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Having noted the success of Disney's 1964 Edwardian Era musical film Mary Poppins, four years later United Artists sought to generate similar success for themselves by hiring The Sherman Brothers, the songwriting team that had scored that film, to adapt another period piece into a big-budget musical extravaganza aimed at the family audience. The result was Chitty Chitty Bang Bang, directed by Ken Hughes and starring Poppins alum Dick Van Dyke with a supporting cast that includes Sally Ann Howes, Lionel Jeffries, Gert Fröbe, Anna Quayle, Benny Hill, James Robertson Justice, and Robert Helpmann.

Sometime in the 1910s, the widowed English inventor Caractacus Potts (Van Dyke with an American accent) rebuilds an old wreck of a racecar — which he dubs "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang", for the noise its engine makes — and adds a few slight improvements, such as giving it the ability to sail and to fly. While on one motoring excursion with his two children, Jeremy (Adrian Hall) and Jemima (Heather Ripley), and an attractive woman named Truly Scrumptious (Howes) — whose father, Lord Scrumptious (Justice), is the wealthy owner of the local candy factory — Caractacus entertains them with a story.

It seems that one Baron Bomburst (Fröbe), the tyrannical ruler of the vaguely mitteleuropäisch land of Vulgaria, has seen Chitty and covets the vehicle for himself. After his father — Grandpa 'Bungy' Potts (Jeffries) — is kidnapped by the Baron's forces, Caractacus, his kids, and Miss Scrumptious all travel to Vulgaria,^note Location shooting for the film version was done around the Bavarian castle of Neuschwanstein and in the medieval town of Rothenburg-ob-der-Tauber where they get into various misadventures.

The book which it's based on was written by Ian Fleming. Yes, that Ian Fleming. The movie itself was produced by Albert R. Broccoli, of the same fame (though not produced by Eon Productions this time around). Additionally, Gert Fröbe (who had portrayed Auric Goldfinger) appeared as Baron Bomburst, while Desmond Llewelyn (aka Q) played Coggins. The screenwriter was Roald Dahl (who, to continue the Bond Production Posse, also wrote the screenplay to You Only Live Twice). And Benny Hill was the Toymaker. The titular car was owned by one of the film's drivers, Peter Picton (aka Pierre the Clown), who died in November 2016. The vehicle is now owned by Peter Jackson.

Barbara Broccoli produced a Screen-to-Stage Adaptation in 2002. A remake was announced to be in development in December 2024.

Provides examples of:

• The '60s: The original novel was set in early-60s Britain, with the eponymous car being a vintage barn-find Caractacus bought because neither he nor anyone else in the Potts family wanted to be the twelfth family on the block with a black Morris Minor.
• Absurdly Spacious Sewer: The sewer in Vulgaria is big enough to contain children of all ages.
• Accidental Aiming Skills: The Baron tries to shoot his own wife when she gets launched into the air and held up with a Parachute Petticoat under the pretense that he is trying to help her down. But he does succeed in popping her dress and having her land safely, much to his disappointment.
  Bomburst: Ah, well, I'll get her next time.
• Action Dad: Caractacus is a father of two who is willing to do anything to protect not only his own children, but every child in Vulgaria. Eventually, he rallies all the children in Vulgaria and launches a rebellion against the wicked Baron Bomburst.
• Adaptational Dumbass: Jeremy and Jemima in the book nearly foil Joe the Monster all by themselves through figuring out they're pawns in a scheme and subverting it to pass a message to the shop owner they've been sent to rob so he can alert the police and save them in turn. In the film, they're very easily lured by the Child Catcher and kidnapped, despite explicit warnings not to leave the Toymaker's house and knowledge that children are despised and forbidden in Vulgaria (among other things).
• Adaptational Name Change: All very minor cases, but Caractacus and his children have a slightly altered surname, going from "Pott" in the book to "Potts" in the film, Lord Skrumshus (and by extension, film-original character Truly) have their surname changed to the direct spelling "Scrumptious", and the car, rendered in type as "CHITTY-CHITTY-BANG-BANG" is rendered without hyphens and caps lock as "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang" and is afforded the nickname "Chitty" for short.
• Adaptational Nice Guy: The Baron genuinely loves his wife in the stage version, and never tries to kill her during "Chu-Chi Face".
• Adaptational Ugliness: Just when you thought he couldn't get any scarier, both the West End and Broadway productions of the stage musical portray the Child Catcher as a much more ghoulish-looking character with a pointier nose, large goblin-like ears, and pale skin.
• Adaptation Expansion: While the original film relegates the Vulgarian subplot to a story Potts tells his children while they're at the seaside, it gets expanded in the stage version; Vulgaria and all its denizens (evil or otherwise) are real, and they're introduced at the beginning of the show, as opposed to roughly halfway through.
• Adaptation Inspiration: The film takes the book's basic premise of "an inventor and his two children go on a fantastical adventure in a magical refurbished motorcar", but completely changes the actual adventure they go on, removes the mother character and introduces Truly as a new love for Caractacus, and adds an ambiguity about whether the adventure itself was real or all a story.
• Adaptation Personality Change:
  • Caractacus Potts is depicted in the film more as an irresponsibly lax free spirit who isn't what his children need to be raised properly, at least at the start of the film. In the book, he was more grandiose, but was a co-parent from the start and not depicted as loose or an unfit father.
  • Chitty in the book has more presence as a character, with her explicitly communicating with the Pott family through lights and switches about her operation, and even displaying something of a rough-exterior stubborn "tough old gal" personality in her interactions. In the film, the car feels far less like a character and never has a feeling of defiance or roughness in moments where she does seem to display awareness.
  • On Broadway, the late Jan Maxwell portrayed the Baroness as a Deadpan Snarker and a comically-awful singer.
• Adapted Out: Joe the Monster, his goons, Monsieur Bon-Bon, and the French setting of the later half of the book are cut altogether from the film, which features new antagonists in the Vulgarians.
• Advertising by Association: From the original trailer:
  "Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is an Ian Fleming story, born as Bond was making screen history."
• Affectionate Nickname: Lord Scrumptious refers to his Old Friend Grandpa Potts (the best batman he ever had) as "Bungie" when they reunite later in the film.
• All for Nothing: After they're thrown overboard from the Baron's airship, the Vulgarian spies finally make it back to Vulgaria after a long swim across the ocean. But the moment they see the castle getting ambushed, they turn around and head back into the water.
• All Just a Dream: Played with, as the second half of the film is set up as a story being told by Caractacus; however, the film ends with Truly and Caractacus flying away in Chitty. Whether this all really happened or not is left up to the viewer's imagination.
• Alto Villainess: Baroness Bomburst has an impressive alto vocal range but she's the wife of the nefarious Baron.
• Aristocrats Are Evil: Baron and Baroness Bomburst, the leaders of Vulgaria. Though averted with Truly Scrumptious, who is, well...
• Ascended Extra: Lord Scrumptious in the book was a very minor character (and had a different spelling, "Lord Skrumshus"). Here he plays a larger supporting role as the father of the Love Interest.
• Ash Face: Happens to the Vulgarian agents where their dynamite stunt backfires.
• Attack! Attack... Retreat! Retreat!: The Vulgarian admiral following behind The Cavalry, when the gates close behind him.
• Authority Sounds Deep:
  • Baron Bomburst is the primary villain of the film, and although his voice is more of a mellifluous, lively baritone than it is a traditionally deep or smooth voice, he does have the deepest voice of all the villains (most of whom—such as the Child Catcher and the spies—have rather high pitched voices).
  • Lord Scrumptious (as portrayed by James Robertson Justice) also has a similarly booming voice.
• Awful Wedded Life: Baron Bomburst hates his wife so much that he tries to kill her several times, though he never succeeds.
• The Baroness: The Baroness. Unlike most examples, this Baroness is in fact an actual baroness. She is married to a baron and lives in the capital of a barony.
• Big Brother Instinct: Jeremy has his arm around Jemima's shoulder throughout the scene where they are first presented to the Baron and Baroness in a cage.
• Big "WHAT?!": After Truly crashes her car into the lake for the second time, the following exchange happens between her and Mr. Potts:
  Potts: I think you'll find a slight squeeze on the hooter an excellent safety precaution, Ms. Scrumptious.
  Truly: Well, never mind about that! How am I supposed to get out of here?
  Potts: Well, it looks as though you'll have to walk. Or, uh, swim.
  Truly: WHAT? In this dress? Oh, don't be ridiculous, Mr. Potts.
  • In fairness to Truly, she was wearing a very fancy, white, ankle-length dress, and Mr. Potts was suggesting she swim to shore. The pond her car was partially submerged in was also pretty dirty. Even if she were willing to soil her very expensive dress, swimming in an ankle-length dress is probably very difficult.
• Bilingual Bonus:
  • Chitty's license plate reads GEN 11. "Genii" is Latin for "magical being."
  • Subverted with Toot Sweets. It's a pun on tout de suite, French for "Right now," (the de is silent) but it isn't related to candy, rather it's to imply that it's new and exciting.
• Black Comedy:
  • Toward the end of the film, several characters are thrown into the lake near Neuschwanstein Castle. If you know the history of Neuschwanstein (Ludwig II of Bavaria, who built the castle, mysteriously drowned in a lake), this is a lot darker.
  • Earlier on, the Baron repeatedly tries to kill his own wife with no success.
• The Bluebeard: Baron Bomburst tries several times to kill his wife to no avail.
• Brick Joke: On the way back to Vulgaria, the two spies are thrown off the zeppelin when Baron Bomburst tries to lighten it. Later, we see the spies having swum all the way back, but because the Vulgarian people are fighting at the castle, they head back into the water to swim away.
• Bowdlerise: Some TV broadcasts of the movie cuts out one of the imprisoned Vulgarian inventors mentioning he "used to be a midget" before he got punished by being stretched by a rack.
• Bumbling Henchmen Duo: The two Vulgarian spies are the bumbling henchmen sent by the Baron to steal the car and kidnap its inventor. They keep messing up their mission, accidentally kidnapping Lord Scrumptious and Grandpa Potts instead of Caractacus Potts (they ask if he is Herr Mr. Potts, and he answers affirmatively because they do not ask if he is Caractacus Potts).
• Bungling Inventor: Caractacus is an inventor, but most of his inventions do not function properly, such as a giant vacuum cleaner that powerful enough to eat up dirt off carpets... and the carpet itself.
• Canon Foreigner: Truly Scrumptious, Grandpa Potts, and everybody to do with Vulgaria were invented by Dahl for this film and were not in the book.
• Cheerful Child: Jeremy and Jemima are rarely seen without a smile on their faces.
• Chekhov's Gun:
  • In his toy shop, the Toymaker has a dirndl on a female mannequin and a rag doll outfit hanging up. These are the costumes that Truly and Caractacus later wear when they infiltrate the Baron's castle.
  • In the cellar, a life-size wooden figure can be seen, likely the rag doll that Caractacus pretends to be. Its feet are even rectangular shaped, presumably to fit the shoes that Caractacus wears as the doll.
  • The Toymaker is also seen carving a wooden head, presumably the head for the doll on a music box, the disguise that Truly assumes.
  • Grandpa Potts brags about being a batsman during the war. It turns out the Brigadier he served under was Lord Scrumptious, Truly's father.
• Child Hater: Having been invented by Roald Dahl, Vulgaria naturally has its whole culture built (very illogically) around this, where children are completely outlawed and are forced to hide underneath Vulgaria Castle.
