I saw this after viewing a short clip on you-tube.
I thought Mr. Knotts was funny in this movie, but I thought Anne Francis was fantastic. I am not one to notice wardrobe but the wardrobe in this movie really made the film.
this is not a great comedy it is cute one. and the idea of smut in the mail given our modern context is really interesting. I loved some of the minor characters.
I do want to note that I find it hilarious that user reviews say the mayberry fans/clean cut family types were turned off by this movie. I am sure some of them were. But this movie came in 1969.
let's give it some context. Playboy clubs had been open for nine years. this movie obviously is riffing off of Hugh Hefner's empire.
the "naughty magazines" with "nude" women in this movie show no T or A. while at the time in the 1960s, actual nudie magazines did.
the mock up nude magazine of this movie more fit the pinup culture of the 1940s.
secondly, for all the prudes whose movie reviews are actually social editorials, the big spoiler of the movie is that the movie EXPLICITLY STATES that DON KNOTTS is VIRGIN, and the movie ends with his him STILL BEING ONE.
Woodstock had happened. people were burning bras. they people whose children watched mayberry now had grown children protesting Vietnam.
the rest of film culture had moved to much much grittier work. were stuck up religious nuts turned off by this movie? maybe. But the fact that this film had a more provocative tone may have shown him to a new crowd.
To the people that say this was the "end of his career" as a starring man" because it was not family friendly...that is a nice nostaligic narrative. Butthe fact is that he made the Figgs movie as lead man afterwards. And that movie was very clear in its marketing that it was more family friendly. Why? Because Knott's handlers already realized that if he WAS to be leading man material it was solely to the yuck-yuck family friendly crowd. The film industry and America had moved on. Mainstream America thought Don Knott's sort of humor was great in 1964 but by 1971 his comedy could only be marketed to people with small children. Don't get me wrong, as a cinema geek and classic movie lover, I love stuff like Ghost and Mr. Chicken, but you could not sell movie tickets in a regular theater with Don Knotts as star by 1970s, family friendly or not. That is why he stopped being leading man...no market.
I thought Mr. Knotts was funny in this movie, but I thought Anne Francis was fantastic. I am not one to notice wardrobe but the wardrobe in this movie really made the film.
this is not a great comedy it is cute one. and the idea of smut in the mail given our modern context is really interesting. I loved some of the minor characters.
I do want to note that I find it hilarious that user reviews say the mayberry fans/clean cut family types were turned off by this movie. I am sure some of them were. But this movie came in 1969.
let's give it some context. Playboy clubs had been open for nine years. this movie obviously is riffing off of Hugh Hefner's empire.
the "naughty magazines" with "nude" women in this movie show no T or A. while at the time in the 1960s, actual nudie magazines did.
the mock up nude magazine of this movie more fit the pinup culture of the 1940s.
secondly, for all the prudes whose movie reviews are actually social editorials, the big spoiler of the movie is that the movie EXPLICITLY STATES that DON KNOTTS is VIRGIN, and the movie ends with his him STILL BEING ONE.
Woodstock had happened. people were burning bras. they people whose children watched mayberry now had grown children protesting Vietnam.
the rest of film culture had moved to much much grittier work. were stuck up religious nuts turned off by this movie? maybe. But the fact that this film had a more provocative tone may have shown him to a new crowd.
To the people that say this was the "end of his career" as a starring man" because it was not family friendly...that is a nice nostaligic narrative. Butthe fact is that he made the Figgs movie as lead man afterwards. And that movie was very clear in its marketing that it was more family friendly. Why? Because Knott's handlers already realized that if he WAS to be leading man material it was solely to the yuck-yuck family friendly crowd. The film industry and America had moved on. Mainstream America thought Don Knott's sort of humor was great in 1964 but by 1971 his comedy could only be marketed to people with small children. Don't get me wrong, as a cinema geek and classic movie lover, I love stuff like Ghost and Mr. Chicken, but you could not sell movie tickets in a regular theater with Don Knotts as star by 1970s, family friendly or not. That is why he stopped being leading man...no market.