The Reluctant Astronaut
Encyclopedia
The Reluctant Astronaut is a Universal Pictures
feature film
starring Don Knotts
in a story about a kiddie-ride operator who is hired as a janitor at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston
and is eventually sent into space. The film was produced and directed by Edward J. Montagne, Jr..
Comedian Knotts won several Emmy Awards as small-town comic sheriff's deputy Barney Fife
in the 1960-1968 television sitcom The Andy Griffith Show
but left the show as a regular at the end of its fifth season (1964–1965) to pursue a career in feature films with Universal Pictures. The Reluctant Astronaut followed Knotts' first film venture, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken
(1966). Actor Paul Hartman
appears in the film and would later star in The Andy Griffith Show
. The film's screenplay writers Jim Fritzell and Everett Greenbaum had served as teleplay writers for the television series.
Knotts received a Golden Laurel nomination and the film's soundtrack was released. The Reluctant Astronaut has been broadcast on American television, and is available in both VHS and DVD formats.
) is fairground operator of a kiddie-spaceship ride. Despite being thirty-five years old, he still lives with his parents and suffers from extreme acrophobia
(fear of heights). His father Arbuckle (Arthur O'Connell
) wants better things for his son, so he sends an application to NASA. Roy later learns from his mother (Jeanette Nolan
) that NASA has accepted him as a "WB-1074".
When Roy arrives at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston
, supervisor Donelli (Jesse White
) places him in training as a janitor. Roy accepts the disappointment and unsuccessfully tries to explain things to his family back home, who believe that he is an astronaut. Meanwhile, he is befriended by veteran astronaut Major Fred Gifford (Leslie Nielsen
). One day, Roy is alarmed to discover that his father and his friends, Plank (Frank McGrath
) and Rush (Paul Hartman
) are paying him a surprise visit at work. Anxious to please his domineering father, he dons a space suit and pretends to be an astronaut. Arbuckle a World War I veteran, tells his friends, "he is proud Roy is now serving his nation." After wreaking general havoc on the simulators and other hardware, Roy is exposed as a janitor by Donelli and summarily fired in the presence of his father.
When the Russians plan to trump NASA by sending a dentist into space, NASA moves quickly. Roy is found in a bar, rehired, and selected as the man least likely to venture into space and sent aloft. His father watches on TV, convinced the janitor story was a ploy for security reasons. During some eating experiments, Roy gets peanut butter into the guidance system and is in danger of being marooned in space. He remembers the retro rockets from his role as "Mr. Spaceman" on the amusement park ride and launches them, bringing the capsule safely home. Roy is hailed as a hero, and marries his sweetheart Ellie Jackson (Joan Freeman
).
Male Comedy Performance Award.
fire occurred and killed three astronauts shortly after the film's scenes at Kennedy Space Center
were shot. Universal Pictures was skeptical about releasing a comedy on space travel so soon after the tragedy.
Universal Pictures
-1920:* White Youth* The Flaming Disc* Am I Dreaming?* The Dragon's Net* The Adorable Savage* Putting It Over* The Line Runners-1921:* The Fire Eater* A Battle of Wits* Dream Girl* The Millionaire...
feature film
Feature film
In the film industry, a feature film is a film production made for initial distribution in theaters and being the main attraction of the screening, rather than a short film screened before it; a full length movie...
starring Don Knotts
Don Knotts
Jesse Donald "Don" Knotts was an American comedic actor best known for his portrayal of Barney Fife on the 1960s television sitcom The Andy Griffith Show, a role which earned him five Emmy Awards...
in a story about a kiddie-ride operator who is hired as a janitor at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
and is eventually sent into space. The film was produced and directed by Edward J. Montagne, Jr..
Comedian Knotts won several Emmy Awards as small-town comic sheriff's deputy Barney Fife
Barney Fife
Bernard "Barney" Fife is a fictional character in the American television program The Andy Griffith Show, portrayed by comic actor Don Knotts. Barney Fife is a deputy sheriff in the slow paced, sleepy southern community of Mayberry, North Carolina...
in the 1960-1968 television sitcom The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960, and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff in the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina...
but left the show as a regular at the end of its fifth season (1964–1965) to pursue a career in feature films with Universal Pictures. The Reluctant Astronaut followed Knotts' first film venture, The Ghost and Mr. Chicken
The Ghost and Mr. Chicken
The Ghost and Mr. Chicken is a 1966 American Universal Pictures feature film starring Don Knotts as Luther Heggs, a newspaper typesetter who spends a night in a haunted house, which is located in the fictitious community of Rachel, Kansas...
