Wikia

Citizen's Arrest

Original airdate	December 16, 1963
Cast	Andy Griffith as Sheriff Andy Taylor Don Knotts as Deputy Barney Fife Ron Howard as Opie Taylor Frances Bavier as Aunt Bee Taylor Hal Smith as Otis Campbell Jim Nabors as Gomer Pyle Directed by Richard Crenna Written by Jim Fritzell and Everett Greenbaum

PlotEdit

When Barney tickets Gomer, Gomer decides turnabout is fair play.

SummaryEdit

Barney resigns and spends five days in jail after Gomer turns the tables and places him under citizen's arrest for a u-turn violation. Once Gomer finds out how serious the matter has become, he reports a fictitious robbery at the filling station in hopes of pressing Barney back into service.

Trivia/NotesEdit

This episode was voted one of the top 10 fan favorite episodes.
In this episode Andy mentions that Barney has been a deputy for 10 years. However, in the 5th season epsiode Barney's Physical Andy and the gang celebrate Barney's 5th year anniversary as a deputy.
Many have noted that on occasions in the first two seasons Andy smokes. Barney is seen puffing on cigars in a couple of episodes but this is the only episode to feature Barney smoking cigarettes.
Contradiction: when Andy is reading Barney's resignation letters, they are signed Bernard P. Fife. In season one's A Plaque for Mayberry Andy states that Barney's middle name is Oliver. In season three's Class Reunion the Mayberry High annual lists Barney's middle name as Milton.
Andy finds the form where he issued Barney his first service revolver (when he joined the force) - from 1953 and congratulates Barney for ten years of service. However, it is implied in the first few episodes of the first season (1960), that Barney has just joined the force and in season five's "Barney's Physical" the gang celebrates Barney having been on the force for five years which is consistent with the first season.
This is Jim Nabor's favorite scene when Barney did his impression of Gomer, they didn't do a single shot of his face because Jim couldn't stop laughing.
The scene of Gomer's citizen's arrest was considered one of the funniest in the series.

QuotesEdit

Andy: What's going on here?
Barney: Oh, nutsy is going around screaming <imitating Gomer> 'Citizen's Arrest!, Citizen's Arrest!'

Otis: Oh, another prisoner. Hi, mate. Hey, it's Barney. Oh, for a minute I thought you were locked in a cell. But you're out. I'm the one that's in, right? <to Andy> What are you in for, pal?
Andy: Otis...
Otis: Wait a minute... you're Andy. Huh. You ain't in and you ain't out. Me... I ain't in and I ain't out. <confused> I'm in the Twilight Zone!