The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966)

User Rating:

7.1/10   

Director:

Alan Rafkin

Writers:

James Fritzell (writer)
Everett Greenbaum (writer)

Release Date:

20 January 1966 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Family | Mystery | Romance

Tagline:

G-G-GUARANTEED! YOU'LL BE SCARED UNTIL YOU LAUGH YOURSELF SILLY! (original theatrical poster - all caps)

Plot:

Luther Heggs aspires to being a reporter for his small town newspaper, the Rachel Courier Express. He...

Plot Keywords:

Portrait | Fainting | Mannequin | Stabbed In The Throat | Phonograph

Cast

Don Knotts	...	Luther Heggs
Joan Staley	...	Alma Parker
Liam Redmond	...	Kelsey
Dick Sargent	...	George Beckett
Skip Homeier	...	Ollie Weaver
Reta Shaw	...	Mrs. Halcyon Maxwell
Lurene Tuttle	...	Mrs. Natalie Miller
Philip Ober	...	Nicholas Simmons (as Phil Ober)
Harry Hickox	...	Police Chief Art Fuller
Charles Lane	...	Whitlow
Jesslyn Fax	...	Mrs. Hutchinson
Nydia Westman	...	Mrs. Cobb
George Chandler	...	Judge Harley Nast
Robert Cornthwaite	...	Springer
Jim Begg	...	Herkie (as James Begg)

Runtime:

90 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Color (Technicolor)

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Westrex Recording System)

Certification:

USA:Approved (Certificate #21086) | USA:Unrated

Filming Locations:

Backlot, Universal Studios - 100 Universal City Plaza, Universal City, California, USA

Company:

Universal Pictures

Trivia:

One of the few American films shot in the Technicolor Corporation's Techniscope wide screen process. The wide screen effect was achieved by essentially splitting the usual film frame horizontally into two smaller frames with a greater width to height ratio. It was inexpensive, but yielded a grainy image, which probably explains why it was seldom used in Hollywood.

Goofs:

Continuity: The sandwich that "jell-o" man is finishing in the diner switches hands just as Luther tells Alma of the dead whale that washed up on the beach in San Francisco.

Quotes:

Kelsey: You know why you thought you saw a murder out there, Luther? 'Cause that's a murder house.

Movie Connections:

Featured in Cinemacabre TV Trailers (1993) (V)

Great comedy!

Don Knotts in one of his only memorable roles as a klutz who runs into a ghost-infested old mansion. Top-notch performances and slapstick that hold up today - I doubt Eddie Murphy's upcoming Disney-ride-based-film "The Haunted Mansion" will be half as good.

4/5 stars -

John Ulmer