Customer Reviews

The Don Knotts Reluctant Hero Pack (The Ghost and Mr. Chicken / The Reluctant Astronaut / The Shakiest Gun in the West / The Love God?)

5 star:		(6)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(0)
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In my opinion Don Knotts is a comedy legend and his brand of hilarity has always been highly underrated and underappreciated. The "Reluctant Hero Pack" is a steal at Amazon's price and any Don Knotts fan would be happy to own this incredible DVD set. Personally I wouldn't have included "The Love God" in the mix. "How to Frame a Figg" or "The Incredible Mr. Limpet" would have been better suited for this DVD release. As for the movies themselves, the picture is clear and the sound is crisp and I don't ever remember them looking or sounding any better.

I don't care for the disc packaging and I prefer a single movie per disc for better compression. You can buy the "Reluctant Hero Pack" at a fraction of what you would spend for the individual movies and for some fans on a budget this is definitely the way to go; but everybody's taste is different when it comes to movie buying. I have some of the same titles on single discs and there is a slight but noticeable difference in compression and quality.

I am really disappointed that Universal Studios has re-released these movies again and not bothered to include any commentary or interviews with Don Knotts while he is still living. A few words from this comic legend would have been a nice touch from the studio. Overall these four movies are pure fun for the whole family and hopefully they will inspire a new legion of Don Knotts fans.

DVD Features Include:
-Available Subtitles: English, Spanish, French
-Available Audio Tracks: English (Dolby Digital 2.1 Mono)

Films Include:
"The Ghost and Mr.Chicken" Anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1)
"The Reluctant Astronaut" Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1)
"The Shakiest Gun in the West" Anamorphic Widescreen (2.35:1)
"The Love God?" Anamorphic Widescreen (1.85:1)

If you're willing to give up nicer packaging and picture discs on these four titles this "Franchise Collection" is an excellent choice. Two discs contain the four Don Knotts movies listed above on "flipper" style discs.

Note though that although owned by Universal like the films in this collection it does not include the excellent "How To Frame a Figg" which will have to be purchused seperate in order to complete your Universal Don Knotts Collection as well as Warner Brothers excellent "The Incredible Mr. Limpet" release which is packed with some of the best and most kitschy special features I've ever seen on a disc.

This set is bargain-and-a-half for anyone who grew up watching these silly but charming comedies on Saturday afternoon TV.

For a ridiculously low price, you get 4 films with astonishingly good quality picture and sound (sound is mono but the video transfers are bright, colorful and sharp as a tack). True, they are all on a single "flipper" disc, but for this price it's a small qualm at best.

The only thing I would mention to parents buying these for their children (which I assume many of you are), is the 4th film in this set, "The Sex God", is a PG-13 rated sex comedy made in 1969, and as such is a strange inclusion in a set of movies more-or-less made for children. It's pretty tame by modern standards (and not terribly funny either), but all the same I doubt you'd want your 8-yr old watching it. Still, a killer bargain on films I wanted, but didn't want to spend 20$ apiece for. Recommended.

We have all enjoyed Don Knotts and his comedy over the years, whether it be as Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show, or his feature films. Universal provides a wonderful way to get most of his movies he made for Universal at a great price, The Reluctant Hero Pack.

Four movies are included in this set. The first is The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, where Knotts plays a bumbly typesetter who takes on a bet to spend the night in the town haunted house. Second is The Reluctant Astronaut where he plays a thirty-something man who still lives at home with his father who has great hopes for him as an astronaut. Knotts gets hired with NASA, but not as an astronaut! Third is The Shakiest Gun in the West where Knotts plays a dentist who wants to take his modern dentistry practice from the East to the West. When he arrives in the West, he meets a beautiful woman who dupes him into marrying her. Finally there is The Love God where Knotts plays a magazine owner of a bird-watch magazine who hires partners to save it financially but secretly want to turn it into a "gentlemen's" magazine. All of Knott's films are hilarious and worth owning for that moment when you want to have a good laugh. Especially since you never see any of these films on tv!

All four movies are in anamorphic widescreen and presented in outstanding color, however there are no extras other than the trailers. When I purchased this set, I expected to have four dvd's in their own keep cases, but that is not how this is set up. This set is one box that slides into another cardboard case. There is only one disc with two movies on one side and two movies on the other, which accounts for much of the discount. The bad thing about double-sided discs are that you are constantly making sure no dust or prints appear on the side that is exposed (side-up) in the case when the disc is handled. The good thing about double-sided discs in this case, is that it takes up less room on your shelf and saves you time of changing discs one at a time. I should also mention that Knotts made a fifth and final film for Universal, entitled How to Frame a Figg. It is available for purchase on dvd, but is not included in this set.

