Halloween Classic Movie Reviews: The Ghost and Mr. Chicken

If you’re looking for something a little spooky for Halloween, but not too scary, with a healthy dose of humor, look no further than this classic from 1966, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken. I’ll admit, I’m biased when it comes to this movie, because it was one of my grandparents’ favorites, but I’ll try to make this review as objective as possible.

Luther Heggs is a timid, yet plucky man who works as a typesetter in the small town of Rachel, Kansas. He is easily scared, which makes him a frequent target of ridicule, but his status changes when he accepts an assignment from his boss at the newspaper to spend the night in the notorious Simmons mansion before it is torn down by the owner, Nicholas Simmons. As he tries to settle in, he experiences a night of ghostly laughter, a portrait dripping with blood, and an organ that plays by itself at the stroke of midnight. When he recovers from his ordeal, he publishes an article about the night’s events. The story becomes a sensation, and Luther is hailed as a local celebrity, until he is sued by Nicholas Simmons for libel, and he stands to lose everything unless he can prove his ghostly encounter really happened.

This movie is a great blend of ghost story, comedy, murder mystery, and romance that fits together pretty seamlessly. Don Knotts is in his element as the high strung, loveable Luther Heggs, and even if he’s basically playing Barney Fife with a different name, nobody plays it better than him. Horror movie aficionados won’t find it very scary, but the ghostly organ scene is pretty creepy, and I have to say, Luther stays in the house a lot longer than I would have! I also liked that there was an element of mystery to the film with a surprising twist at the end.

Fans of The Andy Griffith Show will see a lot of familiar faces, as many actors and actresses from the series appear in this film, and it’s fun to see how many cameos you can spot. There are some hilarious quotable moments — one of my favorites is a running gag where an elderly townsperson continually expresses disbelief that no one has been able to clean the bloodstains from the organ keys in the haunted house, repeating “And they used Bon Ami!”

Bon Ami, by the way, is still in business, although I don’t know how many people have used it to clean bloodstains from organ keys…

In short, this is a great movie with plenty of humor, a few spooky moments, and some great characters. Give it a watch and you’ll see why it’s one of my grandparents’ (and my) favorite Halloween movies.