The Reluctant Astronaut
The Reluctant Astronaut (1967) starring Don Knotts, Leslie Nielsen
Don Knotts takes his ‘nervous fraidy-cat’ character to outer space (or at least to orbit) in this funny, family-friendly comedy. The Reluctant Astronaut begins with Roy Fleming (Don Knotts in the title role) appearing to be in a space capsule orbiting the Earth. Until the camera zooms out, and reveals that instead he’s operating a kiddie ride at an amusement park. Once the ride is over, he leaves the ride (with the help of the actor who played one of the ‘old men’ on the Andy Griffith Show). In order to demonstrate to the audience that Don Knotts’ character has a severe fear of heights. On his break, he asks one of his fellow employees at the amusement park for a date. And after much begging, she reluctantly agrees. His normal day at work is interrupted by an urgent call from his mother, causing him to dash home.
The Reluctant AstronautThe Big Mouth
The Big Mouth (1967) starring Jerry Lewis, Del Moore, Charlie Callas
Synopsis of The Big Mouth, starring Jerry Lewis
In The Big Mouth, Jerry Lewis plays the role of Gerald Clamson. He’s a bank examiner on vacation who, while fishing, catches a frogman. The frogman, who coincidentally is the spitting image of Jerry Lewis, has stolen diamonds from his criminal gang, and hidden them at a nearby resort hotel.Clamson takes the map to the diamonds given him by the frogman, and makes his escape while the gangsters attack. At the hotel, Jerry Lewis accidentally injures the hotel manager, played by Del Moore. So Jerry Lewis disguises himself as the title character from The Nutty Professor in order to investigate the mystery at the hotel. At this point, there are three different subplots running together:
The Big Mouth