| View Larger Image | The Incredible Mr. Don Knotts | Hardcoverby Stephen Cox and Kevin Marhanka (Author)
| List Price: | $24.95 | | Price: | $21.56 | | You Save: | $3.39 (14%) | | | Available: | Usually ships in 24 hours |
| | Binding: | Hardcover | | Publisher: | Cumberland House Publishing | | Page Count: | 220 Pages | | Publication Date: | November 01, 2008 | | Sales Rank: | 164,523th |
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EDITORIAL REVIEWS |
Product Description
If there is any doubt about the genius of the late, great Don Knotts--simply ask the millions of Andy Griffith Show fans who have adored his performance as Deputy Barney Fife on television for decades. After earning five Emmy Awards for his work on the classic sitcom, the actor surrendered his bullet to the sheriff and hit the trail to make movies. Now, author Stephen Cox and pop culture critic Kevin Marhanka have joined forces to present the complete film works of comedian Don Knotts in The Incredible Mr. Don Knotts, the very first book on Knott's movie career. The authors, who interviewed Knotts at length about specific films in which he starred, have gathered contributions from Andy Griffith, Ron Howard, Tim Conway, Ed Asner, and many co-stars from his forty feature-film career. This "eye-popping" compendium of comedy will amaze even the die-hard Mayberry fans. Beginning with his first film with friend Andy Griffith in 1958 (No Time for Sergeants), the nervous, wide-eyed Knotts made family films that have become cult classics. Think The Incredible Mr. Limpet, The Ghost & Mr. Chicken, The Apple Dumpling Gang, and It's a Mad, Mad, Mad, Mad World, just to name a few. Featuring more than 200 photographs--many rare and never before published--behind-the-scenes images, fascinating trivia, reviews, and a fantastic 16-page full-color insert, the movies of Don Knotts are fully explored in this collector's treasury. |
CUSTOMER REVIEWS (Average Customer Rating: 5.0 based on 19 reviews)
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Slightly Misguided Book Will Satisfy Hard-core Knotts Fans by Mediaman (USA)  4 Stars
November 25, 2009
Who would have thought the films of Don Knotts warranted an entire book? To be honest, they don't. But the authors of this give it a good try, one that is strictly for the most devoted of fans.
The premise that Don Knotts' films deserve an entire book is misguided. He only had a small role in most of the major movies he was part of. The 1960s' films that he starred in are B-movies at best and mostly forgetable. But that doesn't stop the authors in their love of the actor. They inject a bit too much personal devotion to Knotts here and lose some of their credibility by making some pretty outlandish statements in praise of Don while failing to show his weaknesses (leaving the "Andy Griffith Show" too soon, his variety show failure, his movies that bombed, etc.). There are also a few factual errors but for the most part they don't care because they are writing this for the fans.
They organize the book on a film-by-film basis. The book starts with a very weak summary of Don's TV background. Then they give mostly sketchy details about each movie he made. These are mostly things anyone could find on a detailed Web search. Then, since they don't have enough first-hand information from the performer, they conjecture regarding his decisions on choices he made in films. They also pad the book with show biographies of actors who had small supporting roles, many of whom are dead.
The book does have some nice photos. And there are apparently a couple of interviews with Don's co-stars that are still living. I say apparently because there is no way of knowing. The authors pull quotes from magazine articles and old TV interviews without proper sourcing notation. So the reader is unsure who the authors have actually spoken with and how old the quotes are. In many cases the comments sound really outdated but there is no way of knowing. The most surprising comment was from an actor who worked with Don on "Ghost and Mr. Chicken" who slammed Don thoroughly for having nothing to do with the rest of the cast--saying the movie was a great experience except for working with Knotts! It is one of the rare negative things in the book (the writers also unfairly demean the "Andy Griffith Show"'s color episodes--maybe because Knotts wasn't in most of them?).
Big fans of the actor will adore the book even with its weaknesses and give it five stars. For the rest of us that just kind of liked the guy, it's a 2 or 3 star book because this type of filmography is typically devoted to big stars like Cary Grant or Barbra Streisand, and Don's film work is just not in their league.
