Customer Reviews

Support Your Local Gunfighter [VHS]

5 star:		(13)
4 star:		(10)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

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.

Amusing fluff from the makers of SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF, SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL GUNFIGHTER isn't quite as amusing or easy to warm up to.
Jack Elam steals the show as a roustabout drifter who con man James Garner convinces to impersonate legendary gunman Swifty Morgan. Veteran actors Henry Morgan and Dub Taylor seem to shout every line of dialogue, which doesn't help things much. The uncredited Chuck Connors, another scene stealer playing the real Swifty, shows up in the last ten minutes to bring things to a calamitous conclusion.
I think introducing the Connors' character a half-dozen scenes or so earlier would have helped things immensely. SHERIFF worked so well because there were easily identifiable Good and Bad Guys, and a lot of the laughs came from lampooning Walter Brennan and his brood.
Even so, GUNFIGHTER made me laugh, which is what I got it for. A good movie, if not quite as good as its predecessor.

I don't think James Garner ever made a bad movie. This is an excellent comedy western. You won't be disappointed.

Here is a story that start to finish is funny. It's actually a bit funnier than "...Sheriff". The acting is perfect, (Harry Morgan is less loud in this one) and the humor, top notch. Want to laugh and not feel guilty? This is one of those movies. Maybe more of a guy movie, probably because of James Garner, but an enjoyable big bag of popcorn, none the less.

This is the sequel to the outrageously funny Support Your Local Sheriff. In this film, James Garner plays the con-man Latigo Smith, a man with a passion for foolish bets at the Roulette table and who has just ditched his boisterous fiancee. As far as Smith knows, his biggest problem is getting the tattoo of her name off his chest, but things quickly become more complicated for him when he loses all his money and decides to help a local cowhand (Jack Elam) impersonate a famous gunfighter. Hilarity ensues as the scheme is found out and Smith has to concoct plan after plan to cover himself.

Many members of the comedy troupe from Support Your Local Sheriff are in this movie. Besides Garner and Elam, the very funny Harry Morgan stars, again, as a mining tycoon. Suzanne Pleshette is the love interest this time, and stars as Patience, a half-crazy tomboy whose name is ill-deserved and who is a lousy aim with a gun (fortunately for Smith). This movie never quite reaches the comic peak of the prequel, mostly because the former movie touched on so many of the contemporary Hollywood cliches and seemed a fitting parody of the sheriff common in most of those films. Still, this is a funny movie, a fitting sequel. Watch them both--you won't be disappointed.

SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL GUNFIGHTER is a fun romp through the old west, well, sort of (the old west was probably never really like it's prortayed in the movies). Anyway, James Garner is the main attraction in this show, pulling on audience appeal developed in the movie SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF (which is definitely a 5-star show).

The reason that I awarded "Gunfighter" only 4 stars is that as a sort of a sequel to "Sheriff," "Gunfighter's" story line is not as crisp, not as well developed...it's as if most of the best ideas were used up during the writing and filming of "Sheriff." "Gunfighter" still has a good dose of humor, and all the melodramatic elements of "Sheriff": a good guy (Garner), some bad guys to help make Garner's character look good, a beautiful lady in distress, and lots of bystanders who provide character and body to the film. Garner does not, however, come across as being as clever or as likeable as he did in "Sheriff."

This movie, while definitely worth a look, is not, in my opinion, on par with "Support Your Local Gunfighter."

A good show, definitely 4 or 4.5 stars, but not a 5 star option.

If you like western comedies you will enjoy this show!

Alan Holyoak

This is a classic. You can watch it again and again with any age group and it's always amusing. I've watched it repeatedly thru the years and never regreted it once. Definitely a must for your collection as is SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERRIFF. Both great spagetti westerns for the whole family.

For a fun, family friendly movie, that you'll want to bring on a trip in your motor home this is one of them. Ranking my Favorite James Garner movies came down to the two Support your... movies for number 1 and 2. I had to good with the one that had the sidewinder, Susan Plesette and the X-Rifleman and Cub second baseman Swifty Morgan.

SYLSheriff came in second because he was just passin thru on his way to australia anyway.

This is one of James Garners finest movies . It is very funny and I still to this day love watching it over and over again .

It's funny with Cowboy films - either they work and are classics or they're lame. And any twist on the genre (e.g. Cowboys & Aliens), let alone an attempt at humour, is often punished at the box office.

Which is why this film is such a revelation - it's deeply quirky and unusual, yet somehow works both as a Western and a comedy. The vivid and varied colours come straight out of the sixties, yet somehow it retains the grittiness of a cowboy film and the dark humour of the frontier.

The plot is fairly simple, as it follows a dandy con-man played by James Garner, who succeeds in tricking two rival mine-owners into giving him £5000 a piece, which he proceeds to twice blow by betting '23 red' on Roulette.

It may not sound much, but as well as the plot the charactors have that magnetism of all great Westerns, and the film has all the ethos of the very best Spaghetti Westerns.

So, if you haven't come across the Support Your Local Sherriff series, then this one comes thoroughly recommended. Like the best of the Wild West genre, this movie defies cliche and presents a fully fleshed-out vision of the amazing places that Cowboy films can go, given a little creativity...