Something about the western genre often lends itself to blending with comedy, which I find delightful. Here are my ten favorite funny westerns -- some are spoofs or meant to be comedies, and others are more just westerns that have a lot of funny stuff in them.
2. The Apple Dumpling Gang (1975) A card sharp (Bill Bixby) takes care of three orphans, marries a stage coach driver (Susan Clark), and captures a famous outlaw (Slim Pickens) while eluding the machinations of two inept would-be robbers (Don Knotts and Tim Conway). One of my favorites when I was a kid, and still funny and awesome now.
3. North to Alaska (1960) A wealthy Alaska mine owner (John Wayne) brings a dance hall girl (Capucine) back to his claim to replace the woman who jilted his mining partner (Stewart Granger), only to fall in love with her himself. A western romcom, basically, and one with an amazingly fun brawl in the mud at the end. Thanks to this movie, I have basically been on my way to Alaska for the last thirty years.
4. Texas Across the River (1966). A Southern belle (Rosemary Forsyth) pursues her European fiance (Alain Delon) to Texas, where she gets mixed up with an opportunistic gunrunner (Dean Martin). A few of the jokes have not aged well, but most of them are still laugh-out-loud funny.
5. Along Came Jones (1945) A slow-talking, easy-going cowpoke (Gary Cooper) gets mistaken for a vicious outlaw (Dan Duryea) and falls for the outlaw's girl (Loretta Young). This is a charming western comedy that amuses me greatly.
6. The Sheepman (1958) A sheep rancher (Glenn Ford) insists on raising his sheep in an area dominated by cattle ranchers, no matter how much they pressure or cajole him to be rid of the wooly beasts. The main character's sense of humor and a stubborn and sassy woman (Shirley MacLaine) elevates this above turning into yet another range war picture.
7. McLintock! (1963) A rich rancher (John Wayne) battles his estranged wife (Maureen O'Hara), daughter, land-grabbing bad guys, and various other adversaries. It's actually a western version of The Taming of the Shrew.
8. Cat Ballou (1965) Cat Ballou (Jane Fonda) comes home to her family's ranch just in time to witness her father's murder by the notorious (and noseless) Tim Strawn (Lee Marvin). She straps on a gunbelt and sets out to avenge him, eventually gathering up an outlaw gang of comically inept ne'erdowells, including washed-up gunfighter Kid Shelleen (also Lee Marvin). This is a wacky, wild movie, but I like it.
9. Three Amigos! (1986) Three silent movie stars (Steve Martin, Chevy Chase, and Martin Short) are mistaken for actual gunfighters by the people in a small Mexican village being terrorized by a bandit (Alfonso Arau). It's basically a really silly version of The Magnificent Seven.
10. Rango (2011) A chameleon (Johnny Depp) accidentally winds up in a middle-of-nowhere town that's in desperate need of some law and order. It's an animated spoof/homage to all the classic westerns, with tropes and archetypes at every turn, and such a loving homage that I can't help but find it both funny and charming.
Yup, this is another contribution to this year's Legends of Western Cinema Week. Hope you've been enjoying the festivities!
My fave funny western is Blazing Saddles. I love Mel Brooks! There is no low to which he will not stoop for a laugh.
ReplyDeleteDebra, Mel Brooks is hit or miss for me. I LOVE Get Smart, and I enjoy Robin Hood: Prince of Thieves, but the rest of his movies make me laugh just a little bit. Not my brand of humor I guess, lol. But I know a lot of people who do love Blazing Saddles :-)
DeleteI love comic Westerns. Especially ones that are kind of unexpected/surprising in their comedic style, like Support Your Local Sheriff! and Rango. Zany fun all around.
ReplyDeleteOlivia, yes! Surprising humor, and humor that pokes LOVING fun at western tropes, is what I'm all about :-)
DeleteSupport Your Local Sheriff is my favorite funny Western, by far. One of my favorite comedies in general too! James Garner has such good comedic timing--all the cast does, really. I just laugh and laugh whenever I watch it.
ReplyDeleteEva, it's probably one of the two funniest movies I have ever seen. I really don't know if I laugh more over it or over The Russians are Coming! The Russians are Coming!. Both are so funny, even though I have watched them over and over!
