Support Your Local Sheriff!

Plot synopsis:
The Old West town of Calendar, Colorado, springs up almost overnight when clumsy, hotheaded Prudy Perkins (Joan Hackett) discovers gold in a freshly dug grave during a funeral. Her father Olly (Harry Morgan) becomes mayor of the new settlement. He and the other members of the town council bemoan the facts that the place has become a drunken round-the-clock free-for-all, and that to ship out all the gold they are mining, they must pay a hefty fee to the Danbys, a family of bandits who control the only shipping route out of town. Most people are too busy digging to take time out to be sheriff, and those who are willing to put down their shovels quickly die.
This changes with the arrival of Jason McCullough (James Garner), a calm and exceptionally competent man from "back east" who says he is only passing through town on his way to Australia. While in the town saloon, he sees young Joe Danby (Bruce Dern) gun down a man. Needing money after discovering the town's ruinous rate of inflation, McCullough demonstrates his uncanny firearms ability to the mayor and town council, and becomes the new sheriff. He breaks up a street brawl and while at the Perkins house meets Prudy under circumstances that are mortifying for her. McCullough arrests Joe and tosses him in the town's unfinished jail, which lacks bars for the cell doors and windows. McCullough keeps the dimwitted Joe imprisoned through the use of a chalk line, some dribbles of red paint, and applied psychology.
McCullough acquires a reluctant deputy in scruffy Jake (Jack Elam), previously known as the "town character". The arrest of Joe Danby ignites the wrath of the patriarch of the Danby family. While the rest of the town quiets down under McCullough's reign, Pa Danby (Walter Brennan) mounts various efforts to get Joe out of jail. None of them work, so he brings in a string of hired guns, who are equally unsuccessful. Meanwhile, Prudy spars romantically with McCullough, McCullough and Jake go on an unsuccessful search for gold. Bars are finally installed in the jail, with the dimwitted assistance of the aforementioned Joe.
Pa Danby summons a host of his relatives to launch an all-out assault. The sheriff's first impulse is simply to leave town and resume his trip to Australia, but when Prudy expresses her sincere approval of this sensible idea, he announces that it sounds cowardly and decides to stay. The rest of the townsfolk announce their disapproval of his new plan, and officially vote not to help in any way. Thus, the Danby clan rides in faced only by McCullough, Jake, and Prudy. After a lengthy gunfight, McCullough bluffs his way to victory using Joe as a hostage and the old cannon mounted in the center of town. As all the Danbys are marched off to jail, the supposedly unloaded cannon fires, smashing the town brothel and scattering the resident prostitutes and the four civic leaders.
Sheriff McCullough and Prudy get engaged. In a closing monologue, Jake breaks the film's fourth wall and directly informs the audience that they get married and McCullough goes on to become governor of the state of Colorado, never making it to Australia (although he reads about it a lot), while Jake becomes sheriff and "one of the most beloved characters in western folklore".

Tags: violence, humor, entertaining

Review:
Here is a funny, good-natured parody of classic westerns, starring James Garner in the role he was born to play - the reluctant hero, tackling crises with his wits, not his fists.
Of course, Mel Brooks' similar `Blazing Saddles' is better remembered today, but I feel that `Support Your Local Sheriff!' is the more successful film.
It achieves its results through the writers' ingenuity and the actors' flawless timing and delivery, as opposed to the riotous, hit-or-miss gags of Brooks' film.Garner plays a drifter who is gradually making his way to Australia, for no discernable reason.
Garner is adept at all the usual gun tricks and is in fact an expert marksman, but he prefers to talk his way out of tight situations, always getting the better of his intellectually-challenged opponents.The real trouble begins when he arrests a whiny ruffian (Bruce Dern) for murder, and books him in one of the cells without bars.
Brennan is hilarious sending up his Old Man Clanton role from "My Darling Clementine." His very presence in any western gives it a feel of authenticity, but here he proves to be a good sport in spoofing one of his definitive parts.
Elam, Dern, and Harry Morgan contribute priceless support, and Joan Hackett is effective as Garner's most unorthodox love interest.
However, once it picks up, it's excellent.There are tons of character actors from this late '60s era, all of whom are fun to watch, guys like Jack Elam and Harry Morgan and much more.
The bad guys, led by veteran Walter Brennan and Bruce Dern provide, I think, the best humor in the film.
