Customer Reviews

The Ghost and Mr. Chicken [VHS]

5 star:		(105)
4 star:		(28)
3 star:		(4)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(1)

 

 

I first saw this Don Knotts comedy back in the late Sixties...and it stuck with me. (Especially the tune the organ plays.) The scenes of nervous, bungling, bug-eyed Don Knotts made me laugh out loud then -- and they still do now. So I was really pleased when this movie was finally released on video a few years ago. My only gripe now is that I wish it were out on DVD because I'm sure I'll wear out my video before too long!

Of course, I'm a big fan of the Andy Griffith Show. So that probably explains why I like this movie so much. Don Knotts was largely responsible for making that show the huge hit that it was. And, if you like his schtick on Griffith, you'll like this movie.

In fact, there are about a half dozen or more actors who appear in the movie -- most just briefly -- who also worked with Knotts on the Andy Griffth Show. Hal Smith, Ellen Corby, Hope Summers, Burt Mustin and Rita Shaw to name just five. So it was fun to pick out the familiar faces. The movie was even written by two of the Andy Griffith Show's most prolific writers!

Knotts has the nervous man character down so well that some scenes in the film are almost painful to watch (like when he's giving his speech -- "I've been called brave. What is brave? Let me clarify this" -- before the picnic crowd gathered in his honor), but I can't help myself. He's funny.

I won't go into the plot because so many others have already reviewed it. I just wanted to add my two cents (and Five Stars) to the other reviews.

The bottom line: this is a fun movie, great for the whole family. If you haven't seen it, please do so. Sure it's corny. Sure it looks dated. But it's not supposed to be Citizen Kane. It's just a great popcorn movie to share with friends and family.

Luther Heggs is a mild mannered typesetter just waiting to break out and show the world that he can be a reporter. When the nervous, shy, and loveable bug-eyed reporter wanna be is dared to spend the night in the old haunted Simmons mansion, he feels this is his chance. There are a lot of strange things that happen in this old house. People recount of hearing creepy organ music wondering if the unsolved murder victim is haunting the old house. The newspaper editor thinks it is a wonderful idea, and decides to give Luther the chance he has been dreaming about since the anniversary of the murder/suicide is approaching. When Luther spends the fated night, he barely makes it past midnight tearing from the house spouting tales of a ghost playing the organ, shears embedded in a portrait, and secret passage ways. When Luther tries to prove the events he experienced in the house, he ends up looking like a fool when they cannot be recreated. As he solves the mystery, he takes the whole audience along for the ride.

Don Knotts is superb in this movie! His physical comedic skills could not be done any better. The supporting cast brought together for this film was very well cast. Some of the cast members will also be familiar to those that have followed Knotts career with Andy Griffith.

I remember one Friday night when I was growing up in the 70's. They were going to show "Ghost and Mr. Chicken" on tv, and my sisters, my neighbor friend and I were settled in to watch it. I was scared to death, covering my eyes when Knott's character (Luther Heggs) came downstairs and saw the painting with the blood gushing out of it! The organ music was so creepy.

Now I own this movie and watch it often. It is a reminder of kinder, gentler days, of small town people that are very familiar from my childhood. Of course, I'm a huge Andy Griffith show fan, and this movie was based on an episode called "The Haunted House." The writers of that episode wrote this movie (one of them of the voice of the un-seen guy who keeps hollering
'Atta Boy Luther') and Andy Griffith Show fans will notice many familiar faces in the movie..Otis, Clara, and more. If you loved Don Knotts in that show, you'll love this movie. And if you aren't a big fan of Andy, I still think you'll like this movie. It truly is very funny, the scary scenes are still scary, and I think this is Don's finest work. Please issue this on DVD, I'll be the first in line to buy it.