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Everything you ever wanted to know about Barney Fife by Brad F (Ohio)  5 Stars
September 04, 2009
This book had me entertained from start to finish. I have always loved the amazing Don Knotts and this book is the only one I've seen that does his life and career justice. Because they had the cooperation of Don Knotts himself (there is a fascinating interview with him about his personal favorite film "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken"), the authors were able to present a complete volume that covers all the bases. This handsome coffee table worthy book includes all kinds of rare behind-the-scenes photos and has a heavy Mayberry slant for all those "Andy Griffith Show" fans like me. Highly recommended!
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Mr. Incredible! by D. Thome (Grand Rapids, MI) 5 Stars
September 01, 2009
Being of that generation, I admit it, I watched Three's Company growing up. Mr. Furley is the character I most associate with Don Knotts. I've always been a fan and this book helped me remember other roles of his. The Disney movies of the 70's and especially on Scooby-Doo! Since reading this (cool cover and graphics too) I've discovered The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, a new favorite. Now, onto Mayberry...
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One of Stephen Cox's Best Efforts by M. E. Graves (Palm Springs, CA) 5 Stars
June 30, 2009
Based on other Amazon reviews -- and the fact I recognized this book was penned (in part) by Stephen Cox -- I bought this book two weeks ago. I have many of Cox's books, (the best of which IMHO is The Addams Chronicles) and the Knotts book is surely among his top efforts. I am thoroughly enjoying this book and the way it is structured, with individual coverage on specific films as well as interviews with cast members from those films.
MY ONLY AVERSION TO THIS BOOK - which is no fault of Cox's and in fact I am very glad he chose not to hold back specific information - are the surprisingly sour, conceit-packed and teeming-with-obvious-jealousy comments from SKIP HOMIER in "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken" section. Good heavens, Skip. What in the WORLD did the late Don Knotts do to you to deserve such a nasty, back-biting and sniffling account of your memories of filming "Ghost"? It sounds to me, from all of the other cast comments, not only from "Ghost" but from all of the other films, that Don Knotts was the consummate professional as well as a very gracious individual. Did you feel snubbed perhaps, because TGAMC did not "STAR" Skip Homier ...or were you snubbed by Don or someone else on the set? I was truly surprised at your comments - unless you are punking us all and you intentionally provided nasty comments that were intended to be in the character of "Ollie" ... could that be?
Overall, I highly recommend this book for ANY great-to-moderate Don Knotts fan. It is well worth the cost and much, much more. Very well researched and written. A+!
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Forget Me Knotts by Spitzer 5 Stars
June 15, 2009
Until reading this book, I didn't know much about Don Knotts beyond the fact that he was Barney Fife, Mr. Furley and in a handful of movies I watched as a kid. This book is "Chock full of Knotts"; Don Knotts from A to Z. You know, everything you always wanted to know about Don Knotts, but were afraid to ask!!
The authors take you along Jesse Donald Knotts' journey, starting with his humble beginnings in Morgantown, WV (where he slept in the kitchen and was always on the lookout for boarders sneaking out without paying their rent) and ending in Hollywood, as an icon.
You'll learn about murder of Danny, Don's first stage partner. Shockingly, Danny was killed by Don, although Don was never charged with the crime.
Read about the ghastly mistake by the crew on the set of the Incredible Mr. Limpet in which several "cast" members were killed in a most gruesome manner.
You'll also find out what Limpet has in common with recent blockbuster, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull.
Sit down with Joan Staley (Alma Parker in The Ghost and Mr. Chicken), and find out how she went from Playboy Playmate to successful actress. (see that Holly, Bridget and Kendra, there's some hope for you!)
This book also contains a hilarious "drinking game" called "Blast Off", to play while watching The Reluctant Astronaut.
A Steve Cox favorite, Jerry Maren (the Lollipop Kid from the Wizard of Oz) also turns up in the pages of this book. Maren and his lovely wife, Elizabeth, were stunt doubles for two of the Apple Dumpling Gang kids.
I have no idea how the authors dug up such rare and never-before-seen pictures for this book. The color photos are outstanding. The cover graphics are so bright and fresh, yet have a very retro feel to them. They perfectly capture the essence of this legend.
I wish Don had lived to see this book. No doubt, he'd have said:
"Attaboy Steve..........Attaboy Kevin"!!
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