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Epicurus.com - Support Your Local Sheriff
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List Price: $19.98
Our Price: $16.77
Your Save: $ 3.21 ( 16% )
Availability: N/A
Manufacturer: United Artists
Starring: James Garner, Joan Hackett, Walter Brennan, Harry Morgan, Jack Elam
Directed By: Burt Kennedy
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Average Customer Rating: 
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Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Binding: VHS Tape
EAN: 9786301977203
Format: Color
ISBN: 6301977203
Label: United Artists
Manufacturer: United Artists
Publisher: United Artists
Release Date: 1998-09-01
Studio: United Artists
Theatrical Release Date: 1969-03-26
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Editorial Reviews:
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While hardly the first Western spoof to ride out of Hollywood, Support Your Local Sheriff is easily one of the best. James Garner plays the confident, cool-headed cowboy who strolls into a wild gold rush town on the way to Australia and takes the job as sheriff. Like a parody of My Darling Clementine by way of Rio Bravo, he arrests the hotheaded but hopelessly confused son (Bruce Dern) of a ruthless ranching magnate (Walter Brennan). Stuck with a half-built jail (where he keeps his prisoner penned up with pure psychology and a few spatters of red paint), a rummy sidekick (google-eyed Jack Elam in one of his first comic turns), and a disaster-prone tomboy (Joan Hackett), he takes on a succession of gunfighters with increasing exasperation. "Sure is a childish way for a grown man to make a living," he laments before chasing one gunman out of Dodge by pelting him with rocks. Directed with laconic ease by veteran Western director Burt Kennedy, it's a clever spoof of familiar conventions in a lighthearted vein, more understated and affectionate than Mel Brooks's outrageous farce Blazing Saddles. It inspired a slew of imitators, including a decade of silly Disney Westerns that sank the genre in slapstick shenanigans, and was followed in 1971 by Kennedy's pseudosequel Support Your Local Gunfighter, which reteamed Garner and Elam in a more mercenary story of con artists and gunslingers. --Sean Axmaker
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Spotlight customer reviews:
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Customer Rating:
Summary: Support Your Local Sheriff
Comment: I'm not going to tag this movie as essential but, in my book, it is. This is James Garner in his two best genres: comedy & western. In some ways, by virtue of this being a comedy-western, it makes this a throwback, of sorts, to his old TV series, Maverick. Nobody, & I mean NOBODY, did the comedy-western genre better than Garner. His comedic timing is impeccable & his acting extremely natural. Garner is so good on so many levels it makes one wonder: Is he acting or just being himself? This is the first of the "Support..." films, the other being Support Your Local Gunfighter; they are similar movies but not related to each other, especially not in the sense of a sequel. But they're certainly companions to one another.
Jason McCullough (James Garner) arrives in Calendar, broke. He's on his way to Australia & that's all he really wants to do. Calendar has become a gold-rush town & is booming, inflation has skyrocketed. He sees an ad for town sheriff & applies for it & is successful in securing the position but with one stipulation: He also wants to prospect for gold in order to get enough money to purchase a ticket to Australia. The town council is all too willing because McCullough puts on a shooting demonstration (shooting a coin dead center after being tossed in the air & then repeating it with a piece of paper stuck on the coin) that would impress the best shootists of the day.
One of the first things to happen after he gets on the job is he witnesses Joe Danby (Bruce Dern) murder a man in a gunfight. In the process of arresting Joe Danby McCullough becomes outnumbered & gets assistance from the town drunk, Jake (Jack Elam), who is pretty decent with a handgun. This role for Elam would be one of the best of his career. Jake is made deputy by McCullough which becomes a focal point for some of the comedy.
