Carry on Cowboy

Not as good as the last one I saw, but it had it's moments. Jim Dale was funny as the Marshall, and Angela Douglas (The Four Feathers) really spiced up Annie Oakley. Kenneth Williams was very funny as the judge, with Sid James as The Rumpo Kid. They all looked like they were having a real good time making this film. Along with Angela Douglas, this was the first film for Bernard Bresslaw (Little Heap), Peter Butterworth Doc), and Playboy model Margaret Nolan (Dink in Goldfinger). Not one of the best, but funny, nonetheless.

When Judge Burke sends for help to rid Stodge City of The Rumpo Kid and his gang of trouble makers, he's delighted to hear that he is being sent a trained Marshall. Trouble is is that it's Marshall P. Knutt, a trained sanitary engineer. In 1964 the "Carry On" team has ventured into their first parody of the movies with Carry On Cleo. A huge success, and arguably the best film of the lot to many fans, it prompted the Thomas/Rogers/Rothwell team to believe that movie pastiche's was the way forward for the franchise. Enter Carry On Cowboy a year later. With a knowing of the genre and all its conventions, screenwriter Talbot Rothwell produced one of the better parodies to have ever been made. The stock cartoon fervour and cheeky asides still exist, but Carry On Cowboy is a more leaner, even darker "Carry On" than any of the others film's in the series. In its own right, with out the "Carry On" name attached, it's a fine comedy, with dashes of violence and even a revenge thread running thru it (courtesy of the gorgeous Angela Douglas as Annie Oakley). It's also one of the few film's in the series to demand a bit more from its actors outside of guffaw jinx and innuendos. Sid James, Kenneth Williams and Joan Sims rise to the challenge, happy in the knowledge that Jim Dale and Charles Hawtrey were there to grab (and get) the laughs. 8/10

A series of films carried on, with perpetual double entendre, loved to finger an organ, unleash melons to gorge on, baps, flaps, jugs, bazookas went ding dong. Though it's not quite so funny today, Fanny plays with her balls in new ways, Dick's choppers been cut, Kitty's curtains are shut, the clams gone from splayed to being spayed.

This is virtually a straight copy of those Bob Hope Westerns like Paleface and something or other Jesse James. Weedy bloke becomes sheriff after case of mistaken identity. With Carry On films, though, there's the Jim Dale rule, which is that the movies Jim Dale stars in are usually sweet, with a bit of a plot, and the ones he doesn't tend to be pre-peak or just terrible, like At Your Convenience or the camply awful Girls, both of which remain fascinating social documents but are genuinely bad films. Cowboy isn't a good film, of course, but it is likeable. There's a great song. Sid James isn't the romantic lead, so you can breathe a sigh of relief and just sit back and enjoy it. Watch without irony - it's not cool to pretend there's another level to this pretty bad but genuinely charming little British film.

Perhaps I have overly fond childhood memories of Carry On movies and now that I'm starting to rediscover them, I'm a bit more critical. That said, many do stand the test of time, but Carry On Cowboy is not one of them. Carry On Cowboy is a film in that category of movie in which: (1) you can't wait for it to end, but (2) it's so unbelievably bad that you assume it has just got to get better at some point, so you continue to watch. Torture! I didn't laugh once. The biggest attempt at a gag in the film seemed to revolve around Jim Dale being clumsy. The occasional example of Dale doing a poor impersonation of Norman Wisdom is bad enough (eg Carry On Doctor), but to repeat it again and again is agony. Towards the end of the movie, when Dale practices shooting a gun, was so painful to watch I half-hoped he would shoot me instead. The only selling points are the great sets and the half-decent American accents of the Carry On gang.

This is not only one of the best sustained efforts from the “Carry On” crew but a classic film in its own right. I had mentioned it as a rare example of a British Western spoof when I recently watched THE FROZEN LIMITS (1939) with The Crazy Gang; incidentally, the film’s style is pretty close to that of BLAZING SADDLES (1974) – but it actually anticipates Mel Brooks by almost a decade! There are so many inspired gags in this outing (right from the opening sequence with the black-clad Rumpo Kid arriving in town and immediately gunning down three men, only to then ask himself “I wonder what they wanted?”) that it’s hard to remember them all – even a mere couple of hours later. Notable, however, is the merciless lampoon of the Wyatt Earp legend by making its namesake here (played by soon-to-be Dr. Who Jon Pertwee) – and whom the Mayor even addresses as Twerp – completely useless, being both short-sighted and hard of hearing! The “Carry On” stalwarts are in top form, foremost among them Sidney James (as the afore-mentioned Rumpo Kid, amiable outlaw leader – in urgent need of cash at the saloon, he excuses himself to casually hold-up the bank situated just opposite!), Kenneth Williams (as the Mayor of Stodge City – reportedly, he lifted his American accent from legendary comedy producer Hal Roach), Jim Dale (as Marshall P. Knutt, a sanitary engineer mistaken for the new sheriff because of his name!), Charles Hawtrey (as the unlikeliest Indian Chief ