The Love God?

The Love God? is a 1969 Universal Pictures feature film which starred Don Knotts and Edmond O'Brien. It was written and directed by Nat Hiken,[1] who died between the completion of shooting and the film's release in theaters. The Love God? marked a change of pace for Knotts, who up to then had exclusively appeared in G-rated family comedies, and it was an attempt to integrate Knotts into the type of adult-related films that dominated the late 1960s and early 1970s.

The Love God?
The theatrical poster for The Love God?
Directed byNat Hiken
Produced byEdward Montagne
Written byNat Hiken
StarringDon Knotts
Edmond O'Brien
Anne Francis
Music byVic Mizzy
CinematographyWilliam Margulies
Edited bySam E. Waxman
Distributed byUniversal Pictures
Release date
  • August 1969 (1969-08)
Running time
101 minutes
CountryUnited States
LanguageEnglish

Plot

Abner Peacock's beloved bird-watcher's magazine, The Peacock, is in financial crisis. Desperate to stay afloat, Abner takes on a new partner, Osborn Tremain (Edmond O'Brien), who has an agenda of his own: to publish a sexy gentleman's magazine. This he and his wife Evelyn (Maureen Arthur) can only do by taking over Abner's, since he himself has been convicted too often of sending obscene material through the mails.

Before the hapless bird-watcher can stop the Tremains, the first issue sells over 40 million copies and Abner becomes the unwilling spokesman for First Amendment rights. Swept up in adulation, the unwitting playboy quickly begins settling into the swinging bachelor lifestyle.

Cast and characters

When the opening credits show the title, Knotts' voice can be heard in voiceover, asking in obvious disbelief, "The Love God?"

Reception

In the Los Angeles Times, freshman critic Kevin Thomas called it "one of the intentionally funniest and most pertinent pictures to come out of Universal in years."[2] The film was also lauded in the San Francisco Examiner: Stanley Eichelbaum described the film as "an engaging spoof on the current vogue for the sexual put on."[3]

Other critics were not as kind. It was panned by Judith Crist when it premiered on television: upon noting that it was the first of Knotts' films that did not get a G rating, she said that its "smutty pseudo-satire on pornography, civil liberties and bird-watching would be rated as sub-Z by anyone with a knowledge of the alphabet, let alone an iota of taste."[4]

References
  1. "The Love God?". The New York Times. Archived from the original on March 10, 2014.
  2. Thomas, Kevin. "Accent on Comedy in 'The Love God?'". Los Angeles Times. Jul. 9, 1969. Part IV, p. 15.
  3. Eichelbaum, Stanley. "'Love God' Has the Sex Revolution Tied Up in Knotts". San Francisco Examiner. Oct. 29, 1969. P. 44.
  4. Crist, Judith. "This Week's Movies". TV Guide. Dec. 19, 1970. P. A-2.
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