I remember watching this when it was on Kukla, Fran and Ollie. While this film is dated, it also teaches an important lesson that is still valid 56 years after the film was made. The lesson is to judge a person by the content of their character and not by their weight. I wish that Kukla, Fran and Ollie were still on today so this film could be shown. Kids today need to learn the lesson that this film teaches. Fatty is a new boy in school who is from wealthy family. He is bullied by other students because of both. Skinny is a poor boy who decides to get to know the new kid in school. They become the best of friends. This film is from TV's golden age!

This was one of my favorite movies as a kid...I couldn't possibly recommend it highly enough for any family. It was well done, funny and sad, but definitely memorable! Nothing much has changed since it was made in the 50's either. Kids can be cruel to each other, and it happens everywhere, not just at the local school. The boys who portrayed each of the characters in the movie did such an outstanding job getting the emotions across, even though it was a foreign film. We were always excited when we found out that CBS was going to show it, I think I saw it about 3 or 4 times when I was growing up. It is the ONLY movie I remember from the CBS Children's Film Festival, although I'm sure there were others that were memorable at the time, but this one just really struck home. I think Kukla Fran and Ollie should come back on RetroTV or TV Land, too. And Shari Lewis and Lambchop. Great entertainment for kids that no one does well anymore. Kids of all ages would enjoy Skinny and Fatty. As would adults who aren't total dorks. Should be in every kid's collection of classics!

I'll admit first of all that I don't remember details of this movie (no danger of a spoiler!), but I did an Internet search for it simply because of the impact it made on me 40 years ago when I saw it as a child of seven, which is the approximate age of the characters. I do remember that the movie was in Japanese, which seemed quite novel to me, but which in no way deterred from the story or the impact. To this day, I am still moved emotionally by the story of friendship, love, and courageous acceptance between two boys, one socially acceptable, one not. I am glad to discover so many others across the world enjoyed "my" movie.

Growing up, I used to watch Kukla Fran, and Ollie's Children's Film Festivals on Saturdays and I believe this was the first film shown. It was so impressionable that, 30 years later, I searched far and wide to obtain a copy and STILL enjoy it as much as I did as a child. Skinny and Fatty is about friendship, courage and solidarity. The story takes place in Japan, where a fat boy moves into an unfamiliar town and finds himself isolated from his classmates. One boy (who's small) befriends him, but in doing so isolates himself from his friends. The film does an amazing job of getting the viewer to sympathize with the fat boy and at the same time feel for the skinny one, who is constantly encouraging his new friend. "You can do it!" he's heard telling his fat friend who can barely get off the ground while trying to climb the rope in gym. It's a great movie for kids, who are taught that being a nice person sometimes means not following the crowd or your friends. It's also refreshing for adults, who sometimes lose sight of these principles too. Just an amazing film - it shows what a filmmaker can do in 45 minutes if all the material is pertinent and excludes the fluff and special effects included in many of today's movies. Btw, if you want the toy in the movie referenced in the previous review, it's called Kendama.