(1966). Actor Paul Hartman
Paul Hartman
Paul Hartman was an American dancer, stage performer and television character actor.-Biography:Born in San Francisco, California, Hartman, like Fred Astaire, began performing as a dancer with his sister...
appears in the film and would later star in The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show
The Andy Griffith Show is an American sitcom first televised by CBS between October 3, 1960, and April 1, 1968. Andy Griffith portrays a widowed sheriff in the fictional small community of Mayberry, North Carolina...
. The film's screenplay writers Jim Fritzell and Everett Greenbaum had served as teleplay writers for the television series.
Knotts received a Golden Laurel nomination and the film's soundtrack was released. The Reluctant Astronaut has been broadcast on American television, and is available in both VHS and DVD formats.
Plot
Roy Fleming (Don KnottsDon Knotts
Jesse Donald "Don" Knotts was an American comedic actor best known for his portrayal of Barney Fife on the 1960s television sitcom The Andy Griffith Show, a role which earned him five Emmy Awards...
) is fairground operator of a kiddie-spaceship ride. Despite being thirty-five years old, he still lives with his parents and suffers from extreme acrophobia
Acrophobia
Acrophobia is an extreme or irrational fear of heights. It belongs to a category of specific phobias, called space and motion discomfort that share both similar etiology and options for treatment.Most people experience a degree of natural fear when exposed to heights, especially if there is little...
(fear of heights). His father Arbuckle (Arthur O'Connell
Arthur O'Connell
Arthur O'Connell was an American stage and film actor. He appeared in films in 1941 and television programs...
) wants better things for his son, so he sends an application to NASA. Roy later learns from his mother (Jeanette Nolan
Jeanette Nolan
Jeanette Nolan was an American radio, film and television actress. Nolan was nominated for four Emmy Awards.-Early life:...
) that NASA has accepted him as a "WB-1074".
When Roy arrives at the Manned Spacecraft Center in Houston
Houston, Texas
Houston is the fourth-largest city in the United States, and the largest city in the state of Texas. According to the 2010 U.S. Census, the city had a population of 2.1 million people within an area of . Houston is the seat of Harris County and the economic center of , which is the ...
, supervisor Donelli (Jesse White
Jesse White
Jesse White may refer to:*Jesse White , film and television actor*Jesse White , Illinois politician*Jesse J. White, member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives*Jesco White, the West Virginia "Dancing Outlaw"...
) places him in training as a janitor. Roy accepts the disappointment and unsuccessfully tries to explain things to his family back home, who believe that he is an astronaut. Meanwhile, he is befriended by veteran astronaut Major Fred Gifford (Leslie Nielsen
Leslie Nielsen
Leslie William Nielsen, OC was a Canadian and naturalized American actor and comedian. Nielsen appeared in more than one hundred films and 1,500 television programs over the span of his career, portraying more than 220 characters...
). One day, Roy is alarmed to discover that his father and his friends, Plank (Frank McGrath
Frank McGrath
Frank McGrath was an American television actor who played the comical and optimistic cook, "Charlie Wooster", on the Western television series Wagon Train on, first, NBC and then ABC...
) and Rush (Paul Hartman
Paul Hartman
Paul Hartman was an American dancer, stage performer and television character actor.-Biography:Born in San Francisco, California, Hartman, like Fred Astaire, began performing as a dancer with his sister...
) are paying him a surprise visit at work. Anxious to please his domineering father, he dons a space suit and pretends to be an astronaut. Arbuckle a World War I veteran, tells his friends, "he is proud Roy is now serving his nation." After wreaking general havoc on the simulators and other hardware, Roy is exposed as a janitor by Donelli and summarily fired in the presence of his father.
When the Russians plan to trump NASA by sending a dentist into space, NASA moves quickly. Roy is found in a bar, rehired, and selected as the man least likely to venture into space and sent aloft. His father watches on TV, convinced the janitor story was a ploy for security reasons. During some eating experiments, Roy gets peanut butter into the guidance system and is in danger of being marooned in space. He remembers the retro rockets from his role as "Mr. Spaceman" on the amusement park ride and launches them, bringing the capsule safely home. Roy is hailed as a hero, and marries his sweetheart Ellie Jackson (Joan Freeman
Joan Freeman
Joan Freeman is an American actress.Freeman was a child actor, having appeared in her first film in 1949 at the age of seven...
