Support Your Local Gunfighter is a 1971 American Western comedy film directed by Burt Kennedy and starring James Garner, Suzanne Pleshette, Jack Elam, and Harry Morgan. It is a loose remake of the 1969 film Support Your Local Sheriff!, also starring Garner and directed by Kennedy.
In the film, Garner plays Latigo Smith, a con man who arrives in a small Western town and decides to take advantage of a local rivalry between two gold-mining factions. Recruiting the shifty Jug May (Elam) to pose as a notorious gunfighter, Smith sets his scheme in motion, while also taking time to romance the lovely Patience Barton (Pleshette). However, after his ruse is uncovered, Smith incurs the wrath of the real hired gun, among others, leading to a big shoot-out.
The film is a lighthearted satire of the Western genre, with Garner playing a charming and resourceful rogue. Elam is also memorable as Smith's hapless accomplice. The film was a critical and commercial success, and it spawned a sequel, Support Your Local Sheriff!...And Ride Out, in 1973.
Support Your Local Gunfighter is a classic Western comedy with something to offer everyone. It is a well-made film with a talented cast and a witty script. It is also a film that is both loving and subversive of the Western genre.
Trailer
@taskmaster4450le/re-leothreads-2wctlead9
Cast
- James Garner as Latigo Smith
- Suzanne Pleshette as Patience Barton
- Harry Morgan as Taylor Barton
- Jack Elam as Jug May
- John Dehner as Col. Ames
- Marie Windsor as Goldie
- Roy Glenn as Headwaiter
- Dick Curtis as Bud Barton
- Dub Taylor as Doc Shultz
- Joan Blondell as Jenny
- Ellen Corby as Abigail Ames
- Kathleen Freeman as Mrs. Martha Perkins
- Virginia Capers as Effie
- Henry Jones as Ez
- Ben Cooper as Colorado
- Grady Sutton as Storekeeper
- Pedro Gonzalez Gonzalez as Ortiz
- Gene Evans as Butcher
- Chuck Connors as "Swifty" Morgan (uncredited)
Director: Burt Kenned
Writers: James Edward Grant, Burt Kennedy
Box Office Gross: NA
Distributor: United Artists
Genre: Western
Release Date: May 26, 1971