Was Ist Das Limpet?

A few words now, about the beloved Deputy of Mayberry County who recently passed away last month. To some, he’ll always be known as Barney Fife, sidekick on “The Andy Griffith Show” who had to keep a bullet in his pocket after he shot himself in the foot.
To me Don Knotts represented to me something much broader. One need only to look at Knott’s multifaceted-oeuvre of celluloid to grasp a clearer perspective of the man behind the screen.
Don brought something of a bumbling innocence to every role that made him easily accessible. In a world overwrought with coolness, bravado, and shallow posturing, Don personified an accurate experience facing the American male. In the real world most of us aren’t cool, we don’t have all the answers, we are insecure, we aren't particularly attractive, and certainly make lots of mistakes! Don was not afraid to show this part of the human experience, which I think endears him to us all the more, because we really do see ourselves in him.
One shouldn’t forget Knotts' performance in “The Incredible Mr. Limpet”(1964) (the story of a man after a 4F military rejection is transformed into an animated fish who later leads the Navy to victory against the dreaded Nazi U-boats), to be reminded the meekest amongst us can accomplish the greatest of tasks.
In “The Reluctant Astronaut”(1967), Don goes from janitor into orbit as an astronaut. After a computational foul up, Don is able to bring the capsule back to Earth landing right on the aircraft carrier! A much more satisfying film than the Apollo 13 movie Opie directed!
Who couldn't admire Don’s resilience in the face of grave danger? “The Shakiest Gun in the West”(1968), Don has to gun-sling at high noon against cold blooded killers, unwittingly busting caps on all their asses.
In Don’s rage-against-the-dying-of-the-light years, he reinvented himself once more in the sitcom “Three’s Company” (1979-1984), replacing the irascible Ropers as the gregarious Mr. Furley. In the role of the new landlord, Don defied the odds again, not letting age nor fashion stand in the way of scoring many a night at The Regal Beagle.
Why does the man still matter? Perhaps it was in ineptness in the face of everyday tasks that made his on-screen achievements all the more inspiring. He could never make it in ordinary position, but always rose to the occasion of superhuman feats when pushed. It might have been the absurdity of his repeated coup de grace that made him a real star. In spite of his short-comings, he’d always come out on top, which is a pretty powerful message to anyone who finds themselves challenged.
Although many have tried to usurp the mantle Don once held, none can imitate his self-abashed character. You always felt with Don, you were getting the man himself. Were Don starting out today, he would get filed under the lost and confused file.
Still, Don will be best remembered as lovable Barney Fife, to which he had no qualms about as being his signature piece. Just like the idyllic paintings of Norman Rockwell’s America, people long for that town of Mayberry because the place doesn’t exist. Maybe those who tune into T.V. Land at 3 in the morning are searching for something more than a momentary distraction. People want it to exist because they recognize a longing for a time that never was. Don Knotts understood this and would be the first to agree.
What message does Don have to impart to future generations? Maybe it’s okay to be who you are, even if you are a dork, you can still have it all. I think ultimately what Don gave people was a sense of hope, especially for the downtrodden, everyman who invariably got the wrong end of the stick. There would be Don, the original geek riding off into the sunset with the beautiful Hollywood starlet, which of course never happens in the real world. It could be that illusion that sustained many a nerd through the dark night of this world. That alone could be a legacy worth having.