You seem to have a "thing" for that Limpet movie, Pils! :tongue3:
Don was funny in everything he played, even if the movie or show itself on the lame side. (I disliked Threes Company, for example, but Don was always amusing when I saw him on it. Sometimes you can't control a roommate's poor taste in television.) 
I love quite a few of his movies. My favorites have to be The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, The Love God, and The Incredible Mr. Limpet.
- In The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (a play on The Ghost and Mrs. Muir?), Don is a cowardly printer's assistant who dreams of being a big-time reporter. He gets dared into staying over night in a reputed haunted mansion, on the anniversary of the murder/suicide that happened years ago. Don is at his spastic, hysterical best in this one, and of course, he ends up solving the mystery and becomes the hero - in spite of himself.
- The Love God has Don playing a squirrelly editor of a small bird watcher's magazine, which was founded by his grandfather, and is now going broke. His publishing rights get taken over by a small-time smut peddlar, who plans on using the magaine as a cover for his "pornography" (pretty tame stuff these days). Don gets sent off to the deepest jungles in South America to search for an extremely rare bird, to keep him out of the way (since Don is still the "Publisher" and the government has to try him for any pornography violations.) When Don comes back and is put on trial, a bigtime gangstar gets involved, and Don is transformed into a Hugh Heffner type and presented to the world as the new "Love God," leading the sexual reolution. This one is a must for Don Knotts fans!
- The Incredible Mr. Limpet is a live action and animated mix, with Don as a squirrelly fish lover who falls off a pier and instead of drowning gets transformed into a fish (with glasses.) Since this is during World War II, he is determined to help the U.S. Navy find and sink Nazi submarines, using a unique sonic blast that he can make that alerts the Navy ships to the sub's location. Don isn't quite as spastic as he is in other roles, and his character is a lot more introspective than usual, but this is still a good, wholesome and entertaining film. And somehow Don as a fish seems perfectly reasonable.
BTW, this thread doesn't come up when using the search function with "don knotts", but a google search finds it. This is the kind of thing I was talking about in the pet peeves thread.
I don't think there are any threads reviewing Don Knotts films except this one. I have the DVD 4-movie collection (on one double-sided disc!) that has all of his Universal features except HOW TO FRAME A FIG.
I mentioned MR. LIMPET in my review of THE SWORD IN THE STONE, so I was looking around for opinions on other Knotts films.
The last time I watched the films on that DVD was probably close to 20 years ago. I remember being shocked and surprised by THE LOVE GOD? and really enjoyed it. I had vague memories of seeing it on TV years ago, where it was probably cut to bits. It's not what you'd expect from Don Knotts --- but it's highly recommended.
MR. LIMPET is as good as any film for kids, and although it's been awhile since I've seen it, I was disappointed after viewing it as an adult. YMMV. (BTW, it was made at Warner Brothers, not at Universal.)
I know I'm commenting on films I haven't seen in awhile, but I tend to remember if films were good or not even if I don't remember many details. None of Knotts films were ever ones I've seen many times, unlike Stooges or Laurel and Hardy shorts.
THE GHOST AND MR. CHICKEN seems to be very highly regarded by many, and it's a good film with the feel of a 1960s ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW episode, and it was supposedly based upon a "Haunted House" episode of that show.
THE RELUCTANT ASTRONAUT I remember loving as a kid the one time I saw it, but after watching it on that DVD I felt it was only memorable toward the end when Knotts got up into space. I'd have to watch it again to properly re-evaluate it.
THE SHAKIEST GUN IN THE WEST I recall being very funny, and didn't seem to be as aimed at kids at the previous 2 films I just mentioned. I have never seen Bob Hope's THE PALEFACE, which this film is supposed to be a remake of.
I caught HOW TO FRAME A FIG on Netflix within the last 10 years, and I felt it was the weakest of his Universal features.
After that last film, it was awhile before he appeared in another, until he had supporting roles in several Disney comedies. I might have seen one or two of those, but don't remember much about them. Same as a few later films in which he co-starred with Tim Conway in the 80s. (Conway was also with him in some of the Disney films.)
THREE'S COMPANY was a totally mindless 70s sitcom (that extended into the 80s), which I enjoyed as a pre-teen to early teen, but stopped watching it long before it ended. I did make it to the Don Knott's years. It apparently is still popular, since I encounter it while channel-surfing on cable. I never watch more than a few minutes -- and usually for the eye-candy. (Which was my main reason for watching it in my pre-teen to teen years!) That being said, it can be a guilty pleasure for comedy, too, but it will never be a show I revisit to watch every episode. Again, I'll see it when there's nothing else on during channel surfing. (The years have taught me my tastes have changed over the years, since I don't know how I overlooked Joyce DeWitt when I was younger! YOWZA!) At the end of the day, it was a one-joke show that managed to last 8 seasons. You can summarize every episode as "Jack and his roomates try to pull the wool over their landord's eyes", much like for GILLIGAN'S ISLAND, every episode was "The one where they try to get rescued, but Gilligan screws it up."
Knotts' role as Mr. Furley was basically one-joke, since he was always convinced he was a ladies man. (Apparently in real-life, he actually
was a ladies man, if you can believe Wikipedia!) In that sense the role was "similar" to Barney Fife in THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW, since he was convinced that he was a top-tier deputy-sheriff! But there the similarity ends!
I do have to give credit to THREE'S COMPANY for never trying to take itself too seriously, and never trying to be much more than it was -- a mindless comedy for the Hoi Polloi. I doubt it was ever even
considered for an Emmy, and I doubt that anyone connected with the show ever tried to
earn one!
I remember in it's last season, we were watching an episode in the lounge of my college dorm, and one of the guys watching with us was a studious guy who seemed like he would never have wasted a minute with this show. I'm not sure who decided to set the channel to watch it, and the unwritten rule was you couldn't change the channel as long as at least one person wanted to keep it as-is. Anyway, that "studious" guy let out a huge howl of laughter at one point in the show. Until this day, I still remember the exact scene, and recently caught that scene on cable while channel surfing, about 40 years later!
You can't argue with success though -- not many sitcoms, or TV shows in other genres, last 8 seasons!
