Support Your Local Sheriff!
| Support Your Local Sheriff! | |
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| Directed by | Burt Kennedy |
| Produced by |
William Bowers Bill Finnegan |
| Written by | William Bowers |
| Starring |
James Garner Joan Hackett Walter Brennan Harry Morgan Jack Elam Bruce Dern |
| Music by | Jeff Alexander |
| Cinematography | Harry Stradling Jr. |
| Edited by | George W. Brooks |
| Distributed by | United Artists |
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Release date
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Running time
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92 min. |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $5 million (US/ Canada rentals) |
Support Your Local Sheriff! (a.k.a. The Sheriff) is a 1969 American Technicolor comedy western film distributed by United Artists, directed by Burt Kennedy, produced by William Bowers (who also wrote the screenplay) and Bill Finnegan. The film stars James Garner, Joan Hackett, Walter Brennan, Harry Morgan, Jack Elam and Bruce Dern.
Support Your Local Sheriff! parodies the often-filmed scenario of the iconoclastic western hero who tames a lawless frontier town. Its title was derived from a popular 1960s campaign slogan "Support Your Local Police".
The Old West town of Calendar, Colorado, springs up almost overnight when clumsy, hotheaded Prudy Perkins (Joan Hackett) discovers gold in a freshly dug grave during a funeral. Her father Olly (Harry Morgan) becomes mayor of the new settlement. He and the other members of the town council bemoan the facts that the place has become a drunken round-the-clock free-for-all, and that to ship out all the gold they are mining, they must pay a hefty fee to the Danbys, a family of bandits who control the only shipping route out of town. Most people are too busy digging to take time out to be sheriff, and those who are willing to put down their shovels quickly die.
This changes with the arrival of Jason McCullough (James Garner), a calm and exceptionally competent man from "back east" who says he is only passing through town on his way to Australia. While in the town saloon, he sees young Joe Danby (Bruce Dern) gun down a man. Needing money after discovering the town's ruinous rate of inflation, McCullough demonstrates his uncanny firearms ability to the mayor and town council, and becomes the new sheriff. He breaks up a street brawl and while at the Perkins house meets Prudy under circumstances that are mortifying for her. McCullough arrests Joe and tosses him in the town's unfinished jail, which lacks bars for the cell doors and windows. McCullough keeps the dimwitted Joe imprisoned through the use of a chalk line, some dribbles of red paint, and applied psychology.
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