It shares this with the 1939 version of Destry Rides Again, but it goes much further in exhibiting the hilarious potential of the genre by just slightly exaggerating the kind of improbable situations classic Westerns so often throw at us.To appreciate this film properly you need to be familiar with the classic Western genre, mostly to understand how the genre works when played straight but you may also recognise some movie references.The cast is absolutely marvellous, James Garner is a commanding lead, Jack Elam has never been better, and there are first-rate character actors for all the supporting roles.
Every actor perfectly cast, every line perfectly inflected, this was a work of pure comic genius that draws on all the stock cast of characters found in western novels and movies from the dawn of the genre.
There hasn't been a decade since 1969 as loaded with classic Westerns as was that one year: "Butch Cassidy and The Sundance Kid," "The Wild Bunch," "True Grit," "Once Upon A Time In The West," and this one, the least appreciated but easiest to watch.James Garner is such a comfortable onscreen presence, it's hard to appreciate all the fine work he does in this film.
The cast is simply wonderful:  James Garner is playing tongue in cheek as the naive yet witty Sheriff, and Walter Brennan, Bruce Dern and Jack Elam are simply marvelous.
It stars James Garner, Joan Hackett, Walter Brennan, Jack Elam, Harry Morgan and Bruce Dern.
Throw into the pot that James Garner had good comedic Western credentials behind him on account of his run in TV series Maverick (1957-1962); and it's evident that Messrs Kennedy & Bowers knew exactly what they were doing.Roger Ebert famously accused the makers of the film of being thieves, not buying into the parody basis, he hated the film and thought it just stole from other Western movies whilst being made in a TV show style.
Morgan & Dern play it firmly with a glint in the eye and tongue in cheek, and Brennan, a god-like bastion of Western's, is hilarious as the patriarch of the bullying Danby clan.
But best of the bunch is Jack Elam (The Far Country/ Vera Cruz/ Gunfight at the OK Corral), who playing the town character somehow finds himself (in spite of himself) employed as the Sheriff's deputy, turns in a lesson in visual and physical comedy.
But this is a classic.Please make sure that this film gets in the top 50 all time great movies by watching it, then voting for it.
"Support Your Local Sheriff!", like most comedy films, creates a sort of alternative reality dimension in which the characters are more bumbling and strange, behave completely unlike anybody would have in real life, and produce jokes that only the audience finds effective.
James Garner plays a take-it-easy man "on his way to Australia" who stops to take his first job ever as a lawman in a boomtown somewhere, sometime in the Old West.
And right from the beginning, things really start to get awkward.Garner shares the screen with other popular and talented actors such as Jack Elam, Harry Morgan, Walter Brennan, Joan Hackett, Gene Evans, and Bruce Dern.
I felt the performances were very well-done, most noticeable for Harry Morgan as the town's loud-speaking, acting-before-thinking mayor and Jack Elam as Garner's reluctantly appointed deputy, having been "promoted" from "shoveling horse...working around the stables." Walter Brennan did a sort of parody on some of his other villainous characters, still maintaining a good performance and still being a comical character without making any of the modern "funny" tactics such as acting out of the ordinary.That goes for the entire film.
This film does.Bottom line, I recommend "Support Your Local Sheriff!" for its outstanding way of blending two quite contrary genres and still making a very effective and entertaining film.
Although Garner had done some really serious westerns like Duel at Diablo, Hour of the Gun and A Man Called Sledge, he was really at his best in comedy.
So as Kennedy spoofed the title, it has a double meaning, because in this film James Garner, an amiable stranger who drifts into a mining boom town, gets the job so he can earn enough money to get passage to Australia.
And when he does need help the town council consisting of Mayor Harry Morgan, Willis Bouchey, Walter Burke, and Henry Jones is convened in a secret meeting in the town pleasure palace.The only two people Garner can count on is Morgan's tomboy daughter Joan Hackett and Jack Elam who shovels horse waste product at the stable.
No one thought more of that than Burt Kennedy who started using Elam in just about all his projects after Support Your Local Sheriff.The main villain in the piece is Walter Brennan in what turned out to be his last major theatrical film.
The rest of the film is Brennan trying to free Dern and calling in all kinds of reinforcements to do it.Best scene in the film: Garner throwing rocks at a gunfighter instead of drawing down on him.
Burt Kennedy had a great sense of humor.Support Your Local Sheriff is Burt Kennedy and James Garner at their best.
The casual tone of James Garner..and Jack Elam's kinda ditzy way of worrying made it worth watching for me...but then to put Bruce Dern as an not too bright gunman and Walter Brennan as his exasperated father makes me watch it over and over for the little simple and yet careful undertones....liked it alot...3 1/2 stars here....
