Gramps

Incredible! This proves what an awesome actor Griffith really is! I have always appreciated 'Andy Griffith' and 'Matlock', but when I saw 'Gramps,' I fell in love with him! I have been very disappointed to never have been able to find this movie anywhere since it's first showing and I think it a real shame. Nobody ever gets to see how awesome Andy really is as an actor because we never see anything but 'Andy Griffith' and 'Matlock.' It is wonderful to see another side of an actor than we normally see. Are we so afraid to change our image of him that we can't allow for versatility? Thumbs up to Mr. Griffith for being brave enough to do something different!

I only watched this because it has Andy Griffith and John Ritter - two greatly underated actors.

The film seems to follow the trend for 'initially nice person with secret obcessive traits, cracks and wreaks vengeance on wholesome family' set by the likes of "Hand That Rocks The Cradle", "The Crush", and "The Stepfather" and many others. But this time it is the estranged geriatric Father's turn to turn psycho.

It might have made a change if for once they had made a film where the person seeking acceptance from the family did NOT have to turn psycho.

In this case it would definately have made for a better film because Andy Griffith is great as the old man trying to make up for missing out on his grownup son's childhood. Why did he have to turn psycho, why couldnt it have been a genuine drama where an old man makes up for his past mistakes ? Because the few emotional scenes there are between Griffith and Ritter as Father and Son had the potential to have been quite powerful if only the film had been a Drama instead of a Psychological Thriller.

But what the heck - Gramps goes mental and tries to take over the family by breaking up the Son's marriage and attacking and/or killing anyone and everyone else who gets in his way, period.

Predictable "twists", predictable finale. What a waste of talent. Still worth watching if it's on TV.

At the funeral of the mother of Clarke MacGruder (John Ritter) his father Jack (Andy Griffith) shows up after years of neglect. He meets his daughter-in-law Betsy (Mary-Margaret Humes) and his grandson Matthew (Casey Wurzbach). Jack is trying to get back into the life of his son and grow a real bond with his grandson. Griffith is wonderful bringing that some folksiness that he brought to us in THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW and MATLOCK. But, there are some other ingredients as well. Such as extreme rage and hatred. Things are not what they seem with old Jacky.

Good just to see Griffith in a role I had never seen him in before. There are a few new facial expressions for Griffith to go along with essentially a new type of character for me to go along with his other characters. I did see this TV movie under the title RELATIVE FEAR.

Good movie with a GREAT acting job once again by Andy Griffith. Somewhat revisiting his dark side from A Face In The Crowd decades earlier, Andy plays good Gramps/bad Gramps perfectly. A reconnecting Grampa with murderous intent. It would be a shame if viewers couldn't enjoy this portrayal due to wanting him to always be Andy Taylor or Matlock. John Ritter is good as usual too, but Ange steals this movie outright! With a little more production work this could've worked in theaters. If looking for it on DVD, I think it's listed under another name, "Relative Fear". Incidentally, another more recent departure for him is a movie called "Play The Game". There's quite a bit of sexual content, but very cute with a clever ending.

Slightly predictable in parts, but still well above average, this film indicates how effective Andy Griffith's folksiness can be in lubricious/sinister mode. Even for the most blase viewer there are several frights in store. Incidentally, filmographers should note that this has been periodically screened on TV under the alternative name RELATIVE FEAR (not to be confused with the eponymous Canadian 1994 thriller).