Support Your Local Sheriff
by Burt Kennedy
List Price:
Our Price: $9.99
You Save: $4.99 (33%)
Availability: Usually ships in 24 hours
Buy Used: from $3.96 (click here)
Category: DVD
See more DVD releases
Buy this DVD movie at online store in your country
Canada
Canada
DVD Cover Information
Actor: Harry Morgan, Jack Elam, James Garner, Joan Hackett, Walter BrennanDirector: Burt Kennedy
Cinematographer: Harry Stradling Jr.
Editor: George W. Brooks
Writer: William Bowers
DVD: Region Code 1
Audio: English (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; French (Original Language), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono; Spanish (Subtitled); French (Subtitled); Spanish (Dubbed), Dolby Digital 2.0 Mono
Format: Anamorphic, Closed-captioned, Color, DVD-Video, NTSC, Subtitled, Widescreen
Picture Format: Anamorphic Widescreen, 1.85:1
Running Time: 93 minutes
DVD Release Date: 2001-03-20
Audience Rating: G (General Audience)
Studio: United Artists
Movie Reviews of Support Your Local Sheriff
Movie Review: Support Your Local Sheriff
Summary: 5 Stars
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.
Summary of Support Your Local Sheriff
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 AxmakerArmed with a wry sense of humor and a straight-shooting sidearm, James Garner (Maverick, My Fellow Americans) fights for peace, justice and fun in this outrageous, irreverent and "very funny" (Los Angeles Times) farce co-starring Joan Hackett, Walter Brennan, Harry Morgan and Jack Elam. Support Your Local Sheriff is "sheer entertainment from start to finish" (Boxoffice)! On his way to Australia, frontier opportunist Jason McCullough (Garner) stumbles into a small gold-rush town and decides to earn a little extra pocket money by accepting a temporary assignment as its sheriff. Happily applying himself to his new position, McCullough manages to turn the town derelict (Elam) into his deputy, outsmart the dreaded Danby clan (led by Brennan in a hilarious comic performance), and fend off the lusty advances of the mayor's daughter (Hackett) all without breaking a sweat or dirtying his shiny black boots!
Comedy DVD Video
DVD Video
- Action & Adventure
- African American Cinema
- Animation
- Anime & Manga
- Art House & International
- Classics
- Comedy
- Cult Movies
- Documentary
- Drama
- Educational
- Fitness & Yoga
- Gay & Lesbian
- Horror
- Kids & Family
- Military & War
- Music Video & Concerts
- Musicals & Performing Arts
- Mystery & Suspense
- Science Fiction & Fantasy
- Special Interests
- Sports
- Television
- Westerns
Movies most talked about in Steve Dancy's Favorite Western Movies
The Shopkeeperby James D. Best
Wheatmark; Published: 2007-12-15; Paperback; Book
Best price: $11.83
Price in other shops:
Open RangeRelease date: 2004-01-20; DVD
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops:
City SlickersRelease date: 2001-05-08; DVD
Best price: $5.35
Price in other shops:
Wanted: Dead or Alive - Season OneBCI ECLIPSE LLC; Release date: 2007-05-15; DVD
Best price: $11.05
Price in other shops:
Hondo (Full Screen)Release date: 2005-10-11; DVD
Best price: $6.86
Price in other shops:
Two Mules For Sister SaraRelease date: 2003-05-06; DVD
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops:
SilveradoRelease date: 2002-06-04; DVD
Best price: $5.75
Price in other shops:
My Darling ClementineRelease date: 2004-01-06; DVD
Best price: $4.97
Price in other shops:
Monte WalshRelease date: 2003-07-29; DVD
Best price: $5.99
Price in other shops:
HombreRelease date: 2002-06-04; DVD
Best price: $6.96
Price in other shops:
Similar DVD Movies
Rio Bravo (Two-Disc Special Edition)Warner Brothers; Release date: 2007-05-22; DVD
Best price: $6.89
Price in other shops:
El DoradoWAYNE,JOHN; Release date: 2000-03-21; DVD
Best price: $4.47
Price in other shops:
The Magnificent Seven (Special Edition)TWENTIETH CENTURY FOX HOME ENT; Release date: 2001-05-08; DVD
Best price: $4.75
Price in other shops:
The Apple Dumpling Gang (Special Edition)Release date: 2003-09-02; DVD
Best price: $4.93
Price in other shops:
The Hallelujah TrailRelease date: 2001-03-20; DVD
Best price: $2.50
Price in other shops:
Father GooseRelease date: 2001-09-18; DVD
Best price: $7.47
Price in other shops:
Cat BallouSony; Release date: 2000-08-08; DVD
Best price: $6.41
Price in other shops:
MaverickRelease date: 2004-06-01; DVD
Best price: $5.73
Price in other shops:
Operation PetticoatRelease date: 2001-09-18; DVD
Best price: $7.75
Price in other shops:
Support Your Local GunfighterRelease date: 2001-03-20; DVD
Best price: $6.47
Price in other shops: