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Prodcut Description: [More Information ...] 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
Similar Products : [More Information ...] Support Your Local Gunfighter James Garner returns for this pseudosequel to Support Your Local Sheriff, this time as a gigolo con man mistaken for a legendary killer. Escaping matrimonial entanglements, he lands in the town of Purgatory in the midst of a raging war between gold miners racing for the mother lo... |  Operation Petticoat Blake Edwards's delightful 1959 comedy stars Cary Grant as a World War II submarine captain whose preference for a by-the-book command reluctantly yields to certain realities. Chief among those is that Grant's first officer (Tony Curtis, who impersonated Grant that same year in B... |  Maverick Inspired by the 1960s TV series that starred James Garner in the title role, this lightweight Western from 1994 proved to be a surprising box-office hit. Well, maybe not such a big surprise, since it's from the star and director of the Lethal Weapon movies, and operates with a si... |  Cat Ballou Long before Unforgiven deconstructed the Western, or Blazing Saddles lampooned it, Cat Ballou poked the genre in the eye. An altogether enjoyable comedy, the film is full of small surprises, big laughs, and wonderful character turns. Catherine Ballou (Jane Fonda) is a schoolteach... |  The Hallelujah Trail A wagon train heads for denver with a cargo of whisky for the miners. Chaos ensues as the temperance league the us cavalry the miners and the local indians all try to take control of the valuable cargo. Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 05/13/2008 Starring: Burt Lancaster Martin... |  Father Goose Cary Grant's penultimate feature before retirement was this cheerful 1964 effort to overturn his career-long image of urbane sophistication. As the unshaven, messy misanthrope Walter Eckland, a World War II-era beach bum who monitors Japanese air activity for the Australian n... |  The Apple Dumpling Gang (Special Edition) After an earthquake shakes the area children find a large gold nugget worth tens of thousands of dollars. But their newfound wealth is causing more problems than its solving so they agree to give the gold to two bumbling outlaws. Studio: Buena Vista Home Video Release Date: 02/... |  The Magnificent Seven (Special Edition) Studio: Tcfhe/mgm Release Date: 05/13/2008 Run time: 128 minutes Rating: Nr |  El Dorado El Dorado doesn't quite have the scope or ambition of Howard Hawks's greatest Westerns, Red River and Rio Bravo. But this relaxed picture, made near the end of Hawks's marvelous career, still shows the steady, sure hand of a master. Hawks reunites with John Wayne, playing a hired... |  Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Two-Disc Collector's Edition) This 1969 film has never lost its popularity or its unusual appeal as a star-driven Western that tinkers with the genre's conventions and comes up with something both terrifically entertaining and--typical of its period--a tad paranoid. Paul Newman plays the legendary outlaw Butc... |
Support Your Local Gunfighter Operation Petticoat Maverick Cat Ballou The Hallelujah Trail Father Goose The Apple Dumpling Gang (Special Edition) The Magnificent Seven (Special Edition) El Dorado Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid (Two-Disc Collector's Edition)
Reviews:
A funny, affectionate spoof of classic Westerns By 1969, revolution was in the air in the United States. All kinds of institutions were under question or attack. So it was a perfect time for the funniest spoof ever of the heroic Western. James Garner stars in "Support Your Local Sheriff" as Jason McCullough, who rides into the frontier town of Calendar. Calendar was a sleepy little outpost until the discovery of gold a short time before McCullough's arrival. Then all h--- broke loose. He's soon persuaded to take up the sheriff's badge, which is vacant (and dented) since all the previous sheriffs have been killed or fled. He insists he's really on his way to Australia, but doesn't seem to be in any real hurry to get there. Garner's charm, timing and delivery, as ever, are magnificent, and he's surrounded by a first-rate supporting cast.
There's a love interest, of course, played delightfully by Joan Hackett, whose father, the town Mayor, is portrayed by Harry Morgan. Of course there's an outlaw family, the Danbys, headed by flinty Walter Brennan. Jack Elam, who was the town character and had been shoveling out the stable, finds himself pressed into service as McCullough's deputy, and Bruce Dern is Joe Danby, whose arrest for murder and clan's promise to free him at any cost provokes the inevitable showdown. There isn't a weak link the cast or a slow moment in the script. This is laugh-out-loud funny from beginning to end, and it's G rated, so the entire family can enjoy it. I haven't tired of it, despite repeated viewings. Don't miss it!--William C. Hall
What a Great Comedy Western This is one excellent classic film starring James Garner. this is one funny and outrageous western for whole family to enjoy. i thought i was going to bust a gut i was laughing so hard at the anticks of bruce dern's stupid but loveable outlaw character and the way jim handles him and the others in the town. quite funny.
Highly Recommended. Support Your Local Sheriff 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. Great Movie! 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! on my way to australia 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. |
Keyword: Video,
Description: Support Your Local Sheriff

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