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There are supposedly "satiric" Westerns (without the first or second thought about how to go about it) and then there’s The Real Thing. Our favorite, and the finest and funniest spoof we’ve ever repeatedly howled at is
Directed with a delightfully deft touch by Burt Kennedy with a genuinely clever and witty script (which won The Writers Guild of America’s 1970 Award for Best Comedy Written Directly for the Screen) by William Bowers, "Sheriff" plays on James Garner’s already seminal Maverick persona, ratches the lovable con up a thousand percent by making him a lovable coward (which, when you think about it, Bret Maverick always was, anyway).
See, Meester Garner’s just ambling his way towards Australia when a group of the town’s (not) finest citizens corral him into taking over for the town’s latest in a long-line of late sheriffs.
Against his better judgment, he decides to sign on,
accompanied by the town’s woebegone (who Garner wishes would be gone)
sidekick (Jack Elam in the one role his entire career of playing bad guys was leading up to). Add grandpa of granite Walter Brennan
and the stage is set (with the late lovely and feisty Joan Hackett)
for a thoroughly terrific send-up of Westerns done the right way:
with sly wit and no small amount of affection.
Predictably, they tried to follow it up a year of so afterwards with
but it pales in comparison to its rollicking original.
[ Thanks, Dogbelle, for the inspiration ]  …
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Glad we caught your attention.
But, no, nothing we're overtly aware of.
Dogbelle just triggered our memory re how much we love this movie.
See? We can be, um, quite as "simple" as the next non-critic.
(And the fact our father was a policeman in Philadelphia for well-nigh 30 years has absolutely nuttin' ta do withit, bless his Marvel Comics' reading memory).
'Sides, Thor-ski, you know how bashful and lost for words we always are. Us, having something to say?
Who'd dare put themselves through the torture of reading that?  ...
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As for me... I go on to be a big star in Italian westerns...
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As for me... I go on to be a big star in Italian westerns...
I loved that line! The best ending to a spoof western ever ... and so true.
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one of my faves too.
elam was a legend.
His line in the John Wayne film where he has the shotgun at villains head - "If you hear a loud noise it'll be Ketchum dying..."
loved his sad but poignant performance in Pat Garrett.
He - and the little group of his stalwart western contemporaries - deserve a Neo tribute thread of their own - certainly Strother, LQ, probably Lee van cleef and Ernie B.
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fair enuf. good pics neo.
although i suspect a western stalwarts thread would grow and grow!!
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This is getting released in February on Blu-ray by Twilight Time, a two-fer with Support Your Local Gunfighter included too (meh). It's one of my childhood favorites so I'm excited, and I'm dying to find out what has survived of Jeff Alexander's fantastic score...
Yavar
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Im Supporting your local Yavar - definitely needs - as gonzo put it - a Sheriff/Gunfighter two-fer score release.
As long as they include Jack's final line before the end title music!
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