).
Cast
- Don KnottsDon KnottsJesse Donald "Don" Knotts was an American comedic actor best known for his portrayal of Barney Fife on the 1960s television sitcom The Andy Griffith Show, a role which earned him five Emmy Awards...
as kiddie-ride operator Roy Fleming - Joan FreemanJoan FreemanJoan Freeman is an American actress.Freeman was a child actor, having appeared in her first film in 1949 at the age of seven...
as Roy's girlfriend Ellie Jackson - Arthur O'ConnellArthur O'ConnellArthur O'Connell was an American stage and film actor. He appeared in films in 1941 and television programs...
as Roy's father Buck Fleming - Frank McGrathFrank McGrathFrank McGrath was an American television actor who played the comical and optimistic cook, "Charlie Wooster", on the Western television series Wagon Train on, first, NBC and then ABC...
as Buck's friend Plank - Paul HartmanPaul HartmanPaul Hartman was an American dancer, stage performer and television character actor.-Biography:Born in San Francisco, California, Hartman, like Fred Astaire, began performing as a dancer with his sister...
as Buck's friend Rush - Jeanette NolanJeanette NolanJeanette Nolan was an American radio, film and television actress. Nolan was nominated for four Emmy Awards.-Early life:...
as Roy's mother Mrs. Fleming - Leslie NielsenLeslie NielsenLeslie William Nielsen, OC was a Canadian and naturalized American actor and comedian. Nielsen appeared in more than one hundred films and 1,500 television programs over the span of his career, portraying more than 220 characters...
as Major Fred Gifford - Robert F. SimonRobert F. SimonRobert F. Simon was an American character actor, often portraying military or authority figure roles. Though his face was recognized by audiences, he was mostly unknown by name...
as Cervantes - Jesse WhiteJesse WhiteJesse White may refer to:*Jesse White , film and television actor*Jesse White , Illinois politician*Jesse J. White, member of the Pennsylvania House of Representatives*Jesco White, the West Virginia "Dancing Outlaw"...
as NASA program director Donelli
Awards and nominations
Knotts was nominated for the 1967 Golden LaurelLaurel Awards
The Laurel Awards were cinema awards to honor pictures, actors, actresses, directors and composers. This award was created by Motion Picture Exhibitor magazine, and ran from 1958 to 1968, then 1970 and 1971....
Male Comedy Performance Award.
Legacy
The Reluctant Astronaut was a popular children's film during the Apollo space programme, and was frequently shown on weekend afternoons. According to Knotts' 1998 autobiography, the infamous Apollo 1Apollo 1
Apollo 1 was scheduled to be the first manned mission of the Apollo manned lunar landing program, with a target launch date of February 21, 1967. A cabin fire during a launch pad test on January 27 at Launch Pad 34 at Cape Canaveral killed all three crew members: Command Pilot Virgil "Gus"...
fire occurred and killed three astronauts shortly after the film's scenes at Kennedy Space Center
Kennedy Space Center
The John F. Kennedy Space Center is the NASA installation that has been the launch site for every United States human space flight since 1968. Although such flights are currently on hiatus, KSC continues to manage and operate unmanned rocket launch facilities for America's civilian space program...
were shot. Universal Pictures was skeptical about releasing a comedy on space travel so soon after the tragedy.
Track listing
- Main Title 2:42
- Jeepers :45
- Age of Descent / Buck Up :54
- The Send Off / Flight Shrubbed 2:05
- N.A.S.A. 1:08
- On the Double :53
- Doneli's Man Fleming :52
- Long Distance / Short Change / Say Cheese 1:49
- Wishful Thinking 1:18
- Homecoming :34
- Stars & Stripes Forever* 1:02
- A Real Swinger 2:14
- The Imposter :56
- Flight Fright / Rear, March 1:51
- A Couple of Losers 2:24
- Depth Charge 1:33
- Jettisoned 1:50
- Over the Top / Atta boy, Roy 3:38
- Fly Guy / Getting Settled 2:26
- Crackers Away 1:18
- All Fouled Up 3:31
- Aloha Oi 1:41
- End Title :51
- End Cast :31
Bonus tracks
- Kiddleland Rocket Ride 2:02
- Roy & Ellie at Kiddieland 2:12
- Kiddieland - back to Work 1:58
- The Space Song :36
- 1967 Special Featurette & Interview Promo
- Hosted by Dick Strout, Hollywood Commentator 12:00