Luther Heggs (Don Knotts) works as a typesetter at a small town newspaper in Kansas. One night he witnesses what he thinks is murder and swiftly pulls his gigantic Edsel over to photograph what he assumes is a crime scene. He's the graduate of a correspondence journalism school, so this is Luther's big chance. However, it turns out not to have been a crime at all, making Luther the laughing stock of his small town. But it's also the eve of a famous murder which occurred in the same town. The newspaper editor suddenly hits on a great idea: have Luther spend the night in the murder mansion and "write" about the experience.
A hilarious movie from start to finish, this is one of the last Hollywood looks at rural America with being condescending. Rural shows such as The Beverly Hillbillies and Petticoat Junction were all the rage up till 1971 when the advertisers wanted TV to start selling to the urban money crowd. GAMC was also a staple of the "family" circuit and plenty of people my age first saw it at a Drive-In with their parents.
It's also famous for staring a plethora of TV actors: Dick Sargent, Charles Lane, etc.
Strange that the ultimate anti-rural America movie, In Cold Blood, hit the screens the following year.
One amusing moment happened while I was watching this movie. Luther was in his shop setting the type for the paper where he worked. Somebody came into the room and asked me what in the world he was doing. They had no idea newspapers existed before computer word processing. Hard to believe, but there was a time when people were paid to take metal letters and make-up the copy for printing.
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