• Childless Dystopia: Vulgaria has no children running around the streets thanks to a heartless Baron and his Child Catcher helping him get rid of those kids.
• Chroma Key: Used to make Chitty fly. You can see blue matte lines in some shots, especially around Jeremy and Jemima's hair and inside the see-through trim on Truly's hat.
• Cliffhanger: Chitty and its occupants go over the cliff, seemingly headed to certain doom — cue the Intermission! After the break, the final moments of the first half are rerun, and then the wings sprout from the car...
• Comic-Book Adaptation: Gold Key Comics adapted it in 1969.
• Cool Airship: Bomburst has a dirigible.
• Cool Boat: Chitty can float as well as fly.
  • Incidentally, the inflated raft version of Chitty is exclusive to the film. In the book she's an even cooler boat. Chitty folds her wheels down and spins them to create a hovercraft-like effect. And Fleming thought this up twenty years before "hover conversions" were invented!
• Cool Car: Take a guess...
• Cool Crown: Baron Bomburst wears a big fancy crown despite being a baron, who normally wears a smaller headpiece known as a coronet.
• Cool Old Guy:
  • Grandpa Potts is a jolly, whimsical old Quintessential British Gentleman who loves his grandchildren and his son (despite the occasional comedic verbal spar with the latter) and fancies himself a Gentleman Adventurer who frequently goes on imaginary adventures in his outhouse.
  • The Toymaker is another example. When Caractacus, Truly and the children arrive in Vulgaria to save Grandpa, he is the only person brave enough to help them hide from The Dreaded Child Catcher. After Jeremy and Jemima are captured and locked away in the tower, the Toymaker plays a vital role in Caractacus's plan to ambush the castle, overthrowing the Bombursts and freeing Jeremy, Jemima, Grandpa, and all the children of Vulgaria.
  • Lord Scrumptious also counts. Although he initially treats Caractacus with disdain, he warms up to him after Caractacus's "toot sweets" win his approval, and even more so when he discovers that Caractacus's father (whom he nicknames "Bungie") was the best batman he ever had during his days as a Brigadier in the British Army.
• Counterpoint Duet: "Doll on a Music Box/Truly Scrumptious (reprise)" at Baron Bomburst's birthday party.
  • Exclusive to the stage version, "Act English".
• Creator Thumbprint: Roald Dahl's hand in adapting the story is rather clear, with such aspects as not one, but two new Child Hater antagonists, one of whom is directly involved in harming them, and conversely, two adults who really care about children, and dark comedy like a couple singing a loving duet while one tries to kill the other. There's also the increased emphasis on the candy invention of Caractacus's, owing to Dahl's love of sweets.
• Creepy High-Pitched Voice:
  • Part of the reason why the Child Catcher is regarded as such a frightening villain is the distinctly reedy, nasally, slightly raspy voice Robert Helpmann gave him.
  • The Vulgarian spies also have similarly high-pitched voices, especially the taller, leaner one, whose voice is the highest of all the grown men in the film, but this combined with his exaggerated German accent is meant to be funny rather than creepy.
• Curb-Stomp Battle: The Vulgarian Army is very easily taken down by the escaped children, including the infamous Child Catcher.
• Cut His Heart Out with a Spoon: Caractacus receives one such threat from his only customer at the fair. After his machine gives a horrible haircut, the customer yells "I'll smash your teeth down your throat!"
• Dark Reprise: "Hushabye Mountain", the gentle lullaby sung by Potts to his children early in the film, is reprised later as he tries to reassure the captive Vulgarian children, only to remind himself in doing so that his own children are still missing. Potts is so overcome with emotion that he stops, only for Truly to take up the song in his place.
• Dastardly Whiplash: The Vulgarian spies have dark hair, dark outfits, mustaches, top hats, and outrageously over-the-top personalities. And that doesn't even begin to describe their efforts to capture Chitty.
• Death by Adaptation: Jeremy and Jemima's mother (Mimsie in the book) is deceased here. Truly Scrumptious takes up her role as the female lead and serves as a prospective new wife and mother figure in the family.
• Decadent Court: The Baron's noble courtiers spend all of their time milling around and cavorting with their wives in the throne room while no work seems to get done, and two are introduced playing a game that suggests they're a bit cracked in the head (snooker, with a tiny table only wide enough for a single ball, and no actual balls).
• Defrosting Ice Queen: At first Truly acts coldly towards Caractacus because of the ostensibly careless way in which he raises his children, but soon sees how much he really cares about them and warms up to him.
• Disastrous Demonstration: The Toot Sweets pitch is going great... until all of the whistling attracts a horde of dogs that overrun the factory. Subverted at the end when Lord Scrumptious decides to buy them anyway... and market the way dogs love them as a feature.
• Disney Villain Death: The Child Catcher's ultimate fate in the 2002 stage version. After getting netted up and carried into the sky, he appears in front of the airborne Chitty during the finale and vows to capture the children again. This prompts Truly to whip out a shotgun and shoot the net, sending the Catcher on a one-way trip to the ground.
• Disproportionate Retribution: Because a child once called Baroness Bomburst ugly, any child who is discovered in Vulgaria will be captured and locked in the tower.
• The Dog Bites Back: After spending the whole story as a lowly servant to the Bombursts, the Toymaker joins the final battle alongside the rest of the rebels.
• The Dragon: The Child Catcher is the man in charge of… well, catching children. The Bombursts hired him, because they hate children that much.
• Driving into a Truck: Lord Scrumptious is captured by being tricked, Looney Tunes-style, into driving through a painted backdrop and up into the back of a truck. The spies were hoping to capture Chitty and Caractacus.
• Eagleland: From the musical.
  Spy 1: But I can speak English and still be Vulgar(ian).
  Spy 2: That would make you an American!
• The Edwardian Era: The entire setting of the musical is in the early 1900s with the car design and fashion also corresponding.
