Starring Andy Griffith...
With Ronny Howard.
Also starring Don knotts.
Oh, opie, do you have to draw on everything?
Now, remember, first you eat the sandwich
and you eat the apple pie
not the apple pie and then the sandwich.
You understand?
Yeah, I understand
even if it don't seem right.
Why doesn't it seem right?
Well, if you get full before you finish
I'd sure rather leave over the sandwich than the pie.
That's exactly why I want you to do it the other way
and don't you forget it.
Okay, aunt bee.
Can I have my nickel for milk?
Mm-hmm.
Now, remember
this is for milk
not another piece of apple pie.
You ne that milk to make your bones hard.
Yes, ma'am.
Now, good-bye, now.
Bye, aunt bee.
Now, remember
the sandwich first and then the apple pie?
Yes, ma'am.
Good.
Paw?
Hmm?
Yeah, son?
Could I have a nickel for milk?
Well, yeah, I guess so
if I can get a hold of one here.
Here. There you are.
Thanks, paw.
Okay. Be a good boy, now.
I will.
And show the teacher you got some smarts.
Okay.
Bye.
Bye, son.
That boy... I declare
he's got the sweetest tooth I ever saw.
You know, if he had his way
what he'd want for lunch?
Two slices of apple pie
between two pieces of apple pie
and a slab of apple pie for dessert.
Well, now, that's not surprising, aunt bee
considering the green thumb
you got for apple pies.
Nonsense. He's just apple pie crazy.
You know, when I gave him his nickel for milk
I had to remind him it was for milk
not another piece of apple pie.
Oh, there's another piece left
if you'd like it.
Of course, it didn't turn out quite right
this time, did it?
Mm?
A little too much cinnamon
well, I'd say there maybe was
just the least little bit
of too much cinnamon, yeah.
Oh
well, maybe your apples was too ripe.
Andy Taylor, that was one
of the best apple pies I ever made!
Well, now, I'll tell ya, since it was so bad
maybe we better eat it up
and get it out of the way
so we'll make way for another pie.
Aunt bee, you're buried in this world.
You have to have a little bragging, don't you?
Oh, Andy, stop it.
Here we are.
One piece left.
I'd better get a plate.
What is it, you're a little flustered?
Oh, stop it.
Here we are.
Wonder why he wanted two nickels.
Mm?
Opie. You say you give him a nickel for milk?
Yes.
Huh. He asked me for a nickel, too.
He did?
Yeah.
Why do you suppose he did that?
Mighty good question, aunt bee.
I'll have to see
if I can't get us a mighty good answer.
Hi, opie.
Hi.
Sheldon?
Yeah?
You wouldn't like to sort of let me
pass by your street for free, would ya?
Why should I?
Well, then I could give paw back
the nickel I sort of owe him.
Who's stopping ya?
Well, if I give him back his nickel
and I have to give you a nickel
for passing by your street
I ain't gonna have no nickel for milk
and boy, Sheldon, it ain't easy getting
a peanut butter and jelly sandwich down dry.
Yesterday, I almost choked.
Drink water.
But if I don't drink milk, I'll get soft bones.
I sure would like to give paw back his nickel, Sheldon.
What if I say I won't give you the nickel?
A knuckle sandwich.
Yeah.
You want to try it?
No.
You know what I'll do to you if you tell anyone.
Uh-huh. You'll pulverize me
then you'll knock my block off
then you'll give me the old one-two
then you'll jump on me.
See ya tomorrow, Opie.
Howdy, son.
Hi, paw.
Said your prayers?
Yes, sir.
Good.
Thought maybe you and me might have us a little talk.
Oh.
What about?
Mm... first one thing, then another.
I don't know much about them subjects.
Well, suppose we talk
about something you do know about, then
like, for instance, uh
asking me for a nickel for milk this morning
right after aunt bee already give you a nickel.
Oh.
What about it?
Well, I figured that way
if I lost one nickel
I'd still have one left for milk.
Oh, I see.
You wouldn't want my bones to get soft, would ya?
Course not.
But, uh...
What made you think you might lose one?
Oh, you know how careless seven-year-old boys are.
You know what aunt bee says.
If our heads wasn't fastened to our shoulders
we'd lose 'em.
Yeah, I guess that's right.
Did you, uh... Did you lose one?
Sorta.
Sorta? How can you sorta lose a nickel?
Well, first you got it, then you ain't.
Well, why?
I...
I sure am sleepy, paw.
Fine, fine.
Tell me now how you sorta lost that nickel
and you can quiet up and go right to sleep.
Golly, paw.
A growing boy's got to have his sleep.
Opie...
I must be growing awful fast.
I can't hardly keep my eyes open.
Opie...
Ope...
Night, son.
