The movies of Don Knotts

[Schmo]

How good are the movies Don Knotts starred in, particularly the ones for which he gave up his role as Deputy Barney Fife? From what I’ve read about them, they were Disney knock-offs.

[Mayberry'sBadBoy]

Originally Posted by Schmo

How good are the movies Don Knotts starred in, particularly the ones for which he gave up his role as Deputy Barney Fife? From what I’ve read about them, they were Disney knock-offs.

The only good Don Knotts movie is The Ghost and Mr. Chicken and that's because it's a remake of the TAGS episode The Haunted House and was mainly written by the writing team that wrote that episode (Andy did uncredited modifications to the script). The other ones have three problems:

The supporting cast is usually extremely weak. Don Knotts is only as funny as the people he has to play off of him. On TAGS that was easy because he had numerous talented people to interact and play off of. Most of the movies don't have this which hurts the film because Knotts is forced to go back to his Steve Allen persona, which IMO was not as funny as his Barney Fife Persona. This is made all the worse when he gets paired with Tim Conway in later movies.

The second problem is the material does not do Don Knotts any favors. He's almost always written as a Wimpy loser and when he does get a chance to do something funny it's either extremely watered down or is a stock comic trait that any comic actor could do. Nowhere is he allowed to be self-confident, full of himself, a romantic charmer or a playboy.

The last problem is that the movies are primarily written for little kids, which means Knotts can't get up to any of the humorous romantic escapades like he did on TAGS. The one film that tried to do something for older audiences (The Love God?) was denounced by a lot of people for being too adult for children (The plot is the bird magazine Don Knotts character runs gets turned into a Playboy clone. Sadly it's not as sexy or funny as it sounds)

[Schmo]

What was Knotts’s “Steve Allen persona”?

[Mayberry'sBadBoy]

Originally Posted by Schmo

What was Knotts’s “Steve Allen persona”?

Like this.

[MA]

Originally Posted by Mayberry'sBadBoy

Like this.

The video says that an error occurred and to please try again later.

[Mayberry'sBadBoy]

Originally Posted by MA

The video says that an error occurred and to please try again later.

Let's try this one

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...tail&FORM=VIRE

[MA]

Originally Posted by Mayberry'sBadBoy

Let's try this one

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...tail&FORM=VIRE

It says Sorry, this video is no longer available.

[Mayberry'sBadBoy]

Originally Posted by MA

It says Sorry, this video is no longer available.

Okay since YouTube is being stupid I'll have to describe it best I can. Before Don Knotts became Barney Fife his characters were usually nervous low self-esteem characters who as the sketch would go on would descend into having a full blown panic/anxiety attack. If you're into that sort of thing that's fine but when that's the sole character trait it gets annoying real fast. There's also the fact that this usually only works well for a sketch; stretching it to feature length means that you have to start wondering why this character isn't taking anxiety pills. The Ghost and Mr. Chicken is the only film that avoids this pitfall by making Luther (Knotts character) similar to Barney Fife and thus it succeeds where the others failed.

[MA]

Originally Posted by Mayberry'sBadBoy

Okay since YouTube is being stupid I'll have to describe it best I can. Before Don Knotts became Barney Fife his characters were usually nervous low self-esteem characters who as the sketch would go on would descend into having a full blown panic/anxiety attack. If you're into that sort of thing that's fine but when that's the sole character trait it gets annoying real fast. There's also the fact that this usually only works well for a sketch; stretching it to feature length means that you have to start wondering why this character isn't taking anxiety pills. The Ghost and Mr. Chicken is the only film that avoids this pitfall by making Luther (Knotts character) similar to Barney Fife and thus it succeeds where the others failed.

Thank you.

[merlinjones]

The ones I like best, in order:

1) The Ghost and Mr. Chicken
2) The Incredible Mr. Limpet
3) The Shakiest Gun in the West
4) The Apple Dumpling Gang

[vitoscotti]

I've saw all of Don Knott's movies years ago as a kid. This scene from "The Shakiest Gun In the West" stands out as the funniest I can remember, and still enjoy.

https://www.bing.com/videos/search?q...8805&FORM=VIRE

[hifijohn]

I agree tGaMC is a great movie the rest are passable.It's just don playing barney fife in different situations.

[hifijohn]

Originally Posted by Mayberry'sBadBoy

The only good Don Knotts movie is The Ghost and Mr. Chicken and that's because it's a remake of the TAGS episode The Haunted House and was mainly written by the writing team that wrote that episode (Andy did uncredited modifications to the script). The other ones have three problems:

The supporting cast is usually extremely weak. Don Knotts is only as funny as the people he has to play off of him. On TAGS that was easy because he had numerous talented people to interact and play off of. Most of the movies don't have this which hurts the film because Knotts is forced to go back to his Steve Allen persona, which IMO was not as funny as his Barney Fife Persona. This is made all the worse when he gets paired with Tim Conway in later movies.

The second problem is the material does not do Don Knotts any favors. He's almost always written as a Wimpy loser and when he does get a chance to do something funny it's either extremely watered down or is a stock comic trait that any comic actor could do. Nowhere is he allowed to be self-confident, full of himself, a romantic charmer or a playboy.

The last problem is that the movies are primarily written for little kids, which means Knotts can't get up to any of the humorous romantic escapades like he did on TAGS. The one film that tried to do something for older audiences (The Love God?) was denounced by a lot of people for being too adult for children (The plot is the bird magazine Don Knotts character runs gets turned into a Playboy clone. Sadly it's not as sexy or funny as it sounds)

The ghost and Mr. Chicken was brilliant for the reasons you said the reluctant astronaut was cute just about watchable the rest were forgetable.

[Samme]

All of Don's Universal films were well-done and fun to watch. And they are still fun. They were also the closest thing ever done to the spirit of Mayberry in movies or TV. I don't know why they often get knocked. Even Andy praised them. They were done quickly but with great care and effort. After that Don's movies were basically a toss off to make a living. He didn't have the drive anymore and had already given it his best shot.

[Charles Knox]

I think it was a missed opportunity for both Universal and Don Knotts. Just like they did with A&C, they should had paired him up with the Universal monsters. I know by that time, the original monster actors were either too old or dead to reprise their roles, but they could have still made a cameo appearance in the films.