• Ejection Seat: The eponymous automobile has one of the giant spring variety. When Baron Bomburst commands Grandpa to make it fly, Grandpa presses a button at random that sends the Baroness shooting skyward out of her seat. (See Parachute Petticoat, below.)
• Eleven O'Clock Number:
  • "Doll On a Music Box", in the film.
  • "Teamwork", exclusive to the stage version, is a near-perfect example of this trope aside from the fact that it's followed up by another two numbers before the climax (including the aforementioned number from the film).
• Emergency Cargo Dump: Vulgarian thieves steal Grandpa's hut (with Grandpa in it) by towing it away on a dirigible, but soon start losing altitude from the weight of the hut. They resort to throwing out cargo, and when that doesn't work throw out the two spies that caught Grandpa in the first place. Said spies are left to tread water in the middle of the ocean, and actually make it back to shore in the climax.
• English Rose: Truly Scrumptious. Adrian Hall, who played Jeremy, even described her actress Sally Ann Howes as such in a DVD featurette.
• Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep": Grandpa, the Vulgarian spies, the Toymaker, and the Child Catcher are given no real names.
• Evil Is Hammy: Every single one of the villains chews the scenery into a fine powdery pulp every time they appear on the screen. Baron Bomburst is an enormous Manchild, the spies embody Dastardly Whiplash to an outrageously over-the-top extent, and even the Child Catcher, the only truly scary villain in the film, has the personality of a deranged, overzealous old lady.
• Evil Is Petty: Children are outlawed in Vulgaria and captured by the Child Catcher to be given an unknown (but probably better off not known) sentence because the Baroness is afraid of them. Baron Bomburst also sees how cool Chitty is and wishes to have it for himself... and instead of trying to buy it from Caractacus, he immediately goes for trying to blow the whole Potts family away with cannons and send spies to kidnap Caractacus (although they get Grandpa instead).
• Evil Laugh:
  • The Child Catcher cackles ecstatically after he successfully captures Jeremy and Jemima.
  • Baron Bomburst also lets out a hearty laugh when he opens a trap door, believing his wife to be dead before she enters the room from the door behind him.
• "Eureka!" Moment: Caractacus initially thinks that the pieces of candy he made are a failure because they have holes in them. That is until he hears his dog Edison whistle through one.
  Caractacus: Edison, you're a genius!
• Fat and Skinny: The two spies are comprised of a short fat guy and a tall lean guy.
• Flying Car: Chitty, obviously.
• Forced Transformation: The lyrics of "Doll on a Music Box" can be read as saying that the doll (actually Truly in disguise) was once human and cursed to become a mechanical object of amusement, and that only love's first kiss can break the spell. However, it can also refer to Truly feeling restricted by the position and expectations associated with her social stature.
• For the Evulz: Baron and Baroness Bomburst fear and despise kids and they aren't even given a Freudian Excuse.
• Foreshadowing: When introduced to a flawed batch of sweets from Caractacus's sweet making machine, Truly makes an offhand comment about the sugar's temperature, and Caractacus sarcastically calls her an expert on sweets, which she begins to affirm seriously. Turns out she's the daughter of a famous confectionary mogul.
• Friend to All Children: Caractacus and Truly both get along wonderfully with practically every child they meet.
• Gadgeteer's House: The Potts family house is littered with the Homemade Inventions of father Caractacus Potts, including the automated breakfast maker in the kitchen and the music box in the children's room.
• "Gaining Confidence" Song: "The Roses of Success." While an unusual example since the inventors sing the song to Grandpa Potts rather than Grandpa singing it by himself, it qualifies because the message that "From the ashes of disaster grow the roses of success!" eventually causes the initially despondent Grandpa Potts to realize that there's magic in the wake of a fiasco (it gives you that chance to second guess!) as he jubilantly leads the inventors through the rest of the song.
• Gentleman Adventurer: Played with. Grandpa Potts thinks he's this trope, but he's really just insane.
• Gorgeous Period Dress: Much of Truly's wardrobe.
• Gratuitous German: The Vulgarians, particularly the Baron and the two spies.
• Hair of Gold, Heart of Gold: Truly Scrumptious has a head full of beautiful golden hair and is a Spoiled Sweet Friend to All Children.
• Have a Gay Old Time: In the words of Caractacus Potts: "You'll find a slight squeeze on the hooter an excellent safety precaution, Miss Scrumptious."
• Homemade Inventions: Caractacus' works exhibit this, such as his automated breakfast maker.
• Hooks and Crooks: The Child Catcher carries a hook, but we don't see him use it.
• How the Mighty Have Fallen: Chitty's backstory; she was once a prestigious racing car but a rather unfortunate incident in her final race involving a young girl and her runaway dog led to the car's untimely destruction as it veered to avoid a collision. She would sit in Mister Coggins' shop until she was bought and fully restored by Caractacus.
• If It Swims, It Flies: The car itself.
• In Case You Forgot Who Wrote It: Similar to the James Bond movies, the title card reads, "Ian Fleming's Chitty Chitty Bang Bang".
• Innocent Blue Eyes: Just like their father, Jeremy and Jemima have blue eyes and are shown to be very wide-eyed, curious and innocent.
• Intermission: See Cliffhanger above.
• It Will Never Catch On: Among Caractacus's not-quite-working inventions are a television antenna and a vacuum cleaner, even though the electric-powered vacuum cleaner had already been invented.
• Jet Pack: The first of Caractacus's inventions that we see is a makeshift rocket pack composed of actual rockets and firecrackers. It fails spectacularly.
• Kaiserreich: The opening credits shows the car partaking in a race in Imperial Germany. Vulgaria also takes a number of visual cues from that era, from the castles to the uniforms.
• Kids Play Matchmaker: Mr. Potts' kids try to match him up with Truly, doing so pretty unsubtly by ending his story to them with "then Daddy and Truly got married! Yeah!"