Maybe he did lose the nickel, Andy.
You know how careless seven-year-old boys are.
Course I know.
Opie told me.
Only how'd he know he was gonna lose it?
Well, maybe he had one of them, uh...
You know, those flashes
where you know what's gonna happen before it happens.
Premonition?
Yeah, that's it. Premonition.
I don't think so.
Yeah?
Well... me neither.
Mm
So what'd you mention it for?
Oh, I don't know.
Maybe I figured
I could convince myself, too.
Barney, what are you getting at?
Well, I wasn't going to say nothing
but I guess I better.
He stopped in here this morning
before you got here.
Opie did?
Yeah. Wanted to know did I have a nickel
I wasn't using.
He did? Why, I saw aunt bee give...
He say what he wanted it for?
No. I asked him
but he just hemmed and hawed around
and shifted from one foot to the other
and I didn't press it.
Yeah.
That's the reason I didn't push it harder last night.
So he's holding something back, ain't he?
Mm-hmm.
Hmm.
You ain't got no idea what it is, huh?
Not the first. Mystery to me.
A mystery, huh?
Barney, are you sure?
It was as plain as the nose on your face.
It couldn't have been nothing else!
It's just plain extortion's what it is!
That would explain it, wouldn't it?
He's too scared not to give him the nickel
and too ashamed to tell me about it.
Why don't I go to that boy's home and tell his daddy.
No, no. I know how you feel
and that would settle it for now
but what happens the next time
somebody goes pushing opie around?
Do you and me run in and solve it for him?
Well, Andy, he's scared.
Well, I mean the other boy is so much tougher.
Why don't I give opie some lessons?
Look... jab, jab, chop and smack!
No, no, Barney.
It's not lessons in fighting he needs.
I just don't want him to be afraid.
I don't want him to be the kind of boy
that goes around looking for fights
but I don't want him to run from one
when he's in the right.
Yeah.
Well, how you going to do it, Andy?
You can't let him know you know.
He feels bad enough as it is.
He'll feel just terrible
if he thinks you know he's...
Well, scared.
Yeah. Hmm.
Yeah.
Hmm.
Well, I reckon I'll just have
to figure a way, won't I?
Yeah.
Oh, boy, I got another one!
Reel him in, reel him in right quick.
Oh, boy, ain't he a whopper!
Wow, is he pretty! Mm-mm!
Boy, ain't he a whopper?
He really is a whopper.
Jumpin' around there
where I can't get a hold of him.
Fightin' like that, he'll be good to eat, won't he?
Yeah, I bet he will.
Yeah, looka there, looka there.
Well, we 'bout got our limit.
We better be a-headin' on back.
Aunt bee'll wonder whatever happened to us.
Put on your sneakers.
Okay, paw.
Boy, paw, you sure do know the best places.
How'd you ever find this spot?
Aw...
Aw, I just...
Well, now, that's a right interestin' story, ope.
It is, paw?
It surely is.
See, I first come up on this spot
when I was a little feller, not much bigger'n you.
Really, paw?
Yeah.
Come on her accidental-like one day
decided I'd give her a try.
Threw in my line... wham.
Got one almost as big as that'n you got there.
Threw her in again.
Wham!
See-seem like I'd stumbled right on the spot
where all the fish in the river come
to sorta talk things over.
A fishes community center, you might say.
Boy!
Yeah.
Well, knowin' I had me a good thing
I kept her a secret.
The other fellas would go fishin'...
I'd-I'd sorta sneak away and we'd meet later
and they'd have two or three little bitty things
and I'd have a string of whales.
Th-they was so jealous you could smell it.
Yeah, I bet they was.
You'd bet right, too.
Yeah.
Well, one day, one day
I snuck away to my secret spot.
I hadn't no more'n gotten my line in
when what do you reckon I saw?
What?
Hodie snitch was standin' there.
Hodie snitch
tough little fella
that used to live in this town a long time ago.
Seems he snuck right after me when I snuck away.
Dirty sneak.
Yeah.
He was sneaky
but that ain't the worst of it.
He says to me...
Ho-hodie says...
He says-he says, "beat it, boy."
He says, "from now on, this here is my spot."
Says, "if-if I catch you fishin' here again"
"I'm gonna tear you into little bitty pieces
and use you for bait."
What'd you do, paw? What'd you do?
I left.
It shames me to say it, son
but I picked myself up
and I crawled outta there like I was a whipped pup
which I was.
How come, paw?
Why didn't you make him
crawl outta there like a whipped pup?
'Cause he acted tough and I was scared of him.
But it was...
Oh.
Some fellers sure talk tough, don't they, paw?
They surely do
only you know what I found out?
What?
I found out that tough talk's just talk.
Sit down on that log there, and let me fix your shoe.
