AaronCapenBanner
Don Knotts stars as Abner Adubon Peacock the IV, who owns a bird-watchers magazine with dwindling readers that gets purchased by an unscrupulous man(played by Edmond O' Brian) who converts it into an adult mens' magazine(like Playboy) Abner is devastated by this, but to placate him, he is fooled into believing that he is the ideal modern man by the fashion editor(played by Anne Francis) who finds herself falling for him, as the hoax grows out-of-control... Absolutely preposterous comedy doesn't have a believable moment in it, and isn't remotely funny, and too dumb to be in bad taste. Hideously dated, and helped kill Knott's solo film career. A total bust, best forgotten.
masercot
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...
bkoganbing
The Love God? finds Edmond O'Brien down, but not out as the publisher of a smut magazine where he features his wife Maureen Arthur in many issues. After yet another conviction for selling the pornography, O'Brien gets his fourth class mail permit lifted by the Postmaster General. What to do?Inspiration hits him as he drives through the small town of Peacock Falls where one of the descendent's of the town founder, Don Knotts publishes a magazine for ornithologists that's about to go under. To get that permit, O'Brien agrees to bail Knotts out of debt and even sends him on a trip deep in the Amazon jungle to get a photograph of a rare tropical bird so he can make the necessary editorial changes.A whole lot of good players get involved in this film in which choirmaster and scout leader Don Knotts from his small town is transformed into a Hugh Hefner clone by makeover genius Anne Francis. James Gregory has a marvelous part as a blustering civil liberties attorney, a man who looks like he's traveled the slippery slope often. B.S. Pully is also good as the gangster backer of O'Brien who hams it up outrageously. Of the whole cast Edmond O'Brien looked like he was really enjoying himself.Poor Knotts plays his usual befuddled lugnut of a human being who can't quite grasp all that's swirling around him. Certainly he never thought of himself as The Love God?I wasn't expecting all that much and I was pleasantly surprised that The Love God? turned out better than I thought. Catch it sometime, even if you're not a Don Knotts fan.
moonspinner55
There's a germ of a good story idea in here somewhere. Don Knotts plays a decent small town guy named Abner Peacock who is fond of birds--the feathered kind. He's a Boy Scout leader, Sunday School teacher, bird-impressions extraordinaire, and publisher of an under-funded bird-lovers magazine which is taken over by a smut peddler with a postal impediment. Knotts unknowingly becomes a wanted man and is soon arrested for porno-pushing, later learning that if he pleads guilty and continues with the girlie mag, he could become a millionaire. Pop-eyed Knotts has a fun first scene in church doing bird-calls in song, but he wears out his welcome by his second scene--it's all downhill from there. Shrill, shrieking, and generally unpleasant to watch, Knotts never appears to be having a good time and he gets little support from a mostly-geriatric supporting cast. Anne Francis (just off her role in "Funny Girl") plays a shrewd editor who must pretend that she can't keep her hands off Knotts (her first line, "Cool it boys, I'm slumming", must have resonated bitterly with Francis). The cheap Universal sets and overly-bright lighting (with constant camera and crew shadows) are an eyesore, while the inept direction ensures that everyone acts manic, waving their arms in comic distress. If there's anything good to say about the picture, it's the fashion show montage mid-movie, where even Knotts looks passable in the groovy '60s clothes. * from ****
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