Ever see "Under the Influence" a 1986 film starring Andy Griffith?

[Yong Fang]

The film "Under the Influence" is on Youtube and it came on as a TV movie in 1986.

Andy Griffith could play some evil characters. Just awful people. This is an example of that.

In the movie, Griffith plays the head of a family and an alcoholic who runs a hardware store. He has four children, one who just fled entirely being a comedian, another crazy adult daughter living in the same city married and two other children living at home, a son (played by Kenau Reeves) and a daughter who is a shy senior graduating from high school who is a budding artist.

There is a similar alcoholic show in the family called "Shattered Spirits" with Martin Sheen as the alcoholic person in the family and we the viewer cheered for him to get better (with a tragic conclusion).

With the Griffith character, the viewer will have no sympathy. He was just sociopathic and just bad. His actions became the worse of all his family members except for the youngest daughter who just wanted to get away. I as a viewer (and have seen this several times) grew to hate the Griffith character. He held his family hostage.

If you have not seen it, please do. You will hate the Griffith character.