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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.

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

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.

The Andy Griffith Show season 3 episode guide

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The Andy Griffith Show season 3 episode guide (1962-1963)

The Andy Griffith Show season 3 continues with the existing cast – Andy, Opie, Barney, Floyd and the rest. And they make a very important addition — Andy’s future love interest, Helen Krump!

Dear God

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Dear God — starring Greg Kinnear, Tim Conway, Laurie Metcalf, Hector Elizondo

 I have to admit being pleasantly surprised by Dear God.  Originally I was only going to review it for completeness’ sake, as part of the Tim Conway reviews.  I picked it up at my local Wal-Mart for only $4.00. I figured that even a little bit of Tim Conway was worth $4.00. Even if the rest of the movie was a waste.  It wasn’t, for several reasons.

McHale’s Navy Season 1

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Editorial Review of McHale’s Navy, Season One (1962) starring Ernest Borgnine, Tim Conway, Joe Flynn—courtesy of Amazon.com

 Something of a cross between M*A*S*H* (it’s set in wartime) and Sgt. Bilko (the emphasis in on ensemble acting, with a ringleader and his band of merry pranksters), McHale’s Navy isn’t on a level with those two immortal sit-coms. But this amiable show, debuting on DVD with all 36 black & white episodes from its first season (1962-63) on five discs, stands the test of time surprisingly well.

The Saphead

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Editorial review of The Saphead (1920) starring Buster Keaton, courtesy of Amazon.com

 In his first starring role (and the film that launched his career), Buster Keaton stars in The Saphead as Bertie Van Alstyne, the spoiled son of a powerful Wall Street financier. Unable to escape the wealth and comfort that are foisted upon him, he pursues individuality in a series of comic misadventures in the speakeasies of New York, at the altar of matrimony, and even on the floor of the American stock exchange. The Saphead was instrumental in establishing Keaton as a bona fide star and greatly influenced his formulation of the Buster persona: a lonely, stone-faced soul thwarted by circumstance yet undauntedly resourceful and indefatigable in his struggle for love and survival within a chaotic world.

Steamboat Bill Jr.

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Product Description of Steamboat Bill Jr. courtesy of Amazon.com

 The last of the independent features made in the prime of Buster Keaton‘s career, Steamboat Bill Jr. is a large-scale follow-up to The General, substituting a Mississippi paddle wheel for the locomotive, and replacing the spectacle of the Civil War with a catastrophic hurricane. Keaton stars as William Canfield, Jr., a Boston collegian who returns to his deep-southern roots to reunite with his father, a crusty riverboat captain(Ernest Torrence) who is engaged in a bitter rivalry with a riverboat king coincidentally, the father of Willie s sweetheart (Marion Byron). Keaton s athleticism and gift for inventive visual humor are in top form, and the cyclone that devastates a town (and sends houses literally crashing down around him) is perhaps the most ambitious, awe-inspiring and hilarious slapstick sequence ever created.

Pajama Party

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Pajama Party (1964) starring Annette Funicello, Don Rickles, Buster Keaton

 In short, Pajama Party  is an Annette Funicello beach party movie.  But in addition to the gyrating young girls in bikinis,Pajama Party adds large amounts of clown-level  zaniness as well. The basic story has 3 intertwining plots – a Martian invasion (led by a clean cut, inept Martian teenager and managed by Don Rickles), a beach party complete with teenage angst, and some inept crooks (including Buster Keaton as an American Indian, still wearing his traditional pork pie hat — with a feather in it). There’s a lot of humor in the movie, with slapstick that borders on the Looney Tunes. Surprisingly, I enjoyed it and hope you do as well.

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