• Kitchen Sink Included: The dirigible crew throws everything overboard to maintain altitude, including a kitchen sink.
• Knight's Armor Hideout: During the climactic battle at Baron Bomburst's palace, Caractacus is seen putting a mace in the hands of a suit of armor and is surprised when it gladly takes it. Soon afterwards, the Vulgarian General is conked in the head with the same mace, and the knight pulls its visor open, showing that there was somebody inside the suit the whole time.
• Lady Macbeth: The Baroness takes on this role in the stage adaptation (unlike in the film, where she comes across as more airheaded and is less actively antagonistic). It is she who orders the Vulgarian spies to bring the car to Vulgaria, albeit all to please her darling husband.
• Lady Vessel: Mr. Pott calls the eponymous car "she", confusing the kids since it is a car. He explains that vehicles often get called "she", even a ship he once sailed on that was named after a king.
• "Lesson of the Day" Speech: The film ends with Caractacus and Truly saying this as they board the eponymous automobile:
  Truly: So, dreams can come true!
  Caractacus: Yes, they can. Yes, they can! But you have to be practical, too.
  Truly: What?
  Caractacus: You have to face the facts. A man has to see things the way they really are. After all, a man with responsibilities can't walk around with his head in the clouds all the time! A man should keep his feet solidly on the ground. Oh, a man should have his dreams, but a man has to learn to put those dreams to some practical use... not just sit around, think(ing) about them all the time.
• Let X Be the Unknown: One of the spies wants to go by the Code Name "X", but his superiors misunderstand it as "Rex" or "Tex." It doesn't help when the other spy tries to clarify that it's X as in "X and Bacon."
• Laughably Evil: Baron Bomburst, who is an enormous Psychopathic Manchild, and his spies, who embody Dastardly Whiplash to an outrageously over-the-top extent, are certain to elicit laughs from the audience.
• "Lesson of the Day" Speech: The film ends with Caractacus and Truly saying this as they board the eponymous automobile:
  Truly: So, dreams can come true!
  Caractacus: Yes, they can. Yes, they can! But you have to be practical, too.
  Truly: What?
  Caractacus: You have to face the facts. A man has to see things the way they really are. After all, a man with responsibilities can't walk around with his head in the clouds all the time! A man should keep his feet solidly on the ground. Oh, a man should have his dreams, but a man has to learn to put those dreams to some practical use... not just sit around (and) think about them all the time.
• Like Father, Like Son: It is pretty clear that Caractacus gets his genially eccentric personality from Grandpa.
• Living Toys: Caractacus poses as a sentient rag doll to get into Baron Bomburst's birthday party, and Truly poses as a singing windup dancer.
• Mad Scientist: Not merely Caractacus himself (who, as his father says, is "Eccentric — definitely eccentric. Can't think where he gets it from!"), but also a collection of rather grotesque inventors (and one telephone repairman) forced by the Baron to work on a supercar for himself.
• Make It Look Like an Accident: The Baron tries to shoot his own wife when she gets launched into the air and held up with a Parachute Petticoat under the pretense that he is trying to help her down. But he does succeed in popping her dress and having her land safely, much to his disappointment.
  Bomburst: Ah, well, I'll get her next time.
• Manchild: Baron Bomburst, ironically. To the point that he's singlehandedly keeping the toymaker in business.
• Meaningful Name: Caractacus Potts. Dick Van Dyke himself once said it was just a long form for "crackpot". Lampshaded in the case of Truly Scrumptious with the song that bears her name. ("By coincidence, Truly Scrumptious, you're truly, truly scrumptious.")
• Miles Gloriosus: The Child Catcher; he can handle a couple at once (laughing evilly as he does), but a large group of them? That makes him scream in panic and give up without a fight.
• Missing Mom: Also counts as a Death by Adaptation for Mrs. Potts.
• Mistakes Are Not the End of the World: When a despondent Grandpa Potts is locked in the tower of Vulgaria and forced to build the floating car that his son made (because the spies who kidnapped him were not specific enough when asking if he was Mr. Potts), the other men in the tower cheer him up by singing a song about how "From the ashes of disaster grow the roses of success!"
• Mood Whiplash: The beginning. Six minutes of jaunty, comedic old-timey racing... and then a little girl's puppy suddenly runs into the racetrack and causes a fiery crash.
• Mugged for Disguise: Happens to Lord Scrumptious and his chauffeur, courtesy of the two spies.
• Multi Generational Household: The Potts household consists of Caractacus, his children Jeremy and Jemima, and his father.
• Named After Someone Famous: Caractacus is the name of both the protagonist of the story as well as a Catuvellauni chieftain from the first century.
• Names to Run Away from Really Fast: C'mon now. Bomburst? Vulgaria? Child Catcher?
• Names to Trust Immediately: Truly Scrumptious. A Meaningful Name too, seeing as her father runs a candy factory.
• A Nazi by Any Other Name: The German-accented Bombursts with their anti-child policies. And incidentally, Vulgaria is set in what is really Castle Neuschwanstein.
• Nested Story: The second half of the movie goes into Caractacus' beachside story.
• Never Heard That One Before: At the breakfast table, grandpa tries to tell the old joke about bagging an elephant in his pajamas (first used by Groucho Marx) but everyone's heard that one before.
• Nice Guy: Even though he may come off as a bit absent minded at times, Caractacus is a very good-natured and friendly man.
• Nobody Here but Us Statues: Caractacus, Truly, Jeremy, and Jemima are disguised as jack in the boxes when the Child Catcher discovers the trap door that leads to the Toymaker's cellar.
• No OSHA Compliance: The Scrumptious candy factory doesn't have handrails on its high catwalks (that many people are dancing on) and has some of the boiling vats of sugar sitting on the edges...
• The Nose Knows: The Child Catcher's enormous nose lets him track people's scent, something of which he is very proud.
