[.ca] Support Your Local Sheriff (Widescreen)

From Amazon.com:
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

Light, unpretentiuos, sweet kind of humor:
I have no idea how they managed to put all these simple jokes in such sweet package, but they did certainly made just this - they made me laugh and asking for more of the same dish. What I find especially wonderful about this particular spoof - it does not spoil the memories about serous good Westerns. I watched "The Shootist" right before and "Rio Diablo" right after, enjoyed all. Try same with some pleasure stealing spoof like "Blazing Saddles", won't work. I took 1 star for too much silliness, predictability and a little bit of bad acting from some supporting characters.

Taming the Wild West:
James Garner stars as Jason McCullough in this hilarious Western spoof. This was the era of John Wayne westerns, and this movie came about at just about the right time to make fun of the western and what it had become, often scarcely more than a cookie-cutter production with a predictable plot, scowling gunfighters, and the same basic storyline. McCullough is a wandering frontiersman on his way to Australia, and happens upon a small mining town which has sprung up overnight and become too big for its laws. He decides to earn a little extra money before moving on, and takes a job as the sheriff of the town. Consequently he's forced to deal with the Danby bunch, a rancher family who's swindling and intimidating the mine owners. Between dealing with the Danbys (headed by the very funny Walter Brennan), trying to keep his prisoners in a jail with no bars, and fighting off the advances of the hapless mayor's daughter, McCullough has his hands full. Garner is great in his role as the opportunistic, but effective, sheriff. Jack Elam co-stars as his deputy, and the antics of this pair are enough to keep anyone entertained throughout the movie. Anyone familiar with Westerns from this era will appreciate the humor of this parody on Hollywood's Wild West.

Support Your Local Sheriff:
Garner shines in this western comedy as the town's new sheriff, attempting to bring law and order where others before him have failed. While he does a fine job of acting and quick drawing throughout the film, the laughs were a lot slower in coming. I watch a comedy to laugh but in this instance had less laugh-out-loud moments than there are bullets in a six-shooter. Unfortunately, this dvd has been relegated to my Boot Hill pile.

Lots of fun!:
This film is as much as a delight today, as it was when I first saw it at 12-years-old. A must for your collection!

Garner leads a Wild West Funfest!!!!:
In the Wild West, while "passing though" a gold-rush boom town on his way to Australia, Jason McCullough decides to earn some pocket money by taking the vacant post of sheriff. Armed with a quick draw and even quicker wit, the laid-back lawman is able to recruit the town drunk as deputy, win the heart of the Mayor's rather overreacting daughter and defeat the nasty Danby clan. SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF is one of those classic western spoofs in which the typical cliches don't exactly apply. James Garner, who honed his "practical attitude" hero act in the "Maverick" TV series, is wonderful as the savvy sheriff. Jack Elam's quirky charm is put to good use as his loyal, yet reluctant, deputy. Henry Morgan is a hoot as the not-always reliable town mayor. Walter Brennan is appropriately cranky as the head of the Danby clan, while Bruce Dern gets laughs as his rather dim-witted son. From the obvious sight gag of "Madame Orr's House" to Elam's delivery of the off-beat epilogue, this flick never skips a beat. If you enjoy spoofs and the classic style of James Garner's Everyman, this is a film I would heartily recommend.