As a big-screen comedian, Don Knotts was never funnier, more endearing, or more inspired than in this silly, oddly charming small-town comedy. It's one of those pleasant memories from childhood, and I'm delighted to discover how well it holds up. Knotts' character, Luther Hegg, is little more than an extension of, or variation on, Barney Fife; he's what Barney might become if Andy wasn't around to calm him with a wink to the audience. And Knotts gives into the foolishness with enormous conviction: the goggle-eyed, wild-haired terror; the slightly self-important preening of a little man who just KNOWS he could be a big deal with the right break; the false bravado that quickly succumbs to cowardice of the first rank (a schtick Bob Hope would have been proud to own); and, curiously, the essential heartbreak and loneliness Knotts is too good an actor to sentimentalize or imbue with undue self-pity.

Aside from the star's peerless, bug-eyed takes, what makes this unpretentious trifle of a movie so pleasurable are its relative intelligence and its canny observation of character. They've been making inexpensive showcase comedies for rising comedians for aeons now, and most of them are dumb to the point of inanity (today they're both stupid AND gross.) But the screenwriters and the director of this movie have a fondness for even the smallest of characters, and there are wonderful touches, like the way the old man in the boarding house casually takes an egg off the cozy of the bickering old woman next to him at the breakfast table, cracks it open, and eats it. No one notices, and the filmmakers don't beat us over the head with it; it's there, on the periphery, if we want to enjoy it. Can you imagine the people behind David Spade movies having the grace to do that?

Every role, however small, is written and performed as completely individual. The voices are unique, just right for the performers and for the town itself. The verbal one-upsmanship of the elderly women in the boarding house is a perfect example; you get the feeling they've been at it for years now. Add in Vic Mizzy's memorable, idiosyncratic hipster-like score with its variations on two simple rhythmic themes, a beautiful digital transfer, and Technirama 2:35:1 widescreen, and - voila! - 90 minutes of simple joy, done to a T.

The above is the only risque line you will hear in this classic family comedy starring the one and only Don Knotts. I just watched this movie for the first time in over 30 years and this movie brought back so many memories. If you were born between 1955 and 1965, this film was probably a big part of your childhood. I was a little too young to see it when it released to theaters, but it played on local television at least once a year in the late 1960's and early 1970's. It doesn't have much of a reputation in "film" circles but for kids of that era it's one of the period's essential films.

Don Knotts stars as a nervous, easily spooked type who works in the typeset department of a smalltown newspaper who gets his big break to become a reporter if he will spend the night in the local "haunted house" - an abandoned mansion where a murder/suicide occured 20 years ago. Knotts is in classic form as our neurotic hero and he is matched by a wonderful cast of character actors from the era, many of them familiar faces from their regular appearances on TV shows of the era (two of Knotts' ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW costars, Hope Summers and Hal Smith, are even here in unbilled small parts). I especially enjoyed the wonderful Reta Shaw as the domineering matriarch of the local paranormal society.

This innocent movie has only the mildest of "spooky" moments (the time spent in the haunted house is surprisingly short); this and the broad playing clearly show it was geared for children's film audience although the actors will hold the attention of light-hearted adults. Knotts was already middle-aged here but he's still wonderfully believably as the naive Luther (he is just a kid here though in this small town where apparently only five or so people are under 50 judging by the film.) The movie also boasts a superb creepy organ-dominated score by Vic Muzzy. No, it's not CITZEN KANE but THE GHOST AND MR CHICKEN is a much-loved family film and one I think young people even today would enjoy it.

I have a fond place in my heart for this movie, so I'll try to be straight with this review. I've been watching this movie since I was a kid and I can't say enough good things about it. Don Knotts breakout performance. This and Mr. Limpit and How To Frame A Figg are like the Knotts trinity. Sure, Apple Dumpling Gang and Private Eyes were good too, but this is the crown jewel. I introduced this movie to my daughters and my younger one loved it, just as I did when I first saw it all those years ago. Fast-paced and hilarious, Knotts just keeps 'em coming. Just mortar, stone and wood! Shears in the throat! I know the dialogue like the back of my hand. All the characters fit so well together. So visit Rachel, Kansas and see what's going on in the old Simmons' house and hell, spend the 20th anniversary of the murder/suicide along with Luther Haig and a gaggle of side-splitting situations. Enjoy, for they don't make movies like this any more.

