James Garner RIP

I'm saddened by the news that James Garner has passed away at the age of 86 - Garner will be best remembered for his two classic TV series Maverick and The Rockford Files but he also appeared in a string of classic movies. The Great Escape for one, Boy's Night Out for another.

 I always liked Garner's westerns and he played in a great many classic western movies - He gave us a brutal Wyatt Earp in Hour of the Gun, as well as a grizzled Cap Woodrow Call in the excellent Streets of Larado.

Garner did a fair few dramatic roles but he was always more successful in light comedy roles -Maverick and Rockford Files are great examples of this, as was the successful comedy western, Support Your Local Sheriff (1969) and it's sequel, Support Your Local Gunfighter. He also gave a great turn in the Clint Eastwood helmed comedy, Space Cowboys. James Garner was a versatile actor who deserved his superstar status.

Goodbye Sir.

Sunset

The previous POST relating to the myths of the Old West got me to thinking of  a movie I watched recently - Sunset, which was directed by Blake Edwards and released in 1988, didn't do too well at the box office and seems to appeal to neither western nor comedy fans. And yet it's not a bad movie and the novelty of seeing Wyatt Earp operating in 1920's Hollywood is worth the price of admission alone.

The film opens with a wonderfully clichéd mini-western movie – a stagecoach, beautiful blonde passenger, flees a group of desperate gunmen. Suddenly amidst sweeping music Bruce Willis, star spangled tunic and ten-gallon hat, appears to save the day.

Willis is playing B-movie western legend, Tom Mix and he’s none too happy that he’s been asked to play famed lawman, Wyatt Earp in his next movie.

“I didn’t get number one at the box office by playing other people,’ Mix tells his manager played with extreme sleaze by Malcolm McDowell.

James Garner here plays Earp for the second time, but this time he plays the character much lighter though when things get nasty we are reminded of his Earp from John Sturges’ excellent  1967 Hour of the Gun. And although it was Willis who was given top billing it is actually Garner who is given the most to do as the frontier marshal  uncovering murder and vice in 1920’s Hollywood. And understanding that this is a black comedy Garner plays Earp as a darker Maverick.

The film becomes something of a buddy movie as Earp and Mix become involved in all manner of mayhem – at times it’s a western and at other times it’s a noir-comedy but it surely us an unappreciated gem.

How much of it is true – well all of it, give or take a lie or two.