For those who have not yet seen it, here’s my contribution to today’s National Review Online symposium on Fatherhood, in honor of Father’s Day, which is of course this Sunday. The full symposium is available at National Review Online here, and is well worth reading. . . .
There weren’t many good father figures in my neighborhood when I was growing up, and not in my home, either. Fortunately, there were some in the media, and the most important of all for me was Sheriff Andy Taylor of The Andy Griffith Show. Every evening at 6:00, the show appeared in reruns on a local TV station, and I watched every episode.
Sheriff Taylor represented the law, of course, but he had sympathy for others and understood why they did what they did. While silly Deputy Barney Fife strived to put as many people in jail as possible, Sheriff Andy’s goal was to keep order by equipping people to understand what was best for them. He enforced the law wisely, overlooking minor technical violations, to ensure that it served its purpose of keeping public order and encouraging self-reliance and personal responsibility.
That was how he raised his son, Opie. Bringing up the boy without a mother, the busy widower paid what seemed to me an amazing amount of attention to Opie. When Opie did something wrong, Andy punished him, but made it clear that the goal was to enable Opie to think out for himself the rights and wrongs of situations and freely choose to do what’s right.
Andy Taylor was a great character: patient, calm, intelligent, humble, patriotic, Christian, responsible, commonsensical, and compassionate. I wanted to be like him. I’m not, after all, much like him, but so much better than I would have been without his example.
Sam, was reading American Culture and saw the Father’s Day reference to The Andy Griffith Show, which I still consider to be the greatest American TV show ever done. So full of love and warmth and wisdom and kindness and, when needed, courage!
My childhood was better because of that show. I still watch reruns of TAGS. I also have several DVDs of selected episodes.
Don’t the trees seem nice and full!
Thanks for mentioning this film, Joe. I think Griffith gives a terrific performance in the 1957 film, which of course predates his TV show. Griffith has always been a terrific actor. There is an edge to his Andy Taylor, incidentally; he’s no pushover, by any means. And his Ben Matlock character was always comically irascible.
I think A Face in the Crowd was a good observation of the rising power of the cult of celebrity and its potential to change our society and political system, which it certainly did. The film is well worth a look, for those who have yet to see it.
S.T., I would like to have your opinion of the movie A Face In The Crowd, which starred Andy Griffith in a most un-Andy Taylor like role. I was honestly shocked & amazed at his performance when I first saw it a year or so ago.
P.S.: I just received the Banachek DVD set for my birthday.
Dear Mr. Karnick:
Exactly!
Respectfully,
Mike Tooney