Spoof Western with magnificent starring duo as James Garner as a likable sheriff and Joan Hackett as fem-lib mayor's daughter , both of whom giving great lots of fun .
The film talks about a gambler just passing through who gets roped into being sheriff (James Garner) who finds his nemesis an old baron land (Walter Brennan) .
The formula deals to enhance the comics observations of the western originated on the decade 60 with the following filmmakers : Andrew McLagen and Burt Kennedy , fine director of this movie, and a bit later on , Mel Brooks directed the indispensable ¨Blazing saddles¨ , a surrealist , extreme and gross-out spoof with the ordinary bunch of loonies and loopies .
This raucous Western spoof is a James Garner vehicle , if you like his particular performance ,you'll enjoy this one ..
Most of these ways are pretty funny (I particularly liked the red paint scene) and the film is a nice change of pace from the usual violent and brainless Western.This movie was so successful that it triggered a sequel that was exceptionally similar--heck, the name was even similar.
That's not to say it's a great movie-it isn't "The Good, The Bad, and the Ugly" at all-but that it's fun like the best television of the time, and with much higher production values.
What I like best about "Support Your Local Sheriff!" is that it is a true story that accurately depicts daily life in America, especially the Western states like West Virginia, Indiania and Detroit.
Old pro's like Henry Morgan, Walter Brennan, Jack Elam, and even the newcomer Joan Hackett, a fine actress who shoots much too well, but in real life, died much too young.
One of the funniest Western/Comedy films that combined a tongue-in-cheek script, with some of the most talented character Actors of it's day.
The classic dry-wit of James Garner, combined with one of Jack Elam's best performances, and a stellar supporting cast is a film-study in some of the best comedic timing and 'site-gags' ever committed to film.
James Garner plays a low-key fellow passing through a lawless town on his way to Australia, only to end up becoming its sheriff.
Garner keeps things light and breezy in this mostly bloodless western, and Elam, Morgan and Hackett lend him able support throughout.
James Garner successfully spoofs Western movie macho-ism in a charming way in this breezy, well-thought-out comedy.
The late Joan Hackett (an all-but-forgotten actress nowadays) is a good sport as she does physical comedy to the hilt whether in long-john underwear or in the mud or whatever, and still remains attractive and effective against Garner's scene-stealing charisma.Walter Brennan is crotchety fun as he spoofs the rotten old patriarch Western cliché character.
Bruce Dern, Harry Morgan, Gene Evans, goofy Henry Jones, and especially Jack Elam give an acting clinic on how to be a supporting movie actor.
Garner plays his usual laid back self as he did in most of his 1960's comedies, but it's the supporting performances that really make this movie.
Jack Elam, Harry Morgan, Bruce Dern and Walter Brennan took all their Western clichés and turned them on their heads.
Kudos go to the great James Garner, Harry Morgan, and the late, great Walter Brennan, Jack Elam and Joan Hackett - the latter do some of the greatest screwball comedy turns since they invented 'em!
Immortal lines - Bruce Dern: "He lies to me about whether my gun is loaded," (Joe Danby explaining to Pa Danby (Brennan) why he is sitting in a jail cell that has no bars.)"I don't know what I could've said to give you that idea," (Sheriff Jason McCulloch (Garner) to the town's mayor (Morgan) after the mayor expresses confidence to Jason: "I guess you know what you're doing." Used the Garner line myself many times.
Still love it.Garner's delivery of that one line puts me away every single time I hear it - sober, stoned, happy or sad - for 36 years.Another exchange between Joe Danby (Dern) and Pa Danby (Brennan): Joe: "I thought you said they couldn't build a jail strong enough to hold a Danby!" Pa (after a few failed attempts to break Joe out of said jail): "Well, now they built one!" This movie is a classic, still one of the best, funniest pieces of the craft of acting and directing I've ever seen.
It was called "Nicholls" - Garner played the lead role, with John Beck as the deputy (Elam's role in the movie), and Margot Kidder in the Joan Hackett role as the mayor's daughter.
The supporting cast is terrific, especially Jack Elam, Walter Brennan and Bruce Dern.
"Support Your Local Sheriff" is a very funny Western comedy with a supporting cast of actors playing roles against their usual character.
James Garner plays the new man in town who take the job of sheriff.
A true gem of a film, starring James Garner, Jack Elam and Walter Brennan.
And Jack Elam as Jake, who was later cast in multiple Disney westerns of the 70s, including Hot Lead & Cold Feet.A great film for the whole family, but be mindful of mild language.
