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Walt Disney's Chicken Little - Don Knotts' final performance

Walt Disney’s Chicken Little

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Review

Have you ever sat through a children’s movie with a message? A very blunt message? That the movie beats you over the head with, over, and over? And over? That’s Walt Disney’s Chicken Little, unfortunately. It takes a good concept, and ruins it in the execution. It’s the final film of Don Knotts, and it’s a sad farewell to a great talent and very funny man.

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No Deposit, No Return [Don Knotts]

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Editorial Review of No Deposit, No Return (1976) starring Don Knotts, Darren McGavin, David Niven —courtesy of Amazon.com

 Tracy and Jay Osborne’s mother is shipping the unwilling children off to their grandfather’s house for Easter vacation while she attends to business in Hong Kong. The children plot a trip to visit their mother and, with the help of Jay’s pet skunk, evade their grandfather and airport security to escape in a taxicab with two safe-cracking vandals. The foursome proceeds to stage a kidnapping – although just who kidnapped whom is up for debate.

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How to Frame a Figg

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How to Frame a Figg, starring Don Knotts

How to Frame a Figg is a long-time favorite Don Knotts movie.  Don stars as Hollis Figg, one of the bookkeepers for the small, but corrupt, town of Dalton.  In an attempt to frame someone else for their own shenanigans, the town leaders purchase a second-hand mainframe computer and fire everyone except Figg, who becomes responsible for running the computer, as well as becoming the fall guy for the town’s financial corruption —hence, the title.  As you can likely guess, Don Knotts fights back in his own jittery way, eventually winning the day and the girl.

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Hermie: A Common Caterpillar

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Editorial Review of Hermie : A Common Caterpillar, starring Don Knotts and Tim Conway, courtesy of Amazon.com

 So what’s so bad about being a common caterpillar? Just ask Hermie-or his friend, Wormie-and they’ll tell you. No splashy stripes. No stand-out spots. Not even a cool house like the snail or super-strength like the ant. Compared to the rest of God’s beautiful creation, they just feel ordinary. Unimportant. A little out of place. But God sees past their plainness, and plans an incredible surprise to show them just how special they are.Read More »Hermie: A Common Caterpillar

Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo

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Walt Disney’s Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo (1977)

 Herbie Goes to Monte Carlo has three major plots running through it. First is Jim Douglas (Dean Jones) attempting to resuscitate his racing career.  With the help of his mechanic Wheely Applegate (Don Knotts) at a race in Europe.  Hence the ‘Monte Carlo’ of the title. In addition, a pair of thieves (played by Bernard Fox and Roy Kinnearhave stolen a large diamond from a museum, and hide the stolen jewel in Herbie’s gas tank to escape detection …

And providing motivation for them and police inspectors to chase Herbie on the prolonged race route. Complicating these two is Herbie himself falling in love with another car, a Lancia.  It (she?) is owned by a beautiful female race driver (Julie Sommars), whom Jim Douglas begins falling in love with. Is it the highlight of 20th-century cinema? No. Is it an enjoyable family film? Absolutely! The race scenes are fun, as are the interactions between the cast members, with Don Knotts playing his nervous everyman character to the hilt, Dean Jones is as enjoyable as ever, and Herbie actually shows off his personality. It’s an enjoyable movie, and I hope that you and your family enjoy it. I rate it 3 clowns out of 5.

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Don Knotts Reluctant Hero Pack

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Review of Don Knotts Reluctant Hero Pack (The Ghost And Mr. Chicken / The Reluctant Astronaut / The Shakiest Gun In The West / The Love God?) (1969)

A collection of four of Don Knotts movies from the 1960’s—the best known is The Ghost and Mr. Chicken but all four provide solid laughs.  The most unusual is The Love God? – a satire on American culture’s preoccupation with sex, the so-called sexual revolution, and American society.

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Our Hospitality

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Product Description of Our Hospitality, courtesy of Amazon.com

 Our Hospitality – Like his 1926 film The General, this elaborate historical comedy broadened the boundaries of slapstick and proved that Buster Keaton was not just a comedian, he was an artist. Keaton stars as youthful dreamer Willie McKay, who travels westward on a rickety locomotive to claim his birthright, only to find that his inheritance is a shack. And he learns that the object of his affection (Keaton s real-life wife, Natalie Talmadge) is the daughter of a man with whom his family has been engaged in a long, violent feud. McKay s personal struggles are punctuated by brilliant slapstick set pieces that involve an exploding dam, raging waterfalls, and a primitive steam engine. Keaton supervised the design and construction of the train, which he revived two years later for the short The Iron Mule (in which he appears without credit as an Native American chief).

This definitive edition of OUR HOSPITALITY features an exquisite orchestral score by Carl Davis, performed by the Thames Silents Orchestra; a documentary on the making of the film; and a rare alternate cut entitled Hospitality . SPECIAL FEATURES: Music composed and conducted by Carl Davis, performed by The Thames Silents Orchestra (in 5.1 Surround or 2.0 Stereo), Musical score compiled by Donald Hunsberger (2.0 Stereo), The Iron Mule (1925, 19 Min.), with music by Ben ModeL, Original documentary on the making of the film, written by film historian Patricia Eliot Tobias with David B. Pearson, Hospitality, a 49-minute alternate cut of the film, with an explanatory introduction, and an organ score by Lee Erwin, 2 Galleries: Photos & Snapshots

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The Apple Dumpling Gang

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Walt Disney’s The Apple Dumpling Gang, starring Don Knotts, Tim Conway, Bill Bixby, Susan Clark – DVD review

Many people who were children during 1975 will remember Walt Disney’s The Apple Dumpling Gang with fondness. The basic plot involves three orphans, who become the responsibility of Russell Donovan (played by Bill Bixby), a bachelor and small-time con artist who wants nothing more than to be free of them. After spending time trying to foist the children upon someone else, it’s found out that they own the deed to a gold mine, formerly thought to be worthless, but that produced a sizable nugget of gold after an earthquake.

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