Do You Remember Andy Griffith’s Shocking Final Film Role?

MATLOCK, Andy Griffith, 1986-95. — Bob D'Amico/TV Guide/ABC/courtesy Everett Collection

For most of his career, Andy Griffith leaned into wholesome roles, whether he was keeping the streets of Mayberry safe on The Andy Griffith Show or making sure the wrong person didn’t end up behind bars on Matlock. Even in his last major film part, as sweet elderly diner owner Old Joe in 2007’s Waitress, his character serves as the movie’s moral center. However, in his final film role, a bawdy sex comedy called Play the Game, he threw everything out the window and did something very unexpected: performed in a sex scene at the age of 83.

Released in 2009, the film follows David, a ladies’ man played by Paul Campbell, who attempts to teach his lonely widowed grandfather how to date again. David has a set of so-called foolproof tricks to win women over, but they backfire when he tries to woo Julie, the girl of his dreams, played by Marla Sokoloff.

However, those same tricks turn Grandpa Joe, Griffith’s character, into the surprise Casanova of the retirement community. Slowly, the roles reverse, and David learns lessons about love from his grandpa.

What grabbed headlines at the time, though, was one particular moment. The movie featured an unexpected sex scene between Griffith and Liz Sheridan, who was best known to younger audiences as Jerry’s mother on Seinfeld, yet the film played it with humor and sweetness. Instead of being shocking, it ended up showing something rarely seen on screen: older adults navigating romance and physical connection with the same nerves and laughter as anyone else.

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On Rotten Tomatoes, the film holds a 29% score, with reviewers calling it a middling comedy that leaned on clichés. Even so, Griffith himself was praised for being his likable self. Film critic Roger Ebert wrote in a review at the time, “And that’s about it, except for a closeup of Andy Griffith that I could easily have lived without. I’ve admired Griffith ever since No Time for Sergeants (1958), but the one thing I must admit I’ve never wanted to do was regard his face while he’s enjoying oral sex from Seinfeld’s mom.”

Griffith died just three years later on July 3, 2012, leaving behind one of the most enduring legacies in entertainment. Play the Game may not have been his most well-loved film, but it will go down in history as Griffith’s last.