Support Your Local Gunfighter
Director– Burt Kennedy
Starring – James Garner, Suzanne Pleshette, Jack Elam, Harry Morgan, Joan Blondell
Country of Origin- U.S.
Distributor - Kino Lorber
Number of Discs - 1
Reviewed by - David Steigman
Date- 10/08/2019
Support Your Local Gunfighter is a sequel of sorts to the previous film Support Your Local Sheriff. Just as was the case in the first film, this is more or less a parody on the Western genre and features many of the same actors including screen legend James Garner. In this picture, Latigo Smith (Garner) is trying to escape from being married to Goldie (Marie Windsor) arrives in a mining town controlled by two rival companies that are digging for gold. Both of the mining companies think he is the famous gunfighter “Swifty Morgan” and attempt to hire him for the sole purpose of driving the other company out of town. Smith, seeing an opportunity for riches as well as a new life with Patience Barton (Suzanne Pleshette), has a friend of sorts, Jug May (Jack Elam) pretend to be Swifty Morgan (instead of Latigo himself) for his crazy scheme. The plans start out and progress nicely for Smith until the real Swifty Morgan (Chuck Connors) arrives in town.
Support Your Local Gunfighter is a light-hearted tongue-in-cheek matinee Western comedy that many fans may find entertaining. The acting is excellent, consisting of many veteran actors. In addition to James Garner, Jack Elam, Marie Windsor, Joan Blondell and Harry Morgan add their superb acting talents to the picture. Director Burt Kennedy has injected a great deal of life and humor into his movie, leading to a most enjoyable viewing experience.
If you missed out on the Twilight Time Blu-ray release of Support Your Local Gunfighter which was paired with Support Your Local Sheriff, Kino Lorber has re-released the film as a stand-alone on Blu-ray. The video quality is excellent with deep textures, and bold rich colors, especially reds and blues. The indoor scenery is detailed, outdoor shots which most take place during the day, look spectacular. Evening scenes are also above average with balanced black levels and shadowing. Flesh tones look natural and organic; there is no apparent use of DNR to the image.
Kino Lorber has gone with the usual English DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 track. The dialog is perfectly serviceable with action sound effects such as gunfire, and the wonderful musical score by Jack Elliott and Allyn Ferguson coming in much more aggressive. Optional English subtitles are available for this release.
Support Your Local Gunfighter also sports some different extras than what is on the Twilight Time release. There is an audio commentary by film historian Michael Schlesinger, where he talks about the movie (obviously) and shares some interesting tidbits about the crew and the cast members, in particular Marie Windsor, who was quite the looker early in her career.
The remaining extras are two deleted scenes, which are in high definition, and a theatrical trailer for the picture is included as well.
If you like silly, goofy and yet entertaining comedy Western movies look no further than Support Your Local Gunfighter. This new release by Kino Lorber, which is both unlimited and less expensive than the previous offering, can most certainly be recommended!
