _completely_ different. The book has a Hardy Boys/James Bond action-adventure “boy’s adventure” feel. The movie is fairytale-ish. Good job Disney never did a number on Kipling’s “The Jungle Book” then. /pet peeve ---
**Author:** ![Lightray](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lightray/32/391_2.png) [@Lightray](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lightray)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 4:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chitty-chitty-bang-bang/356865/42 "2006-05-17T16:35:14Z")
> [@jjimm](#): > > I find the annoyance of that song is countered if one imagines that Dick is singing about _his_ dick. > > [Lyrics](http://www.stlyrics.com/lyrics/chittychittybangbang/tootsweets.htm) such as “lusciously eatable”, “A mouth full of cheer”, “Don’t waste your pucker on some all day sucker”, and “A bon-bon to blow on at last has been found” all alleviate the agony somewhat. :eek: ---
**Author:** ![chappachula](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/d2c977/32.png) [@chappachula](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chappachula)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 5:31pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chitty-chitty-bang-bang/356865/43 "2006-05-17T17:31:20Z")
interesting memories…which leads me to a somewhat deeper question: Why is Chitty C.Bang Bang still in existence, and why do so many of us remember it? I missed it as a kid, and have only seen it once, as an adult babysitting a 9 year old. I tried to find something enjoyable in the film but couldn’t. The kid also wandered off in the middle. That should be proof that it was a bad movie. But here’s my point: I saw it 20 years ago, so why do I even remember the movie at all? Most movies that you only see once, you forget completely. So there has to _something_ special enough about CCBB which gives us Dopers reason to discuss it. ---
**Author:** ![kaylasdad99](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/kaylasdad99/32/3398_2.png) [@kaylasdad99](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/kaylasdad99)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 5:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chitty-chitty-bang-bang/356865/44 "2006-05-17T17:39:05Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > Nope. Excluding the names of some of the characters and the fact that the car could drive/fly/float, there’s no relationship whatsoever between the book and the movie. > > \ > > In addition, the tone is _completely_ different. The book has a Hardy Boys/James Bond action-adventure “boy’s adventure” feel. The movie is fairytale-ish. THAT sounds like it would make a great movie! Maybe even better than _Casino Royale_ the only Bond flick (IMNSHO) that’s worth seeing more than once, or even once, for that matter. I lke to think that if _C-C/B-B_ had been a more successful movie, Fleming might have given us more stories about her, and abandoned the infantile Cold-Warrior. ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chitty-chitty-bang-bang/356865/45 "2006-05-17T17:56:09Z")
> [@](#): > > I lke to think that if C-C/B-B had been a more successful movie, Fleming might have given us more stories about her, and abandoned the infantile Cold-Warrior. Sadly, Fleming was long gone by the time they even decided to make the movie. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 7:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chitty-chitty-bang-bang/356865/46 "2006-05-17T19:40:16Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > Excluding the names of some of the characters and the fact that the car could drive/fly/float Right there you lose the claim to “absolutely no relationship”. ---
**Author:** ![Fenris](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/fenris/32/498_2.png) [@Fenris](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fenris)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chitty-chitty-bang-bang/356865/47 "2006-05-17T22:33:43Z")
Shrug…whatever. By that logic “James and the Giant Peach” and “Dr. No” are the same story because both star characters name “James” who go for a long flight in the course of their respective novels. ---
**Author:** ![mobo85](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/b19c9b/32.png) [@mobo85](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mobo85)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 10:52pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chitty-chitty-bang-bang/356865/48 "2006-05-17T22:52:26Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > Insects (order _Dermaptera_) having slender many-jointed antennae and a pair of cerci resembling forceps at the end of the body? 😕 He probably means “earworms,” which are songs which get stuck in your head. Mssrs. Sherman and Sherman have written a _ton_ of catchy songs over the years, most infamously _It’s A Small World_. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 10:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chitty-chitty-bang-bang/356865/49 "2006-05-17T22:55:02Z")
> [@Fenris](#): > > Shrug…whatever. By that logic “James and the Giant Peach” and “Dr. No” are the same story because both star characters name “James” who go for a long flight in the course of their respective novels. I think you streched that logic so far that it snapped. ---
**Author:** ![TPWombat](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/bbce88/32.png) [@TPWombat](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TPWombat)\ **Post date:** [May 17, 2006, 11:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chitty-chitty-bang-bang/356865/50 "2006-05-17T23:11:30Z")
> [@Zebra](#): > > As a young boy I was oddly facinated by Truely pretending to be a wind up doll. Heh. Me too 😉 ---
**Author:** ![rjung](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/45deac/32.png) [@rjung](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/rjung)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 6:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chitty-chitty-bang-bang/356865/51 "2006-05-18T06:39:28Z")
> [@chappachula](#): > > Why is Chitty C.Bang Bang still in existence, and why do so many of us remember it? Because it’s the first cinematic exposure a lot of us have to _Transformers,_ silly. 😉 Just give me the bits with the car; everything else is junk. ---
**Author:** ![Walloon](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/fbc32d/32.png) [@Walloon](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Walloon)\ **Post date:** [May 18, 2006, 6:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chitty-chitty-bang-bang/356865/52 "2006-05-18T06:56:48Z")
When in Keswick, England, visit two of the original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang cars at the [Cars of the Stars](http://www.visitcumbria.com/kes/kesmot.htm) museum. (Six cars were built, and two of those were destroyed in making the movie.) ---
**Author:** ![roger\_thornhill](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/d9b06d/32.png) [@roger\_thornhill](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/roger_thornhill)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 1:10am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chitty-chitty-bang-bang/356865/53 "2006-05-19T01:10:11Z")
> [@Walloon](#): > > When in Keswick, England, visit two of the original Chitty Chitty Bang Bang cars at the [Cars of the Stars](http://www.visitcumbria.com/kes/kesmot.htm) museum View from Skiddaw’s nice too. ---
**Author:** ![Baldwin](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/baldwin/32/7264_2.png) [@Baldwin](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Baldwin)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 1:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chitty-chitty-bang-bang/356865/54 "2006-05-19T01:38:19Z")
Christ! Almost forty years, and now that goddamn “Toot Sweet” song is bubbling up out of my childhood memory archive. Thanks a lot. I remember that I liked the book better. ---
**Author:** ![BMalion](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e274bd/32.png) [@BMalion](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BMalion)\ **Post date:** [May 19, 2006, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chitty-chitty-bang-bang/356865/55 "2006-05-19T11:15:31Z")
I think I’ll go home and watch it tonight. 😃 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/chitty-chitty-bang-bang/356865.md?page=2)