12 Movies Challenge: 'The Ghost and Mr. Chicken'

This piece was written during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the labor of the writers and actors currently on strike, the films being covered here wouldn't exist.

by Julian Spivey
In December I saw something called the “12 Movies Challenge” on Facebook. The premise was that you would have 12 months to watch 12 movies recommended by 12 friends. I don’t often participate in such social media challenges but being a movie buff I felt this might be an interesting way to get out of my comfort zone a bit when it comes to watching movies.

My Facebook buds gave me some films that I’ve been meaning to watch and I pretty much front-loaded those on the list – though not explicitly stated in the challenge rules I am opting to watch one film a month.

A Best Picture winner like “Out of Africa” is an obvious choice for me to get to at some point – that point is now going to be March of this year. But there are certain movies I’m not really looking forward to all that much – I’m looking at you “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken,” my August selection. Then there’s the acclaimed stuff that isn’t really up my alley like the anime feature “Spirited Away,” which I’ve scheduled for November. That will truly be me getting out of my comfort zone.
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Here are the 12 movies recommended to me and the months I’ve assigned myself to watch them:
 
January: “Merry Christmas, Mr. Lawrence” (1983)
February: “Till” (2022)
March: “Out of Africa” (1985)
April: “Legally Blonde” (2001)
May: “The Devil Wears Prada” (2006)
June: “The Birdcage” (1996)
July: “Morning Glory” (2010)
August: “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken” (1966)
September: “Pan’s Labyrinth” (2006)
October: “Rocky Horror Picture Show” (1975)
November: “Spirited Away” (2001)
December: “The Last Laugh” (1924) 

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Photo: Universal Pictures

 Attaboy Luther!

The movie recommended for me that I chose to watch for August was “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken” – a 1965 Universal Pictures comedy starring Don Knotts. It was recommended by my friend Felicia Reynolds.

This was the first film project Knotts did after leaving “The Andy Griffith Show,” for which had won three Emmy Awards (he would win two more as a guest returner) as bumbling deputy sheriff Barney Fife.

So, that’s already one strike against “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken,” a clever play on “The Ghost and Mrs. Muir,” a 1945 novel and 1947 film starring Gene Tierney and Rex Harrison, because I’m a huge fan of “The Andy Griffith Show” and both that series and Knotts’ career were never really the same after he left.

Despite being a fan of Knotts on “The Andy Griffith Show,” I hadn’t seen many of the Universal Pictures comedies he left the show for. I had seen 1967’s “The Reluctant Astronaut” as a teen on TV and I think I enjoyed it. I also have some feint memory as a young child of Knotts as a talking fish in “The Incredible Mr. Limpet,” which he made for Warner Bros. while still on ‘Griffith.’

In “The Ghost and Mr. Chicken,” Knotts plays Luther Heggs, a newspaper typesetter with dreams of becoming a reporter in the town of Rachel, Kansas. Luther is a bit of a scaredy cat and has a reputation for being a bit of a dunce and the main target of bully Ollie Weaver (Skip Homeier), a reporter at the newspaper. When the 20th anniversary of the supposed murder-suicide at the local Simmons Mansion comes around, it’s thought of to have Luther spend the night in the house for a prospective story. Spooky things take place while Luther spends the night at the mansion like a blood-stained organ playing by itself and the portrait of Mrs. Simmons is stabbed with pruning shears and bleeding.

The story of Luther’s experience in the murder house makes him a bit of a town hero and makes him all of a sudden interesting to local beauty Alma (Joan Staley) – was this the beginning of the schlub gets the girl too beautiful for him comedy trope? – but it also pisses off the nephew of the Simmons who’s trying to sell the property and it being haunted may not be the best for the sale. So, the film culminates with a trial to prove Luther made the whole thing up and ends in some surprises.

Luther Heggs is just a different variation of Barney Fife. It’s Knotts’ schtick. If you don’t like the schtick you’re not going to like this movie (or probably anything Knotts has done). I enjoy the Knotts’ schtick when there’s a witty, sarcastic performer to play off of it – which is what made the relationship between Andy Griffith and Knotts so great on “The Andy Griffith Show.” There’s really nothing to play off of Knotts’ goofiness in ‘Mr. Chicken.’

It’s not a film I particularly enjoyed, but it’s too inoffensive to hate on or even dislike. It was a way to spend 90 minutes and I’m sure would make for good viewing for a family feature between grandparents and grandkids.