The Ghost and Mr. Chicken

Don Knotts must have carefully chosen the script and story that would be his first starring film role. He certainly was taking a chance after leaving the Andy Griffith Show. Fortunately he chose well and in addition to a character that suited him perfectly he was surrounded by a cast of familiar and tried and true character players, including a few familiar faces from the Andy Griffith Show.

The Ghost And Mr. Chicken finds Knotts as a typesetter on his local small town paper with aspirations to be a reporter. But his first attempt at a big scoop which I won't go into make him a laughingstock not unlike Barney Fife at times. The girl he desires Joan Staley is disappointed and his rival Skip Homeier is having a great old time at Don's expense.

Another opportunity presents itself however. The owner of an old abandoned mansion Philip Ober returns to town wanting to demolish said mansion just take the wrecking ball and bulldozer to it. There's a lot of opposition because it is reputed to be haunted primarily by the ghost of Ober's wife who was murdered there 20 years earlier.

But it's a town landmark of sorts and Knotts goes to investigate and comes up short the first time, but eventually solves a 20 year old murder.

Which is more than Barney Fife ever did. The part that Don plays here set a pattern for his film career playing the lovable, bumbling schlep who gets it right in the end and gets the girl besides. Of course that was while he was a lead. Later on played various character roles, partnered with Tim Conway and those two were hilarious and is best known to today's audience as the mysterious TV repairman in Pleasantville.

The Ghost And Mr. Chicken was a fine beginning for Don Knotts as a big screen leading movie comedian.

The movie trailers refer to Don Knotts' character, Luther Heggs, as the bravest coward and I think that is an accurate description. Although scared to death, Luther agrees to spend the night in the old Simmons house and stands up to the surly nephew Nicholas Simmons. As usual Don Knotts is hilarious. Several times it looks as if his eyes are going to pop out of their sockets. There is an excellent supporting cast with many very recognizable character actors, among them Dick Sargent (Miles Beckett, Luther's Editor), Reta Shaw (Mrs. Maxwell), Lurene Tuttle (Mrs. Miller), Charles Lane (Mr. Witlow, Nick Simmons' attorney), and of course Ellen Corby (Miss Tremaine). Although they were not credited for their roles there were Hope Summer and Hal Smith, two of Don Knotts' "Andy Griffith Show" co-stars made guest appearances. I saw this film in the when it came out in 1966. I suppose, like me, it's a little dated, but still worth watching. I have it on VHS and watch it when I need a good chuckle. More video rental places should keep classics like this on their shelves.

I remember watching this movie back in the 1960's with my twin sister Tammy and being frightened when Don Knott's character Luther was alone in the haunted Simmon's Mansion. Now that I am grown I realize the movie was not scary at all, but instead is just a lot of fun. This movie is very funny and by far the best film Don Knotts ever made. Whenever I watch this movie (I own the VHS tape) it takes me back to a more innocent time. I also own The Love God, The Relunctant Astronaut, The Shakiest Gun in the West, and How to Frame a Fig, all starring Don Knotts, but this is my favorite movie of his. This is a great family film, and brings back wonderful childhood memories.

The first film Don Knotts made after leaving Mayberry to sign a multi-film contract with Universal, I first saw "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" as a tiny tot when it played in support of "Munsters, Go Home" at the drive-in, and it was so funny I forgot all about the severe sunburn I had acquired at the beach earlier in the day. And now, 37 years later, it's still hilarious. An adult, especially a college graduate who majored in English, isn't supposed to admit that "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" is one of his favorite films, at least not without embarrassment at his lack of "sophistication," but I admit it with pride. Knotts may not have had a film career on a par with Laurel and Hardy, but he's their equal in my book and this is his best film. It even manages to be genuinely spooky at times (that organ music-yikes!). This is a comedy classic, and a family film in the best sense of the word.

This was Don Knotts' first movie vehicle after he left "Andy Griffith". His character, Luther Heggs, is simply Barney Fife transplanted from Mayberry, North Carolina to Laurel, Kansas. The same gentle but slightly quirky small town residents and Heggs/Fife bumbling along and solving one of the town's mysteries. Knotts even wears the same salt and pepper suit with white fedora that he wore on "Andy Griffith".

This is still a fun movie to watch though. Knotts does his "nervous man" schtick all the way through. His stage-fright speech at the town picnic is great ("let me clarify this")and there are two recurring joke lines, "and they used Bon Ami!" and "atta boy, Luther" which keep being said and which will crack you up every time.