The Ghost and Mr. Chicken

1966 Don Knotts funk

Rating: 16/20 (Dad: 18/20; Dylan: 14/20)

Plot: Don Knotts isn't asking for a lot in life. He wants to make it as a newspaper reporter. He wants the pretty girl. He wants a little respect. He gets his chance on the twentieth anniversary of the crime that made the local "murder house" infamous when he agrees to spend the night in the supposedly haunted abode and write about his experiences. Some creepy things happen during his stay, and once his ghost-written article is published, he becomes an overnight sensation. But when the owner of the house threatens his story's authenticity and sues him for libel, he's forced to fight to protect his reputation.

Had to entertain my step-father while the women folk went to the ballet, and this was about all I had that would interest him, a fan of the oeuvre of one Jim Varney. And the inimitable Don Knotts did not disappoint. From his first moment on the screen in this, he's funny. His mannerisms and his goofy deliver in a lovable loser role are pitch perfect. Knotts was born to play these sorts of roles (and Mr. Furley, of course), and everything he does in this is hilarious. It's a simple appropriate-for-families tale, one that wouldn't have made Disney execs uncomfortable. And it's filmed pretty much exactly like one of those wacky, dated Disney comedies, too. No, this isn't the most intelligently written comedy. Any movie with a tag line that starts with stuttering ("G-G-Guaranteed") and ends with a promise that you'll "be scared until you laugh yourself silly" isn't going to be. But there's something hilarious about watching Don Knotts practice his karate moves, moves that like Indiana Jones with his whip or Luke Skywalker with his lightsaber were impossible for me not to imitate, and say more than once that his "entire body is a weapon." And a repeated gag, an offscreen "Attaboy," starts funny, gets old, makes you groan, and then becomes side-splittingly funny once again. Delightful fun!

One of my goals for 2011, by the way, is to found a religion based on the worship of Don Knotts. Who's in?