With all of this considered, I am pleased to have all four movies in widescreen and dvd crystal clear at a great price, and I think you will be too. Now we can put our vhs copies away and enjoy 21st Century technology!

Don Knotts was a national treasure, one of the most naturally gifted comic actors the world has ever seen. As big a Don Knotts fan as I have always been, and as many times as I have seen all of the old episodes of The Andy Griffith Show, I had actually never seen any of Knotts' classic comedies from the late 1960s. This Reluctant Hero Pack has helped alleviate this problem. Sure, I could have spent four times as much money and acquired each of these four films on individual DVDs, but frugality is one of the many small-town American virtues Don Knotts' characters usually embodied. These films have been compressed so that they will all fit on one double-sided DVD, but there is nothing wrong with the picture quality of this disk whatsoever. It's not like you're missing out on any special features on the individual offerings, either; unfortunately, there are also next to no special features on this Reluctant Hero pack - all you get are three of the four films' trailers. Still, what matters are the films themselves, and you're guaranteed to have over six and a half hours of unadulterated laughter with these four Don Knotts classics.

The four films included here are not necessarily Don Knotts' best four movies, but each of them is hilarious. The Ghost and Mr. Chicken puts Don Knotts inside a haunted house overnight. Remember how funny that haunted house episode of The Andy Griffith Show was? Well, this film is even funnier. It also features the lovely Joan Staley as the object of affection of Knotts' character. His character, by the way, is a truly reluctant hero, one whose heroics and honesty are put to an extreme test. Then you have The Reluctant Astronaut, which I consider to be the funniest of the four films included here. Knotts plays a grown man who goes off - very reluctantly - to become an astronaut - despite the fact that he is terrified of heights. Once he gets to Houston, he finds out his job is actually that of a janitor rather than a spaceman, and he is forced to live a lie because he is afraid to admit the truth to his proud father. Just when everything falls apart for him, though, he gets the chance to put everything right - if he can muster up the courage to answer the heroic call.

The Shakiest Gun in the West pits Knotts in the role of a newly graduated dentist who goes West to spread oral hygiene along the frontier. Along the way, he finds himself suddenly married to a mysterious redhead with all sorts of secrets. Despite his obvious weaknesses in the gun-fighting department (they call this film The Shakiest Gun in the West for a reason), he finds himself celebrated as a fierce Indian-killer and hero of the West. At the time, he doesn't realize how undeserving he is of the respect he garners, but he does get the chance to prove himself a true hero in the end.

The last of the four films included here, The Love God?, is unlike any other Don Knotts film. This was a film way ahead of its time, as it addresses issues of sexual behavior and censorship head-on in an hysterically satirical manner. Knotts plays a timid publisher of a bird magazine who somehow ends up becoming famous as the country's premier playboy and smut peddler, the very standard bearer of the forces of the sexual revolution. This film has garnered a retroactive PG-13 rating, so it is not quite the true family film that the three other movies are, but there is nothing here that the most sheltered five-year-old hasn't already seen and heard in this day and age.

Why am I even trying to give a quick description of these films? This is, after all, Don Knotts we're talking about, so you know good and well these movies are basically guaranteed to be hilarious. Don't deny yourself - especially at this price - of the enjoyment of four classic films from one of America's funniest and most beloved comic actors.

If you are a Don Knotts fan you will love this video. FOUR of his best. If you are not a Don Knotts fan you will still like it. It is Great family entertainment for both the young and old. Grab your Popcorn and get ready for hours of laughs. I watched these movies as a kid and they still make me laugh. Knotts always played the BRAVEST Coward in film. I don't think you will be regret this video purchase.

If your buying this for the kids, the cardboard slipcase and paper insert may last twenty minutes and the single "flipper" disc is already doomed for failure.
Poor packaging Universal!
The price is great, but I would've gladly paid a few dollars more to see a plastic case and at least two discs.
No problems with the films, features or trailers themselves, although I would've switched "The Love God" with "How to Fram a Figg" just to keep everything on the same level.
I guess I don't understand Universals thinking and who they were trying to "target " with this!?!

If you're buying this for yourself, skip this one and buy the individual dvd's...you deserve better.

I don't really understand this one - it's 4 don knotts movies, all of which are available on their own discs, all stuck on one disc (2 on one side, 2 on the other). Why did they bother? The packaging is fair, but the compression is obvious. If you like these movies, just buy them on their own seperate discs.Strange.