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''Return to Mayberry'' is an American television reunion movie for the 1960s American sitcoms ''The Andy Griffith Show'' and, to an extent, ''Mayberry R.F.D.'' as well. The movie premiered on April 13, 1986, on NBC, and was the highest-rated telemovie of 1986.〔 Sixteen of the original cast members reunited for the movie and its success could have led to additional Mayberry programs, but Griffith was committed to ''Matlock'' for the 1986-87 season.〔 Most of the characters from the old series are revisited. The slightly milquetoast Howard Sprague (Jack Dodson), in an attempt to look younger, is seen in various hues of hair color. Gomer Pyle (Jim Nabors), having returned to civilian life following his stint in the Marines, shares filling-station duties with his cousin Goober; (George Lindsey) and the pair are seen together for only the third time in the history of the franchise (once in the episode "Fun Girls" and once in an episode of ''Gomer Pyle, USMC''. Howard Morris and Denver Pyle reprise the hillbilly roles of Ernest T. Bass and Briscoe Darling, respectively, along with Maggie Peterson and The Dillards as the rest of the Darling clan. Otis Campbell (Hal Smith), the former town drunk, has become sober and now drives an ice cream truck. ==Plot== Andy Taylor (Andy Griffith), now living in Cleveland as a US Postal Inspector, returns to his native Mayberry to see his son Opie (Ron Howard) become a first-time father, and also to run in the soon-to-be held sheriff's election, as he has already asked county clerk Howard Sprague (Jack Dodson) to prepare the paperwork. But when Andy learns that his old deputy and cousin Barney Fife (Don Knotts), now back in Mayberry working as acting sheriff, announced his own candidacy while Andy was on the road back to town he quietly tells Opie, "I won't run against Barney". Andy goes to visit Barney at the sheriff's office. Barney tells Andy that he decided to run for sheriff because nobody else would, and then his opponent Ben Woods decided to run shortly afterward. Andy then mentions that Barney's old girlfriend Thelma Lou, newly divorced after less than two years, is back in Mayberry staying with her sister; Barney nonchalantly says he'll eventually go and see her. As Barney leaves to teach a safety class at school, they're accosted by Ernest T. Bass standing on the base of the town flagpole, and who gives them a cryptic rhyme: "Your hair was brown but now it's gray; make that monster go away". The "monster" is revealed to be an elaborate publicity stunt orchestrated by young businessman Wally Butler (Richard Lineback), who bought an oriental restaurant outside of town and added a hotel. Butler found some old dragon artifacts, presumably left by the former owners of the restaurant, and hired Ernest T. to perpetuate a hoax at Myer's Lake to attract customers by stealing some neighbors' chickens and dogs to make people think they were eaten by the monster. Andy goes to the cemetery to visit Aunt Bee's grave, and finds Thelma Lou there visiting her uncle's gravesite. Thelma Lou laments about Barney's not calling, but she follows Andy to the school where Barney, in clown makeup, is playacting for a classroom of students. Though embarrassed by his appearance, Barney accepts an invitation to dine with Thelma Lou at her sister's house. Andy ducks out while the two are reacquainting and drives over to his old house where Opie and his wife Eunice live just as she is about to go into labor. In a panic, Opie accidentally crashes his car into a tree, and Andy volunteers his car to take them to the hospital. On the way, Andy's engine begins to falter, and they only make it as far as Gomer and Goober's garage before Eunice gives birth to a boy. Shortly afterward, Barney pulls up, already irritated by the fact that no one told him about the birth, which happened all too fast, but he gets angrier when Gomer and Goober mistakenly refer to Andy as "sheriff". Later that night, he visits Andy to apologize for how he acted, saying he also felt "left out" of being part of seeing Opie become a father. The next day, Gomer (Jim Nabors) and Goober (George Lindsey) are out fishing at Myer's Lake when Gomer sees a monster sticking its head up out of the water. Andy and Barney arrive shortly afterward, but Barney doesn't believe Gomer's story until he sees what looks like monster tracks in the mud (made by Ernest T. wearing specially made galoshes). When Gomer later shows Barney a picture he took of Goober with something unidentifiable in the background, Barney becomes convinced there's a monster in the lake. Wally Butler later invites Barney to his new inn, secretly gives him a contribution check for his campaign, and invites him in to talk to a TV news reporter about his discovery. Andy's wife Helen follows Andy back to Mayberry and only then finds out that Andy has opted out of the sheriff's race, and Opie receives a highly lucrative job offer from a newspaper in Binghamton, New York. With Barney's opponent Woods now running an aggressive campaign to discredit Barney, Howard and Opie try to convince Andy to re-enter the race, saying that Barney doesn't stand a chance. Meanwhile, former town drunk Otis Campbell (Hal Smith), now long sober and driving an ice cream truck, is serving customers near Myers Lake when he sees the "monster" pop out of the lake. Otis quickly races to the courthouse to tell Barney. Despite Andy's pleading with Barney to drop the hunt because people were laughing at him, Otis' report convinces Barney to resume the hunt. Later, when Andy and Barney take Helen and Thelma Lou out to dinner at Butler's Inn, Andy notices some old pictures of the restaurant when it was still oriental. Noticing a particular picture with a dragon's head in it (and remembering Ernest T.'s rhyme), Andy is inspired to do some investigating of his own: He drives up to the hills near Myer's Lake and visits the Darlings' homestead, where Ernest T. hangs out. Briscoe Darling (Denver Pyle) and his daughter Charlene (Maggie Peterson) are delighted to see Andy, but Ernest T. nervously and repeatedly asks Andy to leave. After sitting in with the Darlings to play a song, Andy manipulates Ernest T. into telling him when the monster will show up in Myer's Lake again. The next day, Helen and Thelma Lou are having lunch at Butler's Inn. When Helen mentions Andy and Barney are both up at Myer's Lake intent on trapping the "monster", Butler excuses himself and hurriedly drives off to the lake. At the lake, Barney clumsily baits a trap (involving a dead chicken tied to the end of a rope) while Andy spots Ernest T. going into a nearby stone quarry shed. Butler arrives at the shed to futilely get Ernest T. to reel the monster back in, but Andy catches both of them in the act. Barney and Howard follow Andy to the shed, and Andy makes it look like Barney plotted to make Butler overconfident and force his hand. Howard takes pictures of Barney with the dragon's head for the newspaper, and Andy tells Butler about the legal consequences of his actions, but suggests that Ernest T. return the stolen chickens and dogs, and then implores Butler to try honesty with his next business venture, saying "It works better". Later, at a victory rally for Sheriff Fife, when Barney learns that Andy opted out of the sheriff's race to give Barney a better chance to win, he humbly asks the crowd to vote for Andy as a write-in candidate because "That's exactly what I'm gonna do". Andy is eventually elected the "new" sheriff, Opie accepts the newspaper job in Binghamton, and Barney and Thelma Lou finally get married, with Ernest T. and the Darlings joining in the celebration. The final shot (seen behind the end credits) is of Sheriff Taylor and Deputy Fife folding up an American flag at the end of the day on Mayberry's Main Street. 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Return to Mayberry」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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