Customer Reviews

Support Your Local Gunfighter/Support Your Local Sheriff

5 star:		(29)
4 star:		(21)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

James Garner turns in a great performance in this pair of western spoofs, although not related to his popular Maverick role both films are similar in their comic style and Garner is just as crafty as his Bret Maverick character. In Support Your Local Sheriff, Garner is a slick drifter who accepts the job of sheriff in a small Colorado town and uses his wits and quick draw to clean up the town and win the heart of a beautiful yet clumsy lady. In Support Your Local Gunfighter, Garner is a kept man with a bad habit of losing money to the roulette wheel. He then uses another drifter to pretend to be a famous gunfighter in a scheme to make some quick money. Yet when the real gunfighter shows up it is up to Garner to save the day. The two films are quite similar and are companion films with many of the same actors and a similar plot involving a sly stranger who is able to win over the town and a lovely lady with his charm and ability to out think his opponent. I bought this combo pack for a great price; both films are very funny and are classic western spoofs along the lines of Blazing Saddles only G Rated. A great buy for any fan of James Garner or Westerns in general. Just make sure you get both films in this neat combo and save a few bucks while your at it.

I bought the two pack of DVD's featuring both Support Your Local Sheriff and Support Your Local Gunfighter. I love Support Your Local Sheriff and Support Your Local Gunfighter was a decent movie as well(although,I wouldn't want to watch it over and over). My only issue was the DVD quality. Good grief,these movies are terribly dark. I had seen SYLS on VHS and the color was wonderful...but the DVD is so dark,it's hard to see faces and details during most of the film.

This is, in effect, two related but different movies packaged together for marketing purposes. Both are funny and being offered together makes them a bit more affordable. Reviews of both appear below.



SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF

James Garner always does a great job in playing acerbic comic roles and his role in this one is no exception. He plays a man who is hired as sheriff in a gold rush boom town and who takes the job seriously enough to clean the place up. He does so with wit and charm and the bad guys never no what hit them.

Bruce Dern plays the first guy he arrests. He is a bad one but not to bright. This is a good thing since the bars for the jail have not been installed yet. Walter Brennan plays Dern's father. He is the head of the outlaw family but just can't seem to get his way with the sheriff. His performance too is a delight. Jack Elam plays the deputy and Harry Morgan plays the mayor. All do a wonderful job.

There is always something to laugh at in this one.



SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL GUNFIGHTER

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF was a comic masterpiece and cried out, at least in terms on dollars and cents, for a sequel. So they made one, only it wasn't

Almost all of the cast from the SHERIFF appear in GUNFIGHTER but they all play completely different characters. Nothing is the same except that it takes place in the west and is funny, but not as funny as the original.

James Garner plays the role of Latigo Smith. He is a man on the run, not from the law but from a woman who expects to marry him. He goes to ground in Purgatory, a mining town. His arrival is noted by the owner of one of the town's two competing mining companies. They think he is a gunfighter hired by the other company. He's not but sees financial opportunity in the confusion. He passes himself off as the agent for the gunfighter (less danger and stress) and cons a down on his luck cowboy into playing the part of the gunfighter.

This is not a movie filled with excitement or drama. It is a comedy. It is not as funny as SHERIFF but it is funny in its own right.

These two films are as good as it gets when it comes to comedy westerns. The only problem is the colors on Support Your Local Sheriff are somewhat faded and too red. The print is clear without any scratches or other defects. It's just that the colors haven't aged well. I watched it on several sources so it isn't just the color being off on a particular TV. I still found it quite watchable. It was at most a minor annoyance.

Though "Sheriff" is anamorphic, "Gunfighter" is not. In other words, if you have a widescreen TV, the picture will not be scaled to fit your screen; instead you must watch a picture 75% as big as it could be. How a non-anamorphic DVD could be released in 2010, I don't know, but it's something you should be aware of before making the decision to purchase this (mislabeled double-sided) disc. (If you are going to watch this on a 4:3 "square" set, you won't have any issues.) Also, the side that is supposed to have one movie has the other and vice versa. A mild annoyance, but very basic error on MGM's part. Boo.