You did?
Did what?
Found out that tough talk's just talk.
I surely did.
How?
Well, I got to feelin' bad
mighty bad.
You know why?
'Cause he took away your milk money.
I mean, your fishin' spot.
Yeah, that was it... at first...
And then, it got to be for a different reason.
I got to feelin' mighty ashamed
because I was too scared
to protect what was rightfully mine.
Mighty ashamed.
Yeah.
I'm tellin' you,
you're lookin' at a fella that felt lower
than a two-faced, sniveling, crawling...
Lily
how'd you know?
I got a pretty good imagination.
Well, you imagine absolutely correct.
I felt so low that a little, bitty ant
couldn't have walked under me.
And I tried, and I tried every way I knew
to get shut of that feeling
but I just kept feelin' lower and lower
and then one day,
one day when I was in school
the teacher was tellin' us young'uns
about how this country of ours begun
and she told us about this fella
that says-says, "millions for charity
but not one penny for tribute"
and then she explained to us what that meant.
What does it mean, paw?
Well, that-that means
that-that it's-it's fine and dandy
to give away somethin' because you want to
but n because you're scared
the other fella's gonna give you
a punch in the nose if you don't.
You know what I did?
I got my fishin' gear
and I marched myself right down to my old fishin' hole.
You did? I did.
And there was hodie...
Tough guy hodie...
And you know what happened?
He got scared and ran away.
Nope.
He did just exactly like he promised he would.
A knuckle sandwich?
Right on the nose.
Oh.
You know what I did?
I laughed.
You did
because it come to me that what I'd been so scared of
wasn't really worth bein' scared of at all.
I didn't even feel that knuckle sandwich.
You didn't?
Not a bit
and I lit into him like a windmill in a tornado.
What happened?
Me and you fished that spot, didn't we?
Yeah.
Okay, come on.
Paw, you say you didn't even feel it?
Nope.
Paw?
Yes, son?
You laughed?
You really laughed?
Paw?
Yes, son?
Did it bleed much?
Paw?
Hmm?
Good mornin', son.
Paw?
Uh
Could you take this down to the courthouse
and hold it there for me?
Well, I guess I could.
What you want me to do that for?
Well, if somethin' was to happen
that got my clothes tore and messy
I figured I could go over to the courthouse and change
so's aunt bee won't know about it.
Oh, I see.
You know how she is
when a fella gets his clothes tore and messy.
She sure does kick up a fuss, don't she?
She sure does.
Well, I guess that's a pretty good reason.
They'll be at the courthouse, waitin' for ya.
Thanks, paw.
You sure you didn't even feel it?
Do you think it's happened yet?
No. He's leavin' the house about now.
Poor little feller.
Yeah.
Well, I guess I'll be
runnin' along.
Barney?
Huh?
Just stay right here.
Okay, Andy.
I expect he is just about turnin' the corner
at fifth and elm now.
Yeah.
Three more blocks.
Yeah.
Three more blocks.
Well, I guess I'll do a little patrollin'...
Barney!
I wanna watch, Andy.
You'll spoil everything if you watch.
Yeah, I...
I guess so.
Did you ever do anything that you wondered
if you was doing the right thing?
Yeah.
Come on, opie, hand it over.
We're gonna be late for school.
Are ya or ain't ya?
I hope you was tellin' me the truth, paw.
Opie!
Opie, son, you all right?
Yeah, paw.
Ain't it a beaut?
It sure is.
Tell the truth, Barney
did you ever see a purtier one in all your born days?
No, Andy, I ain't never seen a purtier one
in all my born days.
And you were right... I didn't even feel it.
You didn't?
You know what else, Barney?
What?
I laughed. Did you?
Yeah, just like you, paw.
I laughed and sailed into him
like a windmill in a tornado.
Sounds like you ain't stopped blowin' either.
Yeah.
And here's your nickel, Barney.
Oh, thanks, ope.
And here's yours, paw.
Why thank you, son.
You're welcome.
Wanna know somethin', paw?
What?
A sandwich sure
tastes better with milk.
You think maybe it'll spread over to the other eye, paw?
And maybe my nose will swell up some, huh, paw, huh?
Well...
Here it is, Andy.
Oh, good. Much obliged, barn.
How long do you think it'll last, paw?
I mean, if I take care of it and don't wash it.
You ain't gonna put that on my eye, are you, paw?
Sure, it'll take the sting out.
The color, too?
Well...
And the swelling?
Yeah, I guess so.
Oh.
Uh, the sooner you put that on, the quicker she works.
Yeah, I suppose so.
I-I don't know, Barney.
If a fella gets a medal,
it ain't right to ask him to hide it.
Son, if you take care of that,
it could be that it'll last a week or two.
Gee, thanks, paw.