BY LEE PFEIFFER
Don Knotts
came to fame with his trademark comedy style of portraying a meek, excessively
nervous character. He was Woody Allen before Woody Allen was Woody Allen.
Knotts honed his skills on Steve Allen's show in the 1950s, with his "man
on the street" Nervous Nellie routine sending audiences into fits of
laughter. He co-starred with fellow up-and-comer Andy Griffith in the hit
Broadway production of "No Time for Sergeants" and the subsequent
film version. When Griffith landed his own TV series in 1960 in which he played
the sheriff of fictional small town Mayberry, Knotts imposed upon him to write
a small, occasional part he could play as Barney Fife, Griffith's inept but
loyal sheriff. Griffith complied and the role made Knotts an icon of American
comedy, allowing him to win an astonishing five Emmys for playing the same
character. Five years into the series, Knotts was offered a multi-feature deal
by Lew Wasserman, the reigning mogul of Universal Pictures. Knotts took the
bait and enjoyed creative control over the films to a certain degree. He could
pretty much do what he wanted as long has he played the same nervous schlep audiences wanted to
see. The films had to be low-budget, shot quickly and enjoy modest profits from
rural audiences where Knotts' popularity skewed the highest. His first feature
film was The Ghost and Mr.
Chicken, released in 1966 and written by the same writing team from
the "The Andy Griffith Show". (Griffith actually co-wrote the script
but declined taking a writing credit.) The film astonished the industry,
rolling up big grosses in small markets where it proved to have remarkable
staying power. Similarly, his next film, The
Reluctant Astronaut also proved to be a big hit, as was his
1969 western spoof The
Shakiest Gun in the West. Within a few years, however,
changing audience tastes had rendered Knotts' brand of innocent, gentle humor
somewhat moot. By the late 1960s audiences were getting their laughs from the
new film freedoms. It was hard to find the antics of a middle-aged virgin much
fun when you could see Bob and Carol and Ted and Alice cavorting in the same
bed. Still, Knotts soldiered on, providing fare for the drive-in markets that
still wanted his films. In 1969 he made The
Love God?, a very funny and underrated film that tried to be more
contemporary by casting Knotts as an innocent ninny who is manipulated into
fronting what he thinks is a magazine for bird watchers but, in reality, is a
cover for a pornography empire. Knotts' traditional audience balked at the
relatively tame sex jokes and for his final film for Universal, How to Frame a Figg, he
reverted back to his old formula.
Released in
1971, Figg casts
Don Knotts as the titular character, Hollis Figg, a nondescript wimp who toils
as an overlooked accountant in a basement of city hall. The film is set in a
Mayberry-like small town environment but any other similarity ends there. In
Mayberry, only the visiting city slickers were ever corrupt. The citizenry may
have been comprised of goofballs and eccentrics, but they were all scrupulously
honest. In Figg's world, however, the top government officials are all con-men
and crooks. They are ruled by the town's beloved paternal father figure, Old
Charley Spaulding (Parker Fennelly), a decrepit character who hands out pennies
to everyone he encounters, with the heart-warming greeting "A shiny penny
for your future!" In fact, Old Charley has plenty of those pennies
stashed away. He and his hand-picked fellow crooks, including the mayor and
police chief, have been systemically ripping off the state by grossly inflating
the costs of local building projects and secretly pocketing the overages.
Concerned that the accountants might get wind of their activities, they
summarily fire them all except for Figg, who is deemed to be too naive to ever
catch on. They justify the firings by saying it's fiscally prudent and replace
the accountants with a gigantic computer that is supposed to be even more
efficient. Through a quirk of fate, Figg and his equally naive friend, Prentiss
(Frank Welker), the janitor for city hall, discover exactly what is going on.
Figg dutifully reports his findings to the mayor (Edward Andrews), who
convinces him to keep it secret while he launches his own investigation. Old
Charley, the mayor and their cohorts decide to make Figg the fall guy for the
corrupt practices. They give him a big promotion, a new red convertible and
even hire a private secretary for him. She's Glorianna (Yvonne Craig), a leggy
femme fatale who wears mini skirts and oozes sex. When her attempts to seduce
Figg leave him paralyzed with fear because of his allegiance to his new
girlfriend, the equally virginal waitress Ema Letha (Elaine Joyce), Glorianna
gets Figg drunk, takes some embarrassing photos of him and then proceeds to have
him sign a stream of incriminating documents that he has not bothered to read.
Before long, Figg is blamed for all the missing funds and faces a jail
sentence- unless he and the dim-witted Prentiss can figure out how to use the
computer to thwart the real crooks.
How to
Frame a Figg is
perhaps the weakest and least-remembered of Knotts' films for Universal but it still
affords plenty of laughs. Knotts is essentially playing Barney Fife under a
different name and even wears that character's trademark outdated "salt
and pepper" suit. Knotts never broke any new ground but no one ever called
for him to do so...his familiar persona was just what audiences wanted. Figg also provides a
plethora of wonderful characters from the period including the great Joe Flynn
and Edward Andrews, who excelled at playing smarmy men of authority. Also
popping up are such familiar faces as Billy Sands and Bob Hastings, both of
whom co-starred with Joe Flynn in "McHale's Navy". The appearance of
cast members from that show isn't a coincidence because the film was produced
by Edward J. Montagne, who also produced "McHale's Navy". Some of the
humor is a bit forced, especially scenes concerning the character of Prentiss,
with Frank Welker overplaying the lovable dumb klutz bit. However, Montagne and
Knotts were a comfortable fit and he produced and/or directed all of Knotts'
Universal feature films. Figg
was directed by Alan Rafkin, who had helmed The Ghost and Mr. Chicken and
The Shakiest Gun in the
West. He understood the Knotts persona and capitalized on it with
considerable skill. Another alumni of all those films, the inimitable composer
Vic Mizzy, provides a typically jaunty score.
Following
the boxoffice failure of How
to Frame a Figg, Don Knotts successfully morphed into a featured
player in many Disney movies, sometimes teaming with Tim Conway. The two of
them would perform together on screen and on stage for decades until Knotts'
death in 2006. In the 1970s, Knotts also broadened his fan base with his role
on the popular sitcom "Three's Company". There seems to be a great
deal of nostalgia for his feature films nowadays among baby boomers, with The Ghost and Mr. Chicken especially
popular. How to Frame a Figg
is not of that caliber but it holds up well as a very amusing
family comedy.
Universal has released the film on Blu-ray and it boasts a sensational transfer that might tempt you to buy it even if you already have the previously released DVD. The only complaint: no bonus extras.
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