| The Ghost and Mr. Chicken | |
|---|---|
Original theatrical poster |
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| Directed by | Alan Rafkin |
| Produced by | Edward J. Montagne Jr. |
| Written by | Jim Fritzell Everett Greenbaum |
| Starring | Don Knotts Joan Staley Liam Redmond Sandra Gould Dick Sargent Skip Homeier |
| Music by | Vic Mizzy |
| Cinematography | William Margulies |
| Editing by | Sam E. Waxman |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
| Release date(s) | January 20, 1966 |
| Running time | 90 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
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.
Contents |
Luther 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.
Andy 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]
The 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.
On 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:
{