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The opening of this hilarious western parody,
written by William Bowers, and directed by Burt Kennedy, starts
with the mayor's daughter, Trudie (Joan Hackett), discovering
gold at a funeral. Because of this find, the once quiet, civilized
town becomes a wild, unstable gold rush town, with both wild
price changes, and wild behavior from the the prospectors and
some town folk taking advantage as well. A lawless society prevails,
which is only made worse when town sheriff after town sheriff
either got shot or left town.
When Jason McCullough (James Garner), comes
to town, he discovers that he needs to get a job, as things
were so expensive. A very funny scene shows a fight break out
at a outside grub eatery, as the prices are raised mid-meal.
After going into the saloon to find out about work, he happens
to see town bully, Joe Danby (Bruce Dern) shoot a man over a
card game. After accepting the job of sheriff from Mayor Olly
Perkins (Henry Morgan), Jason gets right to work, and goes back
to the saloon and arrests Joe Danby, which starts his struggles
with the big, bad Danby clan, led by Pa Danby (Walter Brennan).
When Jason brings Joe into the brand new jail,
he discovers that the cells have no bars or doors on them, so
he comes up with a creative way to keep Joe in jail.
Despite their best efforts, the Danbys couldn't
intimidate Jason, or bust Joe out of jail, so Pa Danby hires
a gun slinger (Richard Hoyt) to kill Jason, by challenging him
to a dual in the middle of the street. Jason refuses to draw
on him, then throws rocks at him, yelling at him to get out
of town.
When all else fails Pa Danby gathers a bunch
of his family and their hired cowboys and all descend upon the
town to confront/ kill the new sheriff and get Joe out of jail.
While only Trudie and Deputy Jake are willing to help Jason,
Jason comes up with a unique game plan to combat the Danby clan
and associates.
The entire cast, made up of many veteran actors,
worked well together, because of their individual talent, and
the gifted direction of Kennedy, a talented director who also
has written many screenplays. They brought the fantastic script
to life, which flowed easily from scene to scene. Many humorous
touches, poking fun at the western genre make this script humorously
entertaining.
James Garner was perfectly cast as the ingenious,
confident, take charge sheriff, and sometimes prospector, Jason
McCullough. Garner, who made a name for himself with the popular,
"Maverick" and "Rockford Files" TV series,
returned to similar material, on the big screen, with great
success.
Joan Hackett did a great job, and has a unique
comical touch, as she portrays a woman with a tendency to find
herself in embarrassing situations and having embarrassing accidents
in the presence of the new sheriff, Jason. A secondary story
shows the development of this relationship of accident-prone
Trudie and Jason. Jason keeps seeing her in ridiculous situations,
such as in the middle of a huge mud fight in the middle of the
street, seeing her up in a tree in her undergarments, and while
being over for dinner, helps her to put out the fire on the
back of her dress, while she was cooking, to name a few.
The banter between Garner and Hackett, and
their ongoing great screen chemistry offers a lot of entertainment
to the audience.
The entire cast, made up of many veteran actors,
worked well together, because of their individual talent, and
the ample direction of Kennedy. They brought the fantastic script
to life, which flowed easily from scene to scene. Many humorous
touches, poking fun at the western genre make this script humorously
entertaining.
Walter Brennan plays his part as Pa Danby,
straight as an arrow, which makes the humorous situations in
the movie even funnier.
Jack Elam, a veteran character actor, gives
a convincing performance as Jason's deputy, Deputy Jake.
Bruce Dern (Joe Danby) was perfectly cast as
the Danby bad boy who thinks he owns the town, and can get away
with all kinds of bullying, even murder. Jason changes this
reality for him.
Fine supporting performances from Henry Morgan
(Mayor Olly Perkins), and Gene Evans (Tom Danby) entertain the
audience as well.
This comedy is highly recommended for family
viewing. Rated PG
GREAT
MOMENTS
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