This is a sentimental movie for me. I remember well going to see this as a 10-yr-old boy with my mom & late dad. For weeks after seeing it, my dad would say "Atta boy, Luther" any time any of us kids did anything right. My mom would say "...and they used Bon Ami" whenever appropriate. I thought it was one of the funniest movies I'd ever seen as a kid. On the other hand, I was scared to death when the organ started playing by itself (pretty tame by today's standards). As it's said, "They don't make 'em like this anymore". Any fan of Don Knotts should see this light-hearted film. It's not CITIZEN KANE, but it's enjoyable as a look at the mid-sixties pop-comedy genre.

Mathematically speaking, if you took the very best moments of Barney Fife and Mr. Furley, and rolled them into one, it would precisely equal the number of minutes Luther Heggs spends alone in in a haunted house. A movie is the sum of all its parts, and this ingenious addition to Knotts' career survives the many (but who's counting) hokey and mundane minutes between Luther's dissertation of his spook house escapades, and his enchanting picnic speech. The film's climax actually occurs in its earlier stages but Luther's moving and heartfelt words are still well worth the wait. These are small town folks with big time values, and they are living in the kind of place many "real life" cities are trying to preserve (small town charm). Knotts plays "Luther" in the tradition that Bert Lahr portrays the "Cowardly Lion", and with similar results rising a few notches above what could accurately be described as "silly ", "funny", or even "classic". Describing Knotts as "silly" is tantamount to calling William Shakespeare a "pretty good" writer. The supporting cast is superb and uplifting. You are likely to recognize several of the top character actors in cinematic history. The sinister organ music is also in a class by itself as Luther takes "the bait", in part to impress his gal (who was a "real life" Playboy centerfold). So who could possibly blame him as this fumbling, bumbling, nervously clamoring basket case exudes psuedo confidence in admirably giving it his best shot (despite the fact that a part of him clearly realizes it makes no sense at all, and could in fact be hazardous to his health!)? The really funny thing is that the haunted house segments are actually quite scary! It is not widely known that the "real life" home of Norman Bates (and his mother) is used for the exterior shots. "The Ghost" and "Mr. Chicken" (but especially the haunted house, its creeky floors, atmosphere, and inhabitants) desperately need to jump out in DVD so we can enjoy the full gamut of spooky effects. Who knows, although none of us could possibly imagine it, the facial expressions of Luther Heggs may be even funnier than we realized!

After I read the other reviews of TGAMC I had to add my own. What can I say? I know this film is as cornball as you can get, but that's why I love it! And I absolutely love Don Knotts! Please, please don't ever remake this film. This movie is just as funny now as it was 40 years ago. Who can forget "I'm having chicken noodle soup with Alma." Or the courtroom scene. Charles Lane: "Can you curb your imagination for a few minutes?" Don Knotts: "Can you curb your tongue for a few minutes?" "Atta boy, Luther?" I was amazed by all the people who said how creepy the organ music was (and still is)! I know. I know. It still gets to me. And I'm 54! And I remember how scared I was when Luther ran down the stairs and saw the garden shears in Mrs. Simmons' throat and the blood running down. Just a really good, clean movie. We need more of these.

My kids love this movie and they watch it on sleep-overs with their friends. Don Knotts plays Luther Hegg, a timid typesetter in a small town in the mid-west (Rachel, Kansas). The supporting actors are first rate: Skip Homeier, Dick Sargent, Ellen Corby etc. Joan Staley, who plays Alma, was the centerfold for PLAYBOY in 1958! Vivian Vance's ex hubby Phil Ober plays the murderer and the old women in the boarding house are hilarious. Reta Shaw is very funny as the head of the Psychic Society and Vic Muzzy's musical score is cornily creepy. When this picture was first released in theatres in l965, it was a huge hit in small towns across the U.S. and it is very representitive of 1960's small town Americana. Fun!