DeleteI am a great great fan of the late James Garner, and so "Support your local Sheriff" is one of my fave funny westerns. With his comedic western credentials behind him as Maverick I guess the producers knew what they were doing. Roger Ebert (who panned it) just didn't get the point – it's a parody, but as you say, Rachel, a "loving" one. The cast ist superb – Garner deadpan, Hackett (who left us far too soon) great as the clumsy gal, Jack Elam hilarious. "The usual villain" Bruce Dern in a jail without bars! Sometimes it reminds me of "Destry Rides Again". A comic gem!
ReplyDeleteMy rule for spoofs is that they have to be a) loving toward the genre they are spoofing, and b) have a plot that would hold up just fine without the humorous elements. And Support Your Local Sheriff is 100% great at both of those :-) The casting is magnificent (especially having Jack Elam as the deputy who "eventually becomes one of the most beloved characters in western history" -- talk about casting against type!!).
DeleteI saw just part of Support Your Local Sheriff! on TV once, and what I found absolutely screamingly hilarious was the way that all the villains were basically spoofing all the bad-guy roles they usually played. SO funny to see Bruce Dern and Gene Evans playing comedy. It felt like a movie that basically only people who know the tropes (and yes, the cliches) of the Western movie genre well would really "get" the humor of.
ReplyDelete(Oh, and the scene where Garner and his sidekick discuss splitting the mine profits felt like a parody of The Treasure of the Sierra Madre to me!)
Elisabeth, I highly recommend Support Your Local Sheriff, obviously. They definite had fun casting people either very against type or very much according to type. And Bruce Dern is surprisingly awesome at comedy!
DeleteHave you read Burt Kennedy's memoir Hollywood Trail Boss? He really loved westerns, and you can tell it when you watch this movie. It's definitely a comedy aimed at lovers of the genre.
Great list! I've never seen The Sheepman so I will have to check that out, but I would add to my favorites list some Bob Hope classics like "Alias Jesse James", "Paleface" and "Son of Paleface" as well as the remake "The Shakiest Gun in the West" with Don Knotts. "The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw" is also a good one...and then there are always the Disney comedies like "The Apple Dumpling Gang Rides Again" with the unforgettable Wild Billy Hitchcock and "Hot Lead Cold Feet" starring the delightful Jim Dale.
ReplyDeleteThanks, Metzingers! The Sheepman is quirky, and sometimes I think the funniest part is how whenever Glenn Ford and Shirley MacLaine share a scene, they both seem to be trying not to crack up. Just makes me laugh, seeing them try not to laugh! They have lovely chemistry.
DeleteI have Paleface and Son of Paleface on my TBW shelves. I have to be in just the right mood for Bob Hope, but I'll get to them one of these days. I do like Shakiest Gun in the West, but haven't seen it since I was a teen.
Ooh, got several new titles, thank you! And didn't realize McClintock has echoes of Taming of the Shrew -- definitely bumps it up my TBW list! :)
ReplyDeleteHeidi, sweet! And yes, it's definitely intentional in the way it echoes Taming of the Shrew.
DeleteUnsurprisingly, I've only seen 4 of these, and only two of those I love (Cat Ballou and Rango). I do want to see Along Came Jones someday!
ReplyDeleteDKoren, hah! Well, of the ones you haven't seen here, I think you would enjoy Along Came Jones the most. I'd totally watch it with you sometime!
DeleteGreat list! Totally not shocked that "Sheriff" made the top spot. :-)
ReplyDeleteThanks, Rebecca! No, pretty sure that movie is The Funniest Western Ever Made ;-)
DeleteI've wanted to see The Apple Dumpling Gang for AGES. I love Don Knots in other things.
ReplyDelete*blinks* McLintock! is a Taming of the Shrew retelling?? Man, I hated that movie but I'm going to have to rewatch and reevaluate it now.
Chloe, oh my goodness, you would LOVE The Apple Dumpling Gang. Watch it! Watch it!
DeleteI did not like McLintock! when I first saw it in my teens, but it has grown on me over the years.
I'm trying to remember if I've seen your first pick with James Garner. I know I would have seen it at a video store or around the Internet, but cannot remember if I watched it. I do know I have seen North to Alaska and always laugh through McLinktock. It's so fun.
ReplyDeleteRissi, it's not hard to find Support Your Local Sheriff, so I'm sure it has crossed your path at some point :-) It's such fun! Glad you've seen and enjoyed the two John Wayne comedies!
DeleteI love that 'wacky and wild' Cat Ballou too!
ReplyDeleteChrisk, not suprised! It is such offbeat fun :-)
Delete