  Child Catcher: Let me tell you, Toymaker, this nose of mine has never failed me, and if there are children here, my friend, you will die! Ha ha ha ha ha ha!
• Not Even Bothering with the Accent: Dick Van Dyke is in a movie set in England with English actors playing the other members of his family and he still uses his American accent. Of course, we all know what happened the last time he attempted a British accent. He actually signed on to the film on the condition that he not have to use an English accent, having learned his lesson from last time.
• Not Distracted by the Sexy: The Baron is more disgusted than turned-on when the Baroness wears a sexy corset for his birthday. He proceeds to attempt murder.
• Not His Sled: Less of a spoiler, but in the book, the whistling candy was the breakthrough that gave Caractacus the windfall with which to buy and repair the car who becomes Chitty. In the film, the pitch for the candies happens in the same place, set up to serve the same purpose, and the pitch goes swimmingly until it turns out the whistles draw in dogs, who storm into the candy factory and cause chaos. As a result, Caractacus turns to carnival hucking where he earns the money instead, and the candy getting picked up only happens later in the film when the dog-calling aspect gets marketed as a positive.
• Not Hyperbole: When Baron Bomburst tells Grandpa to build him a flying car, he says "I will stuff your head wiz sauerkraut and feed it to the dogs." Grandpa thinks he's joking until one scientist says "The Baron never makes jokes.", describing different ways in which they've been tortured. One used to be a midget until he got stretched on the rack.
• Of Corsets Sexy: The Baroness while singing "You're My Little Chu-Chi Face".
• Oh, Crap!:
  • At first, the children when they realize the Child Catcher has joined the battle. But it then reverses onto the Child Catcher himself when he realizes he's greatly outnumbered.
  • Caractacus when he encounters Truly at the Scrumptious sweets factory, and putting two and two together, realizes she's Truly Scrumptious, whose father is factory owner Lord Scrumptious. He tries to walk out before his children implore him to stay and Truly gets on board with his candy invention.
• Old Friend: When Caractacus and his children return to their home, they discover Grandpa and Lord Scrumptious having a jolly time playing soldiers together. It turns out that Lord Scrumptious was Grandpa's Brigadier years ago.
• One Dialogue, Two Conversations: When Caractacus and Truly end up performing musical numbers while disguised as toys, the context of the songs are very personal to the characters. With "Doll on a Music Box", Truly sings about being an enchanted toy, but subtextually confesses her frustrations with having to be perfect and displayed for society, just wanting to be loved and feeling like nobody can see through her, while Caractacus reprises "Truly Scrumptious" to confess his love to her as a goofy toy romance and a sincere confession between them as people. No one in the room is any the wiser.
• One Off Sync: In the "Me Ol' Bamboo" number, Potts dances visibly out of sync with the rest of the buskers, having accidentally stumbled into their show while fleeing an irate customer.
• OOC Is Serious Business: During "Doll on a Music Box/Truly Scrumptious (reprise)", Caractacus, disguised as a rag doll briefly stops singing when he sees his reflection in the mirror. Truly briefly breaks from her music box doll choreography to hit his head on the mirror to make him resume singing.
• Overly Stereotypical Disguise: The Baron's two spies attempt to blend in as Englishmen by putting on plaid coats, deerstalker caps, holding a pipe aloft, and calling each other "Basil". A nearby family sees them pass and looks at each other in confusion.
• Parachute Petticoat: Happens to the Baroness when she is launched from Chitty's Ejector Seat.
• Parental Love Song: "You Two", a song discussing Caractacus enjoying his sense of purpose caring for his kids, which they reciprocate later in the song.
• Parental Neglect: Subverted by Caractacus Potts. His nonchalant attitude about Jeremy and Jemima playing hooky as well as nearly getting run over by Truly makes him initially look like a neglectful parent in Truly's eyes, but later parts of the movie show that he is both a kind and loving parent to his two kids and also cares deeply about their wellbeing.
• Parenting the Husband: Baron and Baroness Bomburst, with the Baron being much more childlike and unstable and the Baroness being included in his minders.
• Patter Song: "Me Ol' Bam-boo".
• Percussive Maintenance: When the giant music box that is given to the Baron as a gift for his birthday doesn't start up correctly, a swift kick from Caractacus gets it started again.
• Pet's Homage Name: Inventor Caractacus Potts has a dog named Edison.
• Plunger Detonator: Complete with the Looney Tunes gag of the detonator exploding instead of the dynamite.
• Punk Punk: the film, at least, seems to straddle the line between Steampunk and Diesel Punk
• Punny Name: Truly Scrumptious. Ironically, despite Fleming's penchant for women with Punny Names in his Bond novels, Truly was invented by Roald Dahl. Lord Scrumptious ("Skrumshus" in the book) didn't have a daughter in the novel.
  • Also, Caractacus (say it really fast, and drop the "acus") Potts. Possibly lampshaded when Caractacus asks his children if they believe he's a crackpot. This is held over from the book.
  • "Toot Sweet" sounds like the French phrase "tout de suite".
  • "Vulgaria" sounds an awful lot like "Bulgaria".
• Purple Is Powerful: The Baron, Baroness and court, and party guests are all decked out in purple and complimentary black, the noble state colors of Vulgaria. It's only "powerful" in the political sense, as all of them prove exceedingly useless against an army of children.
• Pushed in Front of the Audience: Mr. Potts at the fair lets this happen when he realizes it will hide him from the angry customer to whom he just gave a horrible haircut.
• Rhetorical Question Blunder: The first spy's villainous Monologuing includes the odd rhetorical question. The second spy is prone to attempting to answer them. In fact, it's the first thing he does when they are introduced: "Now then, where are we?" "I have here a map!" "I know where we are, stupid!"
• Riddle for the Ages: Was Vulgaria real, or was it all just a story?
• Road Runner vs. Coyote: The agent's initial attempts to capture Chitty are straight out of Wile E. Coyote's handbook (and enjoy the same success).
