The evil Andy Griffith
Published April 09, 2003
In 1983, Andy Griffith and Johnny Cash starred in a true-crime made-for-tv movie Murder in Coweta County. They played sheriffs from adjoining counties.
Andy Griffith plays the villain, a chillingly wicked and heartless man. Years of seeing him as the gentle Sheriff Taylor calming Barney Fife down does not prepare you for the cold-bloodedness of this performance. Even as they're strapping the bastard into The Chair, he's stone cold.
This production was not a big deal at the time, and it is rare now. If you're any kind of Andy Griffith fan, you should definitely lay hands to a copy of this if you can find it.
- The evil Andy Griffith
- Published: April 09, 2003
- Type:
- Section: Video
- Filed Under: Video: Drama, Video: Television
- Writer: Al Barger
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Comments on this articleComments
Is it Face In the Crowd where is a vicious bastard singer? That's another classic performance.
Hey Bill, I guess we were reading this at the same time.
Oh, yeah, A Face in the Crowd is the absolute shiznit. I'll write something about it when I figure out some comments worthy of this masterpiece.
Yes Eric, this stars Griffith as a folk singing lowlife drifter who gets picked up and makes the bigtime as "Lonesome Rhodes."
My dad used to travel a lot for his job when I was younger and once in a while, he'd take me with him. I remember watching this movie in a hotel and really being freaked out by the whole electric chair thing at the end.
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Another great Andy Griffith performance: from 1957, Elia Kazan's Face in the Crowd, about a hobo who becomes a "homespun" TV star in the early days of television - and turns into a major heel as success goes to his head. The guy could act, though years of Mayberry coasting covered up that fact.