IMDb RATING
6.9/10
1.3K
YOUR RATING
After being away for awhile, Andy Taylor returns home to Mayberry to visit Opie, now an expectant father. While there, he ends up helping Barney Fife mount a campaign for Sheriff.After being away for awhile, Andy Taylor returns home to Mayberry to visit Opie, now an expectant father. While there, he ends up helping Barney Fife mount a campaign for Sheriff.After being away for awhile, Andy Taylor returns home to Mayberry to visit Opie, now an expectant father. While there, he ends up helping Barney Fife mount a campaign for Sheriff.
Maggie Peterson
- Charlene Darling
- (as Maggie Peterson-Mancuso)
- Director
- Writers
- All cast & crew
- Production, box office & more at IMDbPro
Featured reviews
I saw this about 3 times and a few things bothered me. Everyone was so surprised to see Andy again, don't you think Andy would have kept in touch during those 20 years? As much as I liked Helen Crump, I think Charlene Darling would have made a much more interesting love interest for Andy. I realize that could never be. And Charlene was very cute. When Andy and Opie leave Opie's office they failed to say goodbye to the receptionist. Isn't that sort of rude? Was this actress Andy's wife in reality? It was great to see most of the old cast reunited. Most of them are no longer with us. Hard to believe it has been 27 years since this was first aired. Time marches on. There will never be a program of this quality again. We are living in different times.
This was quite good for what it was-a nice nostalgic ode to the great '60s series, most of the guys-from Howard Morris, Hal Smith to Denver Pyle and Ron Howard came back to supply some class to the precedings. Plotwise it's Andy coming back to help Barney Fife and set things to rights, nothing more-but that is fine, that is what the audience wants, and gets.
This was #2 for the week when it premiered on NBC back in '86 I remember, with good reason. I have seen it twice, I liked it and so will anyone who liked the show or the stars, esp. Griffiths or Knotts.
*** outta ****, pretty good.
This was #2 for the week when it premiered on NBC back in '86 I remember, with good reason. I have seen it twice, I liked it and so will anyone who liked the show or the stars, esp. Griffiths or Knotts.
*** outta ****, pretty good.
The awful script notwithstanding, it is great to see the cast get back together in this trip down memory lane. Those of us who grew up with the Andy Griffith Show like it. When Barney asks Andy to answer the telephone in the Sheriff's Office, and hearing Andy simply say "Sheriff's Office," well, talk about your nostalgia! What's amazing is that in 2004, almost all of these people are still alive and many still working (Don Knotts for one).
This is just a nice movie for the "fans" of the show. No stunning acting, no over the top in your face "shock" humor we are all too sick of now.
They just don't make them like this anymore (the origional show, that is). These new so-called comedy sitcoms don't even come close....
This is just a nice movie for the "fans" of the show. No stunning acting, no over the top in your face "shock" humor we are all too sick of now.
They just don't make them like this anymore (the origional show, that is). These new so-called comedy sitcoms don't even come close....
This update of the old "Andy Griffith Show" is one of the better reunions of the many that popped up in the 1980s. No fewer than 16 actors who appeared in the original series are present, including Ron Howard, who by this time had gone on to much bigger and better things as the director of many hit feature films.
The plot finds former Mayberry sheriff Andy Taylor and his wife Helen returning to town for the birth of son Opie's first child. Perennial second-banana (and Andy's former deputy) Barney Fife is now running for sheriff, the job he always wanted. But it turns out that Andy wants his old job back, too. This unspoken conflict and the selfless efforts by Andy and Barney to resolve it are very touching.
There's a silly subplot about alleged sightings of a monster in the town lake that detracts from the proceedings. And some of the continuity from the sequel "Mayberry RFD" series isn't followed. But what you really want is to see how these old friends and neigbors are doing, and to feel some nostalgia. And on these two points, "Return to Mayberry" doesn't disappoint.
The plot finds former Mayberry sheriff Andy Taylor and his wife Helen returning to town for the birth of son Opie's first child. Perennial second-banana (and Andy's former deputy) Barney Fife is now running for sheriff, the job he always wanted. But it turns out that Andy wants his old job back, too. This unspoken conflict and the selfless efforts by Andy and Barney to resolve it are very touching.
There's a silly subplot about alleged sightings of a monster in the town lake that detracts from the proceedings. And some of the continuity from the sequel "Mayberry RFD" series isn't followed. But what you really want is to see how these old friends and neigbors are doing, and to feel some nostalgia. And on these two points, "Return to Mayberry" doesn't disappoint.
I always regarded THE ANDY GRIFFITH SHOW as a once a week visit to a bunch of good friends. I just didn't have to drive to Mayberry; it was a matter of tuning in each Monday night, and I never missed it. How nice it was to get to visit with most of the old gang again when RETURN TO MAYBERRY aired. Now I suppose the context of the show wasn't all that "cool" but then the original show never was and never tried to be. RETURN TO MAYBERRY was like going home again after a number of years away. Barney was just the same, flying off at the handle in six different directions while Andy's cool head prevailed to solve the mystery of the monster of Myers Lake. There were two very nice touches near the end; one of which was Barney's marriage to Thelma Lou. (I recall always feeling sort of sad that they never were married during the run of the original show.) The other was of course Andy and Barney taking down the flag at the end of the movie, and I thought it fitting that they ended it this way...Andy as the sherriff and Barney the ever dependable deputy...forever the stalwart keepers of law and order in that mythical little North Carolina town we will have in our hearts. I always feel kind of warm as I drive through Mount Airy and Siler City and Pilot Mountain (Mt. Pilot). Maybe Mayberry isn't really there in name, but it is a wonderful feeling to know I am in Andy Taylor and Barney Fife country.
Did you know
- TriviaRon Howard wasn't the only one with a family member in this TV Movie (his father, Rance Howard, played the Preacher); Don Knotts' real life daughter, Karen Knotts, had a small part also as Opie's Receptionist.
- GoofsWhen Andy first enters the courthouse to surprise Barney, he walks by the window on his way to greet Barney. Visible through the window is a construction project showing a new building being built. When they exit the building at the end of that scene, the scene beyond the window is now that of a completed structure that resembles an office of some type.
- Quotes
Gomer Pyle: Well we think Barney's gonna win. He hasn't done nothin' stupid now for oh about a month.
- ConnectionsFeatured in Svengoolie: Return to Mayberry (1999)
Details
Contribute to this page
Suggest an edit or add missing content