Powerful

One of my all time favorites.

Don't listen to the negative reviews

When a movie has you begging for it to end not even half way through it's pure crap. We've all seen this movie and this characters millions of times, nothing new in it. Don't waste your time.

A follow-up rather than a sequel to "Support Your Local Sheriff", this rollicking Western comedy shares the same director and some of the same cast, but works as a self-contained story. James Garner is at his most charming as Latigo Smith, a rascally con artist in the Old West who's currently trying to escape Goldie (Marie Windsor), the woman he just married. He gets off a train in the small time mining town of Purgatory, where he makes friends with amiable old cowhand Jug May (Jack Elam). He learns that two local bigwigs, Taylor Barton (Harry Morgan) and Colonel Ames (John Dehner), are at war over mining interests, and that Ames has hired a notorious gunslinger named 'Swifty' Morgan. Sensing the opportunity for a con, and a hefty payday, Latigo tries to palm off Jug as Swifty. Then, inevitably, the real Swifty turns up.I wouldn't be honest if I said that I laughed all that much at this movie (scripted by James Edward Grant, and directed by Burt Kennedy, both Western veterans). But it's just so lively, memorably performed, and incredibly LOUD (with explosions aplenty) that it's far from boring. Garner does have tremendous fun with his role, as Latigo attempts to remove an embarrassing tattoo from his chest and continuously has a weakness for the number 23. Elam delivers one of his most likable performances of all time. The cast is simply stacked with familiar faces; among them are Joan Blondell, Henry Jones, Dub Taylor, Kathleen Freeman, Dick Curtis, Willis Bouchey, Walter Burke, Gene Evans, Grady Sutton, and Ellen Corby. (You won't hear who plays the real Swifty from me; it's a special treat.) Everybody plays this material for all that they're worth. Sometimes they don't so much speak their dialogue as yell it. The only real drawback is the lovely Suzanne Pleshettes' love interest character Patience; this is a ridiculous woman who overreacts a LOT. Ms. Pleshette herself is fine; it's just the character as written that is a problem.Things get off to a bright start and remain fun right up through the final monologue by Jug that reveals the fates of key players. People will howl in appreciation at his final line.Seven out of 10.

A con artist arrives in a mining town controlled by two competing companies. Both companies think he is a famous gunfighter and try to hire him to drive the other out of town.Another reviewer pointed out that even after all this time (42 years as I write this) the film is still funny and fresh. I have to agree with them completely. I never saw the film before now and I thought much of it was clever, original and just witty enough to be a solid film.I have not seen much of James Garner's work, and now I think perhaps I should. Between this and "Maverick", he seems to be the unsung hero of the west. (Or at least under-sung, with John Wayne and Clint Eastwood holding the "sung" category down by themselves.)

This is a comedy western movie but it is a different one because there is not much fight or gunfight in it. This is very sympathetic movie also funny in some scenes. Our hero is a new yorker guy that steals women money with charming them. He comes to west city but he doesn't like the west and the guns, horses and etc. People in this city thinks he is a hired famous gunman, he uses this identity. This is the general subject of the movie. Acting is good for a comedy movie, there is also romance and this is a plus for this one. I liked this movie and enjoyed when watching but if you look for a classic movie don't look at this one. I watched this one at a Sunday morning.

Turner South showed "Support Your Local Sheriff" and "Support Your Local Gunfight" back-to-back on Sunday night (11/20). And after enjoying my umpteenth viewing of "Sheriff", I tried to enjoy "Gunfighter" – after failing to do so the first time I saw it, a few years ago.Admittedly, the first time I watched "Gunfighter", I quit watching it less than thirty-minutes into the movie, because it just didn't seem to be doing what "Sheriff" did so well.This time, thanks to some of the comments of other IMDb users, I stuck with it . . . and I finally got the point. Even though I don't like "Gunfigher" nearly as much as "Sheriff", I think I understand why I don't like it as much as its predecessor.Without going on and on about the differences – "Sheriff" offers idealistic and hero-worshiping viewers like me a character who Waltzes through life with complete confidence, solving problems quickly and easily."Gunfighter", on the other hand, is about a morally confused person who seems reluctant to do any honest work, and who prefers to make desperate attempts to con the local residences out of a few bucks.The defining moment in "Sheriff" is the scene in which Gardner goes on a picnic with Joanne Hatchet and realizes that his plan to leave town before the big gun battle with the bad guys (which he plans to do) would be a cowardly act."Gunfighter" doesn't contain a scene like this one – and James Garner's character does not have the kind of moral fiber that would permit the story to include this kind of scene.For this reason, "Gunfighter" is decidedly inferior to "Sheriff".But, for the record, "Maverick" (1994 – which also starred James Garner – contains many scenes which compare favorably to "Support Your Local Sheriff".Oddly enough, Turner South showed "Maverick" right after "Support Your Local Gunfighter" on the afore-mentioned Sunday night.Weird, eh?