Support your local Sheriff (1969)

The ingredients of the western are instantly recognisable which makes them ripe for parody. More often than not these western spoofs fall flat but when done well, as in this1969 movie directed by Burt Kennedy and starring James Garner it can produce something special. I can think of only a handful of comedy oaters that are as fondly remembered as this one.

Garner plays Jason McCullough who promptly upon arriving at the boom town of Calender takes the job of lawman. This despite the fact that he claims to be on his way to Australia where he says the real frontier lies.

The film was written by William Bowers who had co-written a number of classic westerns, among them The Gunfighter (1950) and is a send up of High Noon and Rio Bravo.


Walter Brennan plays Pa Danby and has great fun in sending up his Old Man Clanton image. Upon its original release the film was a huge success with box office takings topping $5 million in the US alone and it spawned a less successful sequel, Support your Local Gunfighter. The films are currently available as part of a DVD double bill which is worth buying for the original film alone.