The arrest of Joe Danby is the catalyst for the film. Joe is a member of the large Danby clan that basically run the area. Pa Danby (Walter Brennan) is head of the clan & is downright nasty but hilarious. He's stuck with two more sons who aren't very bright: Luke (Dick Peabody) & Tom (Gene Evans). One of the funniest scenes in the movie occurs when Pa visits Joe in jail. The jail is newly built but the bars haven't arrived yet. McCullough, upon inspecting this jail in an earlier scene, has sprinkled red paint on the floor in front of the barless cell. When he arrested Joe Danby & put him in the cell McCullough explains to him that it's the blood of a previous arrestee that attempted to escape. Pa Danby can't believe his son is dumb enough to believe this & now we know that Pa Danby has three witless sons, not just two.
McCullough has taken up residence at the house of the mayor Olly Perkins (Harry Morgan) who has a very flaky daughter, Prudy (Joan Hackett). Both are great in their roles. Prudy wants to be in a relationship with McCullough but he's quick to point out he's just here long enough to get the money to get his ticket to Australia. This doesn't slow down Prudy but everything she does turns into a comical accident.
We finally get to the inevitable gunfight where the Danbys come to town with their ranch hands. Here we have another classic, funny scene where, in the middle of guns blazing, McCullough stands up & announces "Hold your fire!" He slowly crosses the street in order to get into a better position, all the while reminding everyone to hold their fire. When he gets to his new position he announces they can begin shooting again & guns are blazing once again.
This is as good as it gets in the comedy-western. It was directed by Burt Kennedy who specialized in this type of film. This version is in widescreen & the only special feature is the theatrical trailer. There is an audio track in French & subtitles are in French & Spanish.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Great Movie!
Comment: I think this is the funniest movie available. When I am feeling down, it always cheers me right up. Of course, James Garner is easy to look at!
Customer Rating:
Summary: on my way to australia
Comment: I was born 7 years after this film was released and since i imagine a guy would have to be at least ten years old to enjoy it it would have been 17 years after its release before i saw and enjoyed it. however, i didn't see this film for the first time until i was 26. that means 33 years after its release this film was good enough for me to call it one of my favorites. it withstood the test of time and six years after my first viewing (39 years after its release) i still watch and enjoy this pic as much as i did the first time i saw it.
Customer Rating:
Summary: Good clean fun for the family
Comment: Well acted with great lines. Good give and take between the characters. A movie that our whole family, including grand children, will enjoy many times. Gardner at his best.
Customer Rating:
Summary: An excellent action - light comedy Western
Comment: This superb light-comedy-action-Western is a perfect vehicle for the kind of role James Garner did better than anyone else; the handsome, slightly dangerous (to bad guys), rascal who never gets too attached to anything. However, he is often captured by the leading lady at the end of the film after putting up mild resistance along the way.
In this film, Garner plays Jason McCullough, a stranger drawn to a gold rush town. Ostensibly he is on his way to Australia (he has been on his way there for years). However, the boom has caused prices to rise, so he needs an income while he tries to find a stake to claim. The town is so tough and dangerous that they haven't been able to keep a sheriff. McCullough takes the job and sets out to clean up the town.
The one dangerous part of the town is the Danby clan. One son, Joe (Bruce Dern), killed a man in the local bar and when McCullough gets the job he sets about arresting Joe. One local who helps him, Jake (Jack Elam), gets deputized mostly against his will. Joe is put in the local jail, but the cell bars have not yet arrived. This leads to a few of the more delightful scenes in the film.
Pa Danby (Walter Brennan) owns a huge block of land that also controls the only road in and out of the town. He has gotten rich by charging the miners a 20% royalty to travel over his land. He and his three sons have pretty much done as they pleased and have everyone terrified. McCullough confuses them because he won't scare. Again, more funny stuff follows.
Mayor Olly Perkins is played by the redoubtable Harry Morgan and it is his daughter, Prudy (Joan Hackett), who is instantly attracted to McCullough (and he to her). However, she is quite eccentric (and the richest woman in the territory) and this leads to other comedic opportunities.
The energy of the film is high, it still holds together after more than 35 years, and Garner is as charming as he as ever been on screen.
Excellent comedy that is family safe.
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