If your taste in westerns are "noir-ish" like Eastwood's "The Unforgiven" the 'Suooort Your" pair should be passed, but for a good time with the family and the popcorn bowl they both are choice.

Both of these shows are just super- we have loved them since they first came out at the theatre.Bought this for my dad and he loves it. They were sent promptly & exactly as described, price was best anywhere.

I purchased the following two movies from Amazon. Both are funny movies if you like a good western and comedy together. James Garner, Harry Morgan and Jack Elam are an outstanding group of actors in this movie. If I didn't have the two movies listed above I would purchase them. Amazon.com is a great place to purchase movies. If you like these movies I would strongly urge you to buy them. They are worth the asking price. Sandy McClaflin

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.

Support Your Local Gunfighter****
Though the titles are similar, as is some of the cast, this isn't a sequel to Support Your Local Sheriff. In some ways it's the complete opposite of Support Your Local Sheriff. In Sheriff Garner was good with a gun, in this one he isn't. In this movie he's Latigo Smith, much more akin to Maverick than his character in Sheriff, i.e., he's slower with a gun & somewhat of a coward.

Latigo arrives in Purgatory (a town name that would've been perfect in an episode of Maverick) on the run from a woman he's jilted & conned. He, literally, wants to get something off his chest...a tattoo with the name Goldie, the woman he's running from. Latigo happens to overhear Taylor Barton (Harry Morgan), a local mining baron, talking about putting a competitor out of business, Col. Ames (John Dehner who had appeared in the old Maverick TV series), by hiring a notorious gunman, Swifty Morgan (Chuck Connors). Ever the conman, Latigo senses an opportunity to make some fast cash. He convinces Jug May (Jack Elam), a drunken & derelict cowboy if there ever was one, to impersonate the gunfighter. Jug May is about as slow as a cowboy can be when doing the fast draw; Latigo constantly outdraws him proclaiming, "I'm slow, Jug!" But Jug is really into the impersonation so he's constantly practicing his fast draw. Latigo is claiming he's going to give Jug 40% of the money he'll collect but he quotes him a figure way below that percentage.

Unfortunately for Latigo, he takes a shine to Barton's daughter, Patience (Suzanne Pleshette). Pleshette is the only real improvement in casting from Sheriff, much better than Joan Hackett. Some very funny scenes occur in the movie, such as the scene in the saloon when a man wants to have a gunfight with Jug, Latigo comes up from behind & knocks him out with a pool cue across the head. Jug says "That wasn't fair, you hit him from behind!" & Latigo replies with a straight face, "Just as hard as I could!" In a later scene a young gunfighter has come to town looking to build his reputation by killing Swifty Morgan (Jug still impersonating him). Latigo cowardly knocks him out too. While unconscious Latigo breaks a finger on the gunman's right hand. Jug observes that the gunman seemed to be a cross draw artist because of the way his holster is on, Latigo then breaks a finger on the other hand.

Finally, the real Swifty Morgan comes to town, he wants to kill the man impersonating him. By this time Latigo has really taking a liking to Jug & doesn't want to see any harm coming to him since it was Latigo that put him up to the impersonation. Thus, it's Latigo who goes out to meet Morgan but, knowing he can't outdraw him, Latigo shows up on a mule loaded down with dynamite. This is where Morgan shouts out the infamous line, " You can't have a gunfight while sitting on your a**!" Well, the dynamite goes off, blowing up Madame Orr's house & revealing a brand new rich vein of gold. Swifty's dying & wants to get his boots off,but can't; Patience can now marry Latigo & the doctor never did succeed in getting the tattoo removed.

This film is directed by Burt Kennedy who was great at doing the western spoof. The only bonus feature is the theatrical trailer & the film is in the widescreen format.

My favorite westerns. Both are very well done and quite funny. I've seen them a hundred times.