The Reluctant Astronaut (1967)

Typically silly Don Knotts vehicle has Don as the small-town operator of a carnival kiddie spaceship ride. Even though he's deathly afraid of heights, Don wants to be an astronaut and gets a letter from NASA offering him a job, except that's it's to be part of the custodial staff. This being a Don Knotts picture, Don mistakenly ends up in the astronaut program and hilarity ensures, or at least mildly funny comic moments of hilarity ensure with nervous nelly Knotts being helped through the program by macho astronaut Leslie Nielsen (which is funny in itself since Nielsen would later be the comic center of "Police Squad"/"Naked Gun" as Lt. Frank Drebin). Overall, "The Reluctant Astronaut" is not a classic, but it is mildly diverting. The film also features the debut of Melissa "Little House on the Prairie" Gilbert.

Don Knotts stars as amusement park ride operator Roy Fleming, who is afraid of heights, but whose father Buck(played by Arthur O'Connell) sends in a job application on his behalf to NASA, and is surprised to find that Roy has been hired! Upon arrival in Houston, Roy is dismayed to learn that he is a janitor, not an astronaut, and his supervisor(played by Jessie White) isn't sympathetic at all, though a friendly Major(played by Leslie Nielsen) does offer friendship, despite Roy's outrageous efforts to convince his family he is really an astronaut... Silly and thin comedy is quite innocuous as family friendly entertainment, but too unbelievable and predictable to succeed.

A lovable - adorable - cute - funny flick - great for very young kids - wonderful - i loved it when i was a kid and its still better than all the violent bad mouth pictures parents let their kids watch to day! how could you not like it? anyone who says different is a grumpy olé fart!(After learning that his father has signed him up for the space program)- already a classic! the best is yet to come!(When NASA decides to launch a lay person into space to prove the worthiness of a new automated spacecraft, Roy gets the chance to confront his fears) now the fun really hits the mark!this is even better for all of us who grew up with a space programs http://www.spaceimages.com/gemini.html http://www.spaceimages.com/more-classic-oldies-mercury-gemini.html http://www.spaceimages.com/apollo810.html

Knotts plays a man who works at the local kiddieland as an "astronaut" for a children's ride. His war hero father's dream is to have Knotts be a real astronaut but Knotts is afraid of heights and most important, he is afraid of disappointing his father.Knotts has a very good outing in this outer space flick. He brings the usual "I'm scared to death" character that made Knotts a star on both TV and film. Knotts was allowed to develop this character from a man who couldn't better himself and had no pride, into a space hero that the community looked up to.This is a good family movie from the 60's and it's top for Knotts.