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January 9, 2010

Mr. Movie – Tickling tumbleweeds

Anonymous The Randolph Guide Sat Jan 09, 2010, 11:33 AM EST

For lack of a better term, I’ll call this category Funny Westerns, and there is no better place to start than Cat Ballou (1965).

It seems incredible to me that 44 years have passed since Jane Fonda’s wide-eyed portrayal of the naive Cat captured the nation.

Cat is a schoolmarm who not so reluctantly turns outlaw. Lee Marvin earned an Oscar in a dual role as Cat’s gunfighter-protector and his evil twin who sports a metal nose.

Stubby Kaye and Nat King Cole add just the right touch as strolling minstrels. This is a funny, original movie.

For outright belly laughs, few movies of any kind can top Blazing Saddles (1974). Arguably Mel Brooks’ best film, it is the story of a small frontier town tired of being pushed around by outlaws.

Cleavon Little is hired as probably the only black sheriff in history. Little’s ingenious use of whatever materials are at hand to fend off the bad guys is hysterical.

Brooks’ stalwarts Madeleine Kahn, Harvey Korman and Gene Wilder add to the mix. Not for the squeamish, but an absolute barrel of fun.

Former Chicago Bear Alex Karras’ knockout punch on a horse is a scream.

City Slickers (1991) won Jack Palance a Best Supporting Actor Oscar as the tough old trail boss on a dude ranch. Billy Crystal is always funny and the screenplay is a gem. Lots of laughs and a little heart, too. Give the sequel a miss.

In Destry Rides Again (1939) James Stewart is a nonviolent sheriff in a wild frontier town and Marlene Dietrich is the dance hall girl with a heart of bronze. This film is now over 60 years old and is still fresh and funny and loads of fun.

The endlessly facile James Garner is the centerpiece of Support Your Local Sheriff (1969) as another nonviolent sheriff with more brains than brawn. But he has lots of help from Bruce Dern as an outlaw brat, Walter Brennan as the basic Old Man and Joan Hackett as the ditzy heroine.

Some other genuinely funny westerns include Bronco Billy (1980) with Clint Eastwood as the owner of a small western circus; The Rounders (1965) with Glen Ford and Henry Fonda as two cowboys with a feisty horse; and Bob Hope’s best movie, Son of Paleface (1952).

All of the films in this column are available on DVD. All are suitable for children 12 and up.

Rusty Hammond has been writing the Mr. Movie column since 1996. It appears in several newspapers in North Carolina.

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