"Romeo and Juliet" - Andy Griffith Style (1962)

The Andy Griffith Show was always one of my favorites. The mixture of comedy with some basic lessons in life was the hallmark of the show, and it wasn't lost on me. I actually "got" it. When Opie killed a bird I knew it was wrong; just as I knew that his father's solution to have Opie care for that bird's hatch-ling was right.

In this classic episode Sheriff Taylor has been a bit humiliated. The night before this scene takes place he was confronted at home by 2 young people wanting to get "hitched" by that Justice of the Peace. Although both were of legal age the sheriff was unable to complete the ceremony when the fathers of the bride and groom showed up with shotguns. It seems that the two families were "a fueding";  in the parlance of the time and place.

Andy needs to recover his "lost face" and begins by explaining his actions; or non-actions; of the night before by making an appropriate comparison between the situation at hand and Romeo and Juliet. This is what made Andy Griffith so famous to begin with. He told stories. His legendary "What It Was Was Football" is the vehicle which took him from the Ed Sullivan Show to headlining on Broadway in "No Time for Sergeants."

From there he hit the screen with an Oscar worthy performance as Lonesome Rhodes in the 1958 film “A Face in the Crowd” which co-starred Patricia Neal. In that film Andy Griffith gives one of the best performances of his career as a drunken guitar playing bum who finds himself catapulted to fame. 

It’s not a pretty picture to watch as he becomes a controlling and nasty individual, pushing away all those who love him. It’s a far cry from the roles he became known for as Sheriff Taylor on TV’s “The Andy Griffith Show” and later as the homey attorney “Matlock.” If you have never seen the film before, you should.

Meantime, enjoy the clip above and hit you tube for a peek at Andy Griffith playing Lonesome Rhodes in “A Face in the Crowd.” You will be astonished. Here’s a clip; make sure you catch the performance at about 3 minutes into the clip. 

"Hatfields and McCoys" with Kevin Costner (2012)

I don’t think that there is anyone born in America who has not heard of the infamous feud between the Hatfields and the McCoys; the iconic clan which had been fighting since the Civil War and well beyond into the last years of the 19^th century. But, what most folks don’t know about; including me; is the history of the feud; that is, what started it all in the first place?

In this film; starring Kevin Costner as Devil Anse Hatfield; and Bill Paxton as Randall McCoy; will explain it all. In a three part series that is part truth and part drama, the cause is fixed at that point in the Civil War when Anse Hatfield decides to quit the battlefield and return home to the West Virginia border near Kentucky. He just can’t see the sense in fighting any longer. Little did he realize at the time that this decision would affect him, and his family, for decades to come.

The action begins on the battlefield when Anse leaves, infuriating Randall, who maintains that they have sworn an oath to fight to the death for the cause which is dying all around them. Anse wishes him luck, and at the point of a pistol, gallops off for home under the cover of night. When the war finally ends Randall comes home and rebuffs the entreaties of Anse, who has been making money selling timber. A simple encounter in the local bar between ignites the simmering feud, when two members of one clan murder the member of the other family over a slight stemming from that encounter.

Judge Valentine 'Wall' Hatfield, played by Powers Boothe, is the law in the hill country, and the feud between the two families begins to draw him into a confrontation which he knows will bring nothing but more heartbreak to an area which has suffered greatly during the War Between the States. The West Virginia border with Kentucky was a hotbed of disagreement over which side to support in the war, and of course, is why the Western part of Virginia broke away from Virginia when she seceded from the Union. A secessionist state within a secessionist state is never an easy place to live.

Thrown in with the history and fighting between the two families are the two young lovers, Johnse Hatfield, played by Matt Barr; and Roseanna McCoy, played with extra sweetness by Lindsay Pulsipher. Just as in Romeo and Juliet, these two youngsters are in love with one another and want to be married, against all the wishes of their respective families.

Tersely written and keenly directed, this film delivers on several fronts, including set design and costumes. Everything is in perfect order, with the characters all cast in a believable fashion.  At times it can be a bit confusing sorting out who is fighting whom, and for what, but overall that only adds to the insanity of a blood feud in the first place. And, for those who find this type of film unbelievable, just pick up the newspaper sometime and read about some of the “honor killings” which still go on today. It will make you scratch your head in bewilderment at how such things can still be in the 21^st century.