In dire need of a steady income to finance his gold prospecting ambitions, a drifter takes on the dangerous occupation of sheriff in a crime-ridden town simply for the pay, but gradually finds himself won over by the challenges of the job in this western comedy starring James Garner.
The best thing that the film has going for it is Garner's charisma though with memorable bits such as sticking his finger down the barrel of a gun pointed at his face and bravely standing up to the much-feared, ruthless son of a local landowner (Bruce Dern in a wonderfully unbalanced turn) after he kills a man in a cold blood.
I know Roger Ebert in 1969 gave it a two out of four stars, and panned it for being what it quite precisely intended to be: spoof penance for all those old Western character actors...including Elam, Morgan, even star James Garner himself, being punished for Maverick (or reprising his best western role, take your pick).
For Garner this was less a Maverick spoof retrospective, more like: What if Jim Rockford stepped through a time warp and arrived in an 1880s madcap western gold rush town?
But it's good western comedy, nonetheless, and it is GREAT Garner..
This movie however is good as a comedy western in its totally different, own kind of way.
Despite it being a comedy, lots of money and effort was put into it, so that the movie looks and feels like an actual western from the late '60's/'70's.Also the acting is real topnotch.
James Garner of course already had lots of western and comedy experience, prior to this movie, so he is obviously very at ease within this movie and feels comfortable and confident in his role, as new town sheriff, who has to deal with a not too bright outlaw family.
Also the still very young looking Bruce Dern plays in the movie, in a good but foremost fun role, as does Walter Brennan, who is perhaps one of the most iconic western actors, from the earlier days of the genre.
I think this movie also resulted in a weekly TV series the following year called "Nichols" in which James Garner played a peace-nik sheriff.
James Garner, Walter Brennan and Bruce Dern at their best.
Released in 1969 and directed by Burt Kennedy, "Support Your Local Sheriff" is a decent, if unspectacular, Western comedy with likable James Garner as a traveler passing through a gold-rush town in the Southwest and taking the job of sheriff, despite the fact that the last three sheriffs were quickly murdered on duty.
Jack Elam plays his deputy, Harry Morgan the mayor and Joan Hackett his daughter.
After playing Maverick on television, James Garner probably was seen as a great fit in this comedy/western.
The film parodies the iconoclastic western hero who rides in lawless frontier town and tames it while he is on his way to Australia.Garner plays the reluctant hero using his wits as well as sharpshooting skills aided by a reluctant sidekick Jack Elam to bring down the bad guys that includes Bruce Dern who we see gun a man down early in the film.The movie is good natured fun with good rapport between the main leads and set ups such as a cell without bars.
Jason McCullough (James Garner) is new in town and gets into a argument with Joe Danby (Bruce Dern).
After just a few minutes I found myself laughing and then just got totally caught up in this.It deals with a stranger named Jason McCullough (James Garner) wandering into a small Western town which is just going wild with no law and order.
He quickly restores law and order to the town, hires a deputy (Jack Elam), romances the mayor's daughter (Joan Hackett) and jails killer Joe Danby (Bruce Dern).
Still she does have a great bit with her reaction when Garner says he's going to leave town.Fun, family friendly western spoof.
Garner winds up hiring Jack Elam as deputy even though he doesn't it and the town is basically ruled by Walter Brennan and his three sons.
Others were fun and engaging in their roles, I particularly liked Bruce Dern as the villain.But the jokes seem to slip by me when it comes to these comedy westerns.
The only near-parody element in the film that matters is the fantastic-level ability of the sheriff played by James Garner to shoot a six-gun.
Garner, in my judgment, offers one of his best performances in this film, and Jack Elam did award-level comedy in this comedic offering.
"Support Your Local Sheriff!" is a superb comedy Western that seemed to give a real career boost to its star performer: Mr. James Garner.
Directed by Burt Kennedy, "Support Your Local Sheriff" (1969) is a likable parody of early Westerns.
"Return of the Seven" director Burt Kennedy struck pay dirt with James Garner in the side-splitting western comedy "Support Your Local Sheriff." This hilarious horse opera concerns a swift-shooting gunslinger on his way to Australia who stops in a gold rush town and takes the job as sheriff.
Unquestionably, "Support Your Local Sheriff" qualifies as Burt Kennedy's best western spoof.
It is also James Garner's funniest western and has nothing to do with the subsequent spin-off movie "Support Your Local Gunslinger." The cast is insanely funny, too, especially Jack Elam as Garner's deputy, Walter Brennan as the chief villain, Bruce Dern as his murderous offspring, and Joan Hackett as the heroic heroine who shoots to kill.