Views: 162 Show By Craig Leask  Fresh from five seasons playing the bumbling sheriff’s deputy Barny Fife on The Andy Griffith Show (1960-68), winning five Prime Time Emmy awards for supporting actor in the process, and having successfully starred in The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964), Knotts was signed to a multiple-movie deal with Universal, with The Ghost and Mr. Chicken being the first project. Don Knotts character’s name may be Luther Heggs in the film, but it is classic Barney Fife on the screen, the film providing the perfect platform for Knotts to bring out his entire catalog of tics, shudders, stutters, double-takes, eye bulging, whining, and blustery false bravado, which he developed and honed on The Andy Griffith Show. In fact it was an episode of The Andy Griffith Show, appropriately titled “Haunted House” which aired in October 1963 as a nod to Halloween, which formed the original idea for the film. In the episode Barney, Gomer (Jim Nabors), and Andy enter the old deserted Rimshaw house to retrieve Opie’s lost baseball. Knotts was in fine form with his nervous shaking and twitching demonstrating the perfect platform for his comic genius, and his cast members couldn’t help but take notice. In fact it was Griffith’s idea to expand on the episode, even acting as uncredited co-writer for the film, eventually including the series’ writers and many of its cast members to work on and in the film. The back story of the murders in the film is a bit on the simple side, as is the film’s very quick and clean resolution. The “hauntings” are not scary per today’s standards, but then the film was clearly designed to be an entertaining family picture, and as such, it truly works. The story follows Luther Heggs who agrees to spend the night in an allegedly haunted house known as the Simmons Mansion, where 20 years earlier the property’s owner had reportedly killed his wife and then committed suicide by leaping from the houses tall tower. The beauty of the film is found in the small town simplicity represented by the local residents who come out in support of Luther and his eyewitness accounts of the haunted home’s anomalies. All of which spur the attention of the Ladies Paranormal Society. The movie was a box office success and was followed by the equally successful The Reluctant Astronaut (1967), The Shakiest Gun in the West (1968), The Love God? (1969) and How to Frame a Figg (1971), all of which were based upon Knotts trademark nerdy-coward-turns-hero-and-gets-the-girl persona leading to a very successful franchise. Atta boy, Luther! From as far back as Craig can remember he has been passionate about architecture and the atmosphere that can be created through a well-designed building. In movies, he fulfills this passion by gravitating to films where the production infuses the location into the plot as one of the characters. Be it the long dark shadows of mysteries and haunted house films, to classics of the 40’s and 50’s set in big old houses, grand Italian plazas, or remote villages. It’s the locations Craig is drawn to, so much so that, on occasion, he has even been accused of overlooking plot failures and weak directing, having been so engrossed in the set design and location. What he hopes to accomplish with his writing is to share this passion and encourage others to see for the first time – or revisit – movies where the architecture plays as pivotal a role as a character in the plot.
The Ghost and Mr. Chicken is a 1966 American Universal Pictures feature film starring Don Knotts as Luther Heggs, a newspaper typesetter who spends a night in a haunted house, which is located in the fictitious community of Rachel, Kansas. The working title was Running Scared.[1] Knotts was best known at the time of the film's production for his Emmy Award-winning five seasons on the sitcom The Andy Griffith Show as small town deputy sheriff Barney Fife. Knotts left the television show at the end of the 1964-1965 season in order to pursue a film career with The Shakiest Gun in the West and The Apple Dumpling Gang being two of the many films that followed his departure from the series. The Ghost and Mr. Chicken was directed by Alan Rafkin with a screenplay by Jim Fritzell and Everett Greenbaum; all three men had been associated with the success of The Andy Griffith Show. Several players from the television show also appear in the film including Burt Mustin, Hal Smith, and Hope Summers. Viewers will also recognize several actors and actresses who had appeared or were then appearing on other sitcoms of the time. PlotLuther Heggs (Knotts) is a typesetter at the newspaper in Rachel, Kansas, but aspires to be a reporter. One night, observing what he believes to be a murder outside of an old, supposedly