RIP to Andy Griffith, passed on at 86. This is kind of a big one for me—watching that show after school with my brother ranks among the happiest memories of my younger years.
Griffith was a seriously skilled performer, and shrewd enough to know that he’d look better yet if he surrounded himself with terrific actors, then stood back and let them shine. But for all the hilarity that The Andy Griffith Show was capable of, I still think that its real achievement was in the rapport between Griffith as Sheriff Andy Taylor and Don Knotts as Deputy Barney Fife—what they captured, in the rhythm of their conversation and interaction, may be the most quietly convincing portrait of a close friendship ever committed to film. The famous scenes in which they discuss their laid-back Sunday plans (“Go downtown, get a bottle of pop…”) over and over again are—for me quite literally—heavenly; the sheer tangible savor in their anticipation of these simple pleasures is about as good as American TV comedy has ever gotten. It’s an example for life.
Among the encomia to Griffith of the last day are many mentions of his brilliant performance as the Glenn-Beck-ish reactionary media conman Lonesome Rhodes in Elia Kazan’s wonderful 1957 A Face in the Crowd.
Well-deserved, but it should be mentioned that Griffith often put his genial persona to sinister, villainous use—he had a great time playing heavies on TV in the ‘70s. A few years ago I was able to snag a VHS copy of the 1974 TV-wheeler Pray for the Wildcats, in which Griffith, leading a cast that includes William Shatner, Robert Reed and Marjoe Gortner, plays a sheer bastard, an unapologetically murderous SOB, and is amazingly convincing and scary.
Thank you, well said. James reminded me that he was on Scrubs a few years ago playing an elderly doc. Did you see that episode?
ReplyDeleteI don't recall that episode, though I do remember one with Dick Van Dyke.
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