• Robot Girl: Invoked as part of the plot to rescue the children. Truly disguises herself as a doll on a music box, a present for the villain ruler, and while on the box, moves just like a mechanical automaton.
• Rousing Speech: Caractacus delivers one to the children of Vulgaria when he explains how he plans for them to team up with him in ambushing the castle the following day (which happens to be Baron Bomburst's birthday).
• Rube Goldberg Device: Pretty much everything in the Potts household is set up this way, by Caractacus himself.
• Rule of Symbolism: Caractacus and Truly's disguises as toys to infiltrate Bomburst's castle leads to a performance that underpins their flaws and conflict. Truly plays a beautiful but stiff mechanical doll who moves on a jerky beat, while Caractacus plays a curious floppy rag doll. Caractacus is presented as needing some grounding and structure to raise his children properly, while Truly is presented as someone who needs to loosen up, being stuck inside an overly reserved and formal shell. In their performances as the toys, Caractacus does a double-take when seeing his doll disguise in the mirror, which seems to subtextually represent him "taking a look in the mirror" and seeing how immature he comes across to everybody else. The two also confess their desires—Truly, to be loved, and Caractacus, to love her, though the "doll" keeps bumping Caractacus and moving away while in character, signifying Truly isn't open to him yet.
• Running Gag: Truly ends up in a boggy pond whenever she's driving by the Pottses. It happens three times.
• Ruritania: Vulgaria is a completely fictional nation in Central Europe with references to Germany.
• Same Language Dub: Like his previous role in Goldfinger, because of his thick German accent, Gert Fröbe's dialogue as the baron was looped in post, only this time by Roger C. Carmel.
• Scarily Competent Tracker: There's a reason he's called the Child Catcher — his nose knows.
• Secret Sewer Society: In Vulgaria, children have been banished from society by the Baroness and are forced to live in the sewer system under the city.
• Set Switch Song: "Hushabye Mountain", in the stage version, which transitions almost immediately into the funfair.
• "Setting Off" Song: "The Posh, Posh, Traveling Life, The Traveling Life of Me," as sung by Grandpa Potts.
• Shipper on Deck: Jeremy and Jemima work very hard to get their dad Caractacus together with Truly.
• Shout-Out: During breakfast, Grandpa Potts tells everyone "I got up this morning, and I shot an elephant in my pajamas.", making everyone say in unison "How it ever got into my pajamas, I shall never know." "You've heard it before!"
• Show Within a Show: "Me ol' bam-boo". Caractacus ends up part of the song and dance after running away from a pissed-off customer. And the result is amazing.
• Sickeningly Sweethearts: Played with. The lyrics and tempo of "Chu-Chi Face" make it sound like the Baron and Baroness are this trope. But throughout the song, the Baron makes repeated attempts to kill her while she seems to remain oblivious.
  • It's played straight in the Screen-to-Stage Adaptation, where the Baron and Baroness's relationship is rewritten so that their love for one another is entirely mutual.
• Sidekick Song: "Posh!" for Grandpa Potts.
• Sinister Schnoz: The Child Catcher has an abnormally large nose, something in which he takes great pride.
• Sky Heist: Baron Bomburst's spies kidnap Grandpa Potts after mistaking him for his son Caractacus by hooking his shed from their airship and flying off with the entire shed, with Grandpa still inside.
• Small Role, Big Impact: The patron at the fair whom Caractacus gives a horrible haircut. Caractacus seeks refuge from him by performing on stage and earns enough in tips to restore Chitty.
• Smuggling with Dolls: In a way. The Vulgarian soldiers unknowingly smuggle Caractacus and Truly, disguised as human-sized dolls, into Baron Bomburst's castle in large boxes, under the pretense of the Toymaker delivering the Baron his birthday presents.
• Steampunk: The movie has a steampunk sensibility, but Chitty is a 20th century gasoline-powered vehicle, and the mood is the very opposite of "punk". The novel is set in the 1960s and is definitely not steampunk. (Diesel Punk, then?)
• The Storyteller: During a day at the beach, Caractacus tells his children a story about an evil baron who wants to steal Chitty, and all the fantastical adventures that ensue. This tale is so massive that it takes up half the film.
• Surprisingly Creepy Moment: Up until the Potts family arrives in Vulgaria, the film is overall very lighthearted and never truly scary. However, when the Child Catcher arrives, things begin to take a dark turn. His reputation as The Dragon and evidently The Dreaded, combined with his overzealous, unhinged personality, initially only feel mildly out of character compared to what has previously been shown, but when he discovers Caractacus, Truly and the children in the Toymaker's cellar, the ominous music that plays as he chuckles grimly before leaving bring a legitimate sense of dread to the moment. When Jeremy and Jemima are left alone in the Toymaker's cellar, the Child Catcher returns, in disguise as a candy salesman. Although his disguise can be described most favorably as paper-thin, it is only a matter of time before the children swallow the bait, and the payoff of him driving his chariot away while laughing ecstatically as the children now locked in his cage scream in fear is just as terrifying as its buildup is increasingly dreadful. Nonetheless, the film does manage to retain its previous tone after that, even when the Catcher makes his brief return in the climactic Curb-Stomp Battle.
• Sweets of Temptation: The Child Catcher of Vulgaria successfully captures the hero's children by luring them in with the promise of free sweets.
• Swing Low, Sweet Harriet: Truly on her garden swing.
• Tagline: The most fantasmagorical musical entertainment in the history of everything!
• Teenage Wasteland: Vulgaria has outlawed children of all ages, forcing the townspeople to hide them in a cave. Some of these exiled children are teenagers, who mostly look after the young ones.
• "Test Your Strength" Game: The big guy whose nerves Caractacus gets on is seen winning at one of these. He even breaks the bell off.
