Customer Reviews

Support Your Local Sheriff

5 star:		(53)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(1)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

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.

This is one of those old comedies that you can watch over and over again. My family has worn out a VHS copy, so I'm happy that a DVD release is coming up. This movie not only stars James Garner, but several other popular actors from the 60's & 70's. Walter Brennan, Harry Morgan, and Jack Elam to name a few. When Jason McColough, played by Garner, rides into town, he finds it right smack in the middle of a gold rush- and right smack in the middle of the problems that too much too soon can bring. There is fighting in the streets, gunmen shooting up the town, not to mention the revelry going on at Madam Orr's place. Needing work to finiance his gold prospecting Garner accepts the job of sherrif. The Mayor (Morgan) happens to have a pretty but accident prone daughter. Her misadventures while trying to attract the new sherrif's attention add great comedy to the plot. The sherrif's work is cut out for him when the Danby's led by pa Danby (Brennan) try to spring the youngest Danby from jail. He makes the town drunk (Played by Elam) his deputy and from there things just get funnier. When the dust settles everyone is alive and happy. Not the most complicated plot ever written, but light comedy is not supposed to be. Easy and fun to watch.

It won't take very long to realize that Support Your Local Sheriff is little more than a feature length Maverick episode (unfortunately minus Jody Foster). Don't take that as a negative. This is a wonderfully entertaining romp through the silliest mining town you'll ever encounter.

James Garner is terrific as the lightning quick gunslinger with even quicker wits. The supporting cast includes Harry Morgan, Walter Brennan, Bruce Dern and Jack Elam. This may be Elam's finest performance ever.

There's plenty of action, plenty of laughter and a dollop of romance thrown in for good measure. Support Your Local Sheriff is great family entertainment; perfect for a rainy day, a lazy day, or just while you're passing through on your way to Australia.

Jack Elam, with his one askew eye, was a guy who could watch two tennis matches at the same time without moving his head. As Jake, he's one of the reasons Support Your Local Sheriff! is as funny a Western spoof as it is. The other reasons include James Garner as Jason McCullough, Walter Brennan as Pa Danby, Joan Hackett as Prudy Perkins, Harry Morgan as Mayor Olly Perkins and Bruce Dern as Joe Danby.

McCullough drifts into the raw-boned, wide-open, gold rush town of Callender, Colorado, on his way, eventually, to Australia. He winds up taking the temporary job of sheriff, one in a long line of temporary office holders. Mayor Olly Perkins, who hires him, isn't exactly forthright about the short life spans of the previous sheriffs. McCullough comes up against the Danby clan, led by the mean old reprobate Pa Danby, when he arrests young Joe Danby for murder. And while Jason is staying at the mayor's home, he happens to fall for the mayor's daughter, Prudy, a young woman who seems to fall effortlessly into disasters. Providing back protection for McCullough is his deputy, Jake, who the day before was shoveling horse manure for a living.

Burt Kennedy was a longtime director of Westerns; he knows all the cliches and uses them with glee. What makes the movie work so well is the skill with which his actors do their jobs. Garner plays McCullough with laid-back cool, a wry man not to be rushed and, incidentally, very fast with a gun. Joan Hackett was a first-rate actress, and here she's not afraid to play a tomboy who always seems to put her worst foot forward. She's may fall face first in the mud but she comes up swinging. One of her best performances is in Will Penny. Walter Brennan just about steals the movie; it's a neck-and-neck tie between him and Garner. Brennan was a versatile, skilled actor who earned his three best supporting Academy Awards. He could play the home-spun preacher, the vicious outlaw, the hopping old coot. Here he's the fit-to-be-tied, rough-edged patriarch of a family of dim-witted sons. It's a nice performance. If you want to see just how good an actor Brennan was in his prime, watch him as Judge Roy Bean in The Westerner or as Old Man Clanton in My Darling Clementine. In another case of actorly theft, he effortlessly steals The Westerner from Gary Cooper. Bruce Dern as the remarkably stupid and dangerous youngest Danby adds to his list of off-center and funny portrayals.

Support Your Local Sheriff! is a well-crafted, affectionate spoof of Western cliches. It works so well, in my opinion, because it doesn't take itself seriously and because of some first-rate performances by any number of solid actors. The major drawback for me is the musical score. The movie is funny enough on its own that it doesn't need to have the music grab your lapels and tell you to laugh at a scene. The score does this over and over. The DVD is bare bones and, to my eye, looks fine.

"... Just passing through on my(his)way to Australia."
The Australian outback would never be the same!
Take one hilarious script, add a talented support cast,
James Garner's easy going sense of humour and you end up with the hit movie-"Support Your Local Sherriff"
Nicholas Shepherd (aged 12)Glossodia, Sydney, Australia

Most of the other reviews cover why this film is so good. Besides the humor, the one liners, the adult jokes folded in here and there that only a adult would get, there is the fact that it is a western for the whole family to enjoy. IT has a G rating, after all. With a cast including James Garner, Harry Morgan, Jack Elam, Joan Hackett and Bruce Darn what more could you ask for?

Still boyish at 41, Garner here brings a variation of his Bret Maverick character (then almost a decade in rerun-land) to the big screen and in the process spoofs almost every convention of the serious Western. As the unassuming, pragmatic, and mildly larcenous Jason McCullough, who's "basically...on my way to Australia" when he decides to pick up a little travelling money by taking on the job of taming the mining town of Calender, he proves to be rather more than he seems--and, in the process, shows once again why he was cast in so many comedies during his long career. Playing his part almost dead straight and supported by an excellent cast, he makes Jason seem like a hero even though that's the last thing Jason wants to be. In the process everyone sends up everything from High Noon (Collector's Edition) to Rio Bravo and makes it all seem effortless and plausible. A movie that defines "comedy-Western" and one all audiences should enjoy.

This is a true comedy.It is clean, hilarious and a great show for your children. The whole family can enjoy it together. We have watched this movie so many times and we still laugh everytime we watch it. It is our family favorite.

This is one fun movie! James Garner is super as Jason McCullah, who is "basically" on his way to Australia, but stops by in a little mining community that needs some law and order. He takes the job of sheriff and proceeds to clean up the town in his own funny way. The jail has no bars, so he draws a chalk line on the floor and drips some red paint on it. Then, when he gets a prisoner, he tells the guy "Oh, that's the last poor fellow who crossed the line earlier today." I highly recommend it! James Garner is really good in it, as are Jack Elam and Walter Brennan. There are a ton of funny lines and situations. See it, you'll like it!

This is one of those classic movies you can put on anytime. It has some of the best one liners of any movie. The entire cast is first rate. You will be laughing throughout the movie.