haunted house, Heggs rushes to the Police Station with his scoop. Unfortunately, as he relates the details of his story to the Chief of Police, the murder "victim" walks into the room. The next morning, Heggs walks downstairs to the dining room at the Natalie Miller boarding house and overhears Ollie Weaver (Homeir), a full-time reporter at the newspaper, mocking his mistakes of the night before. According to a legend noted in the film, the Simmons mansion was a "murder house" 20 years earlier, when Mr. Simmons murdered his wife, then jumped from the organ loft to his death. Legend says that you can hear the ghost of Mr. Simmons playing the organ at night. To increase newspaper sales, Luther Heggs (Knotts) is assigned to spend the night in the house on the 20th anniversary of the murders. At midnight, Heggs sees the old organ begin to play by itself as well as other ghostly happenings. His story gets the town abuzz and Nicholas Simmons (Philip Ober), nephew of the deceased couple, sues Heggs for libel. In the courtroom, Heggs is made out to be a fool, but the judge orders the courtroom to the Simmons house at midnight to allow Heggs to prove his story. Nothing happens, and everyone leaves except for Heggs. Soon after, when he notices the old organ playing again, Heggs discovers Mr. Kelsey (Liam Redmond), the newspaper's janitor, producing the creepy tune from an additional keyboard located under the pipes. The typesetter and janitor then confront Nicholas Simmons, who killed his aunt and uncle and has been trying to cover up the story all this time. A secret passage from the study up to the organ loft had been Simmons' alibi, and Mr. Kelsey was the last one who knew the secret. Luther knocks Simmons out with a body slam, and the case is closed. At the end of the film, Heggs marries his sweetheart, Alma Parker (Joan Staley) and the church organ begins to play the same spooky tune that came from the Simmons house, with the keys moving but no one there. ProductionAndy Griffith, Knotts' costar on "The Andy Griffith Show", suggested expanding on an episode from the television show involving a deserted house (the old Rimshaw house in the episode "Haunted House" aired Oct. 1963) in which Barney, Gomer, and Andy retrieve a baseball of Opie and his friend from the house. The Simmons Mansion stands on Colonial Street on the Universal Studios lot in California and was built for the 1946 film So Goes My Love. It appeared as the Dowd house in the 1950 film Harvey, and currently serves as the home of Gabrielle Solis in Desperate Housewives.[2] Al Checco, Don Knotts' Army-days comedy partner, had an uncredited appearance in the film. Don Knotts personally called the Bon Ami company president to get permission to mention the cleaning product's name in one of the film's running gags. Universal contract star Joan Staley was known by Alan Rafkin from their work together in Broadside. Normally a blond, she had to wear a dark wig because the producers felt she was "too sexy" as a blonde and the part called for a brunette. She wore the same wig previously worn by Claudia Cardinale in Blindfold.[3] Cast
Home video releasesThe Ghost and Mr. Chicken was released on VHS on April 30, 1996. Universal released the film on DVD September 2, 2003 and again January 9, 2007. SoundtrackOn July 12, 2005, Percepto released the soundtrack on Compact Disc. Composer Vic Mizzy used the old tune Mr. Ghost Goes to Town as his main theme. Mizzy's haunted house organ theme also appeared in the 1967 film Games. The track listing is as follows:
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Where was the house in Harvey?Colonial Street sets (Maxim House / Munster House, Harvey House) were first built on Stage 12 for this movie. Colonial Street including what is now known as the Harvey House and the Colonial Mansion. Interiors were shot on Stage 12, Stage 20, Stage 23.
What is the story of the Ghost and Mr Chicken?Looking to score a break as a newspaper reporter and impress beautiful Alma Parker (Joan Staley), milquetoast typesetter Luther Heggs (Don Knotts) pitches a story about his small town's haunted house. When his editor (Dick Sargent) insists Luther spend a night alone in the spooky mansion, where a grisly murder-suicide had taken place decades earlier, the timid reporter learns that the house contains a supernatural resident who doesn't like visitors.The Ghost and Mr. Chicken / Film synopsisnull
Was The Ghost and Mr Chicken a success?The movie was a box-office hit.
Who yelled Attaboy Luther?Chicken (1966) - Everett Greenbaum as Man Saying 'Attaboy Luther' - IMDb.
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Is the house in The Ghost and Mr Chicken the psycho house?
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