Support Your Local Sheriff

James Garner established himself as a natural for comic Westerns with the TV series Maverick, playing the reluctant hero who avoided conflict and gunplay using charm, wit, and a con-man's knack for keeping his opponents off balance. In 1969's Support Your Local Sheriff, Garner stars as Jason McCullough, a drifter on his way to Australia ("the last frontier," he explains to all who will listen), who stops off in a lawless frontier town in the midst of a gold rush boom and takes the job of sheriff for the money. "Oh, you'll get your money's worth," he assures the town elders (among them Harry Morgan and Henry Jones) and proceeds to arrest one of the Danby boys (Bruce Dern) for murder, even though the jail hasn't any bars yet. The film has a laconic pace, indulging in the broad, boisterous humor and slapstick brawls common to Westerns of the ‘60s while also quoting earlier classics. Walter Brennan here plays a caricature of 'Old Man' Clanton in My Darling Clementine, and a gag centered on his false teeth references Red River. Garner is a master at playing the easygoing straight man who is both witty and practical; Joan Hackett is the mayor's disaster-prone daughter; and Jack Elam has one of the best roles of his career as the man who becomes Garner's deputy. Garner and Elam reunited with director Burt Kennedy for the 1971 companion piece Support Your Local Gunfighter (also newly available on DVD). Likely to hold nostalgic appeal, this is a strong optional purchase. (S. Axmaker) [Blu-ray Review—Sept. 24, 2019—Kino Lorber, 93 min., G, Blu-ray: $29.99—Making its second appearance on Blu-ray, 1969’s Support Your Local Sheriff features a decent transfer and a DTS-HD 2.0 soundtrack. Extras include audio commentary by filmmaker and historian Michael Schlesinger. Bottom line: a solid Blu-ray release for this amiable if lesser Western classic.]