The Love God?

Don Knotts got a lot of mileage out of his inept Barney Fife character which he played in a series of movies throughout the 1960s (he won four or five straight Emmys so you have to give him credit). Most of his movie rip-offs were forgettable but not "The Love God?" Then and now, the movie is a social satire and a commentary on public morals. I'm not sure that is exactly what Knotts intended but that is what results. Knotts is Abner Peacock, the publisher of Peacock's Magazine, a bird-watcher journal which is in bankruptcy. Osborn Trelaine comes to his rescue with capital to save the magazine. What Abner doesn't know, and doesn't find out until he returns from a bird expedition, is that Trelaine is a pornographer. As soon as he returns to America, Abner is arrested for obscenity. The trial that follows is hilarious as Knotts' famous lawyer lambasts him and tells the country how disgusted he is to be representing such a degenerate. But because he loves liberty, he has to do it. Abner is acquitted and now finds himself to be considered to be a Casanova by every woman in America. His lawyers, his family and the pornographers convince him that it is his patriotic duty to put out a filthy magazine and prove to the world how free a country the US is. "But I don't know the first thing about publishing filth!" he objects. "You're young! You can learn!" he's told. With the luscious Anne Francis as his editor Abner then becomes the front for the most popular sex magazine of all time. Trouble is, while America thinks he's bopping models three at a time, he's actually a virgin and intimidated by women (except the faithful Rose Ellen who waits to marry him.). The funniest sequence of the movie is a musical montage of Abner living the jet-set life and appearing at a string of nightclubs. His hilarious rendition of "Summer in the Meadow" ("by Eloise W. Fetlock") is also unforgettable. Don Knotts never made a better movie and the social commentary hasn't diminished one iota in the over 30 yrs since it was released.

Clean and decent ornithologist Don Knotts (as Abner Peacock IV) is about to see his poor-selling bird-watching magazine peck it in. Meanwhile, smut-peddling publisher Edmond O'Brien (as Osborne Tremain) loses his magazine's license, due to pornographic content. To continue printing his bosomy babes, O'Brien tricks Knotts into turning over his periodical's editorial content. After sending Knotts off on safari, O'Brien turns the tame "Peacock's Magazine" into a titillating masturbatory aide.

Knotts returns to find himself corralled into becoming the defendant in a "free speech" case. With assistance from enterprising editor Anne Francis (as Lisa La Monica), Knotts is transformed into a Hugh Hefner-type publishing giant. Then, Ms. Francis falls in love with playboy Knotts...

Knotts can't help but be funny; this particular characterization was perfected in his role of "Mr. Furley" on the TV series "Three's Company". His "Abner Peacock" is little less sure, perhaps necessarily so, considering the times. Note, the screeching and shouting was not part of Knotts' later routine. Under-appreciated writer/director Nat Hiken cleverly mixes satire and sexy women. "The Love God?" is colorful, and features a delightful supporting cast. Unfortunately, by the last act, the film's direction, and humor, has pointedly unraveled.

***** The Love God? (1969) Nat Hiken ~ Don Knotts, Anne Francis, Edmond O'Brien

As a part of film history, "The Love God?" is uniformly dismissed as just another goofy, formulaic Don Knotts romp--and in many ways it does follow the Knotts formula pretty closely. But this time the Knotts formula was turned in on itself. In actuality "The Love God?" is one of the best mainstream American social satires of the 1960s, just behind recognized classics such as "Dr. Strangelove" and "The President's Analyst." Knotts plays his usual character, this time named Abner Peacock. Abner is the editor of a bird-watching magazine in financial trouble. His dying magazine, The Peacock, is taken over by a pornographer while Abner is in South America looking for a rare bird. Abner returns from his safari to find that the Peacock has been turned into a cross between Playboy and Hustler. He also finds himself arrested and a defendant in a constitutional battle over "his right" to publish "dirty pictures" in The Peacock. Abner only wants to have the truth be known--that he had his magazine shanghaied without his knowledge. But instead his case comes to the attention of a self-serving Civil Liberties attorney who wants to use his case as a free-speech landmark. Abner wins his case, but is not satisfied that he is represented as a "filthy degenerate sex fiend" (in a hilarious courtroom sequence). After his victory Abner wants the truth to come out, but he is convinced by the interest groups and his own money-sniffing relatives that it is his patriotic duty to keep publishing pornography as a freedom of speech issue. The attention draws big money to The Peacock, and Abner is further convinced that, in order for the magazine to be a success, he must play the part of the Sex God libertine.

In true Knotts style, Abner gets totally carried away with the role of pseudo Hugh Hefner. But of course, the truth eventually comes out and Abner/Don eventually comes to his senses and of course triumphs over the bad guys.

Now try and find a satire with a plot as smart as that in today's dimwitted movie market! This movie is as smart as it is hilarious. The only drawback is that the generally family-friendly nature of the film necessitates that the "outrageous pornography" represented is limited to photos of big-busted babes in swimsuits--stuff that wouldn't make an 11 year old of today break a blush. "The Love God?" is second in Don Knott's classic resume only to the all time classic "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken."

Don Knotts is one of the last great physical comedians, making movies in a time when physical comedy was on the wane. His face was a chaotic assembly line of expressions. In ten seconds he could express thirty different emotions, from abject terror to rage to calm certainty. Most of the humor in his movies is in how he reacts physically to a situation.

This movie is no different. The man publishes a bird watching magazine. The magazine is going under, but is republished by an adult magazine publisher who wants to use it to display "birds" of his own. Knotts is then vilified as a sex maniac...horrifying some...fascinating others. It is a light satire.

The Love God has the components of the other Knotts movies: Sudden change in situation, devoted girlfriend, misunderstandings, ostracizing former friends and reconciliation. Not as good as How to Frame a Figg...but fun nonetheless...

The Love God? finds Edmond O'Brien down, but not out as the publisher of a smut magazine where he features his wife Maureen Arthur in many issues. After yet another conviction for selling the pornography, O'Brien gets his fourth class mail permit lifted by the Postmaster General. What to do?

Inspiration hits him as he drives through the small town of Peacock Falls where one of the descendent's of the town founder, Don Knotts publishes a magazine for ornithologists that's about to go under. To get that permit, O'Brien agrees to bail Knotts out of debt and even sends him on a trip deep in the Amazon jungle to get a photograph of a rare tropical bird so he can make the necessary editorial changes.

A whole lot of good players get involved in this film in which choirmaster and scout leader Don Knotts from his small town is transformed into a Hugh Hefner clone by makeover genius Anne Francis. James Gregory has a marvelous part as a blustering civil liberties attorney, a man who looks like he's traveled the slippery slope often. B.S. Pully is also good as the gangster backer of O'Brien who hams it up outrageously. Of the whole cast Edmond O'Brien looked like he was really enjoying himself.

Poor Knotts plays his usual befuddled lugnut of a human being who can't quite grasp all that's swirling around him. Certainly he never thought of himself as The Love God?

I wasn't expecting all that much and I was pleasantly surprised that The Love God? turned out better than I thought. Catch it sometime, even if you're not a Don Knotts fan.