• Those Magnificent Flying Machines: Chitty and the Baron's blimp. Early in the film, Caractacus attempts to build a set of rocket wings, as well. Epic Fail.
• Throw It In: In-universe, the buskers go along with a random member joining their dance and learning the routine in a matter of seconds. They even have a fun call and response about what to do with bamboo sticks. At the end, one even gives a hat-full of earnings to Mr. Potts as thanks for his participation.
• Too Dumb to Live:
  • The children are told point-blank about the Child Catcher, ordered to stay put, and not to go outside no matter what... and they still go running after him with the call of sweets in hand. The worst of it is that they had seen the Child Catcher before and yet they were fooled by his Paper-Thin Disguise.
  • The Child Catcher himself exhibits this when he enters the castle in the climax. Did he really think he could handle a whole army of angry children by himself while armed with nothing more than a net?
  • The entire Vulgarian Army seems to run on this, blindly charging into battle and never once firing their rifles as they are swiftly routed by the children and villagers.
  • Baroness Bomburst doesn't realize her husband is trying to kill her.
• Trap Door: Baron Bomburst tries to dispose of his wife through one. She just walks back without acknowledging it.
• Ugly Guy, Hot Wife: The Bombursts.
• Unconventional Food Usage: When Mr. Potts realises that when you blow through his invented candy, it makes a whistling sound, he licenses them as "toot sweets" and encourages people to play them like instruments.
• Unwanted Spouse: Baron Bomburst hates his wife and is constantly trying to kill her to be rid of her.
• Upper Class 'Stache: Baron Bomburst has a mustache.
• Vanilla Edition: The 30th Anniversary DVD boasted no bonus features except for a trailer and sing-along subtitles, and presented the main feature in Pan and Scan to boot.^note Perplexingly, the trailer, the opening and end credit sequences, and even the menus boasted widescreen picture... MGM released a Special Edition DVD five years later, with both the widescreen and pan-and-scan versions, a bonus features disc, and digibook packaging. However, the 30th Anniversary DVD strangely remained in print, and even received a number of repackaged re-releases. The most recent DVD release just consists of disc one of the Special Edition DVD in an ordinary case, with the pan-and-scan version removed.
• Vehicle Title: Chitty Chitty Bang Bang is the name of the car driven by the main characters.
• Vehicular Kidnapping: The Child Catcher lures Jeremy and Jemima out of hiding with the promise of sweets, directs them into his trap which is a horse-drawn wagon disguised as a candy cart, locks them inside and drives away with them, and imprisons them in the castle tower.
• Very Loosely Based on a True Story: The episode of the two spies dressed as "English gentlemen" may be based on a World War II story in which two German spies were apprehended in the fen-country of Norfolk because (having been misled by P. G. Wodehouse and other similar English authors) they had attempted to pass as Englishmen by wearing spats and top-hats, both unsuitable to the terrain and hopelessly out of fashion by the 1940s. Caractacus is reputed to be partially based on Henry M. Leland.
• Vile Villain, Saccharine Show: While the Bombursts are over the top and immature villains, their dragon, the Child Catcher, has been a notorious source of fright to younger viewers. Exaggerated in stage productions where the Child Catcher is given a more distinctly monstrous, Gothic appearance ala Orlok or Cesare that really make him stick out like a sore thumb in an otherwise bright and cheerful story.
• Villain Love Song: "You're my little chu-chi face!" Subverted since he spends the whole song trying to kill her.
• Villain Song: In addition to the above-mentioned "Chu-Chi Face", the stage version adds "The Bombie Samba".
• Walk This Way: When Grandpa arrives in Vulgaria.
• What Happened to the Mouse?:
  • Lord Scrumptious and his chauffeur are captured by the two Vulgarian spies, who steal their clothes and impersonate them, but they themselves are just sort of forgotten about. They reappear just fine at the end since it was All Just a Dream, but one wonders what became of them in the Story Within A Story.
  • The spies themselves are a double-subversion: They're tossed out of the airship in the middle of the North Sea and could be presumed to have drowned (or at least the one who says he can't swim), but then they're seen swimming to shore just in time to see the chaos the children have wrought spill out into the castle grounds and retreat back into the sea, this time never to be seen again.
• What Measure Is a Non-Human?: Jeremy and Jemima object to having the future Chitty sold for scrap by saying they'd be guilty of murder.
• When I Was Your Age...: While Caractacus and his father are discussing the possibility of Mr. Coggins agreeing to a deal regarding the eponymous automobile, the sound of thunder leads to this exchange:
  Grandpa: Did you hear that? You know what that means, don't you? I'll be up all night, rain pouring through my bedroom roof.
  Caractacus: Grandpa, why don't you sleep in the workshop? It's nice and warm.
  Grandpa: The workshop? You promised faithfully, to fix my bedroom roof!
  Caractacus: (indignantly) I will, Grandpa! It's just a…
  Grandpa: (holding Caractacus's right arm with both hands as he sits down) Caractacus, please. My boy, listen. It's time you woke up, now when I was your age I did a day's work…
  Caractacus: (interrupting) For a day's pay, polishing the Colonel's boots.
  Grandpa: I was the smartest batman in the British Army.
  Caractacus: (interrupting) So you've been telling me.
  Grandpa: (standing) When my Brigadier went into action the fuzzy-wuzzies were so blinded by the shine on his boots they couldn't see the fight!
• Women Are Wiser: At certain points, Jemima comes off as slightly more sensible than her brother Jeremy.
• Women Drivers: Commented on by Caractacus when he sees Truly trying to start her car.
  Caractacus: If women want to drive motor cars, they should learn to operate one.
• Would Hurt a Child: The Baron, the Vulgarian Army and most notoriously, the Child Catcher. Why? Because of the Baroness, who is petrified of them.
  • The Junk Man also counts, threatening the two kids to their face when they protest his decision to buy Chitty. Whether he meant it or not though is another story.