Just what I expected

How sad is this?

Expected more

One of the most extraordinary films you will see this year. Take that as you want.

After leaving Mayberry, Don Knotts did several films: The Incredible Mr. Limpet (1964), The Ghost and Mr. Chicken (1966), The Reluctant Astronaut (1967), The Shakiest Gun in the West (1968), The Love God? (1969) and How to Frame a Figg (1971).Of all these films, "The Love God?" was the absolute worst. Don't get me wrong, I'm a big fan of Don Knotts, but for the era, the storyline was far too risqué for his original fans. Sorry, but Mr. hometown America just doesn't mix with a porn magazine. Especially in 1968.My personal opinion is this film alienated his original "Mayberry" fan base. And ultimately, years later, led to a new fan base with his role as Ralph Furley on Three's Company, which was a sitcom built on a barrage of sexual innuendos.He basically "switch channels" when he made this film, in turn losing his old fan base of the moral middle class but gaining the degenerate middle class that finds off-color jokes funny.Sad, but I guess it paid the bills.

Don Knotts is one of the last great physical comedians, making movies in a time when physical comedy was on the wane. His face was a chaotic assembly line of expressions. In ten seconds he could express thirty different emotions, from abject terror to rage to calm certainty. Most of the humor in his movies is in how he reacts physically to a situation.This movie is no different. The man publishes a bird watching magazine. The magazine is going under, but is republished by an adult magazine publisher who wants to use it to display "birds" of his own. Knotts is then vilified as a sex maniac...horrifying some...fascinating others. It is a light satire.The Love God has the components of the other Knotts movies: Sudden change in situation, devoted girlfriend, misunderstandings, ostracizing former friends and reconciliation. Not as good as How to Frame a Figg...but fun nonetheless...

This was a decent movie from start to finish. I thought the story, characters, and actors did an excellent job making this movie seem realistic. Don Knotts is as always the geeky skinny guy who seems like he'd be the last one picked to do what he does. He plays these characters the best. If you are a fan of Don Knotts, you will enjoy this, simply out of the amusement of seeing him play the super-stud character. The plot is excellent, and not boring, but the content isn't as funny as Don Knotts' other films. Definetely check it out though. It isn't as family oriented because of the content it conveys, but it is still a film that most would enjoy. I'd give it a 6.5 out of 10 rating.

As a part of film history, "The Love God?" is uniformly dismissed as just another goofy, formulaic Don Knotts romp--and in many ways it does follow the Knotts formula pretty closely. But this time the Knotts formula was turned in on itself. In actuality "The Love God?" is one of the best mainstream American social satires of the 1960s, just behind recognized classics such as "Dr. Strangelove" and "The President's Analyst." Knotts plays his usual character, this time named Abner Peacock. Abner is the editor of a bird-watching magazine in financial trouble. His dying magazine, The Peacock, is taken over by a pornographer while Abner is in South America looking for a rare bird. Abner returns from his safari to find that the Peacock has been turned into a cross between Playboy and Hustler. He also finds himself arrested and a defendant in a constitutional battle over "his right" to publish "dirty pictures" in The Peacock. Abner only wants to have the truth be known--that he had his magazine shanghaied without his knowledge. But instead his case comes to the attention of a self-serving Civil Liberties attorney who wants to use his case as a free-speech landmark. Abner wins his case, but is not satisfied that he is represented as a "filthy degenerate sex fiend" (in a hilarious courtroom sequence). After his victory Abner wants the truth to come out, but he is convinced by the interest groups and his own money-sniffing relatives that it is his patriotic duty to keep publishing pornography as a freedom of speech issue. The attention draws big money to The Peacock, and Abner is further convinced that, in order for the magazine to be a success, he must play the part of the Sex God libertine.In true Knotts style, Abner gets totally carried away with the role of pseudo Hugh Hefner. But of course, the truth eventually comes out and Abner/Don eventually comes to his senses and of course triumphs over the bad guys.Now try and find a satire with a plot as smart as that in today's dimwitted movie market! This movie is as smart as it is hilarious. The only drawback is that the generally family-friendly nature of the film necessitates that the "outrageous pornography" represented is limited to photos of big-busted babes in swimsuits--stuff that wouldn't make an 11 year old of today break a blush. "The Love God?" is second in Don Knott's classic resume only to the all time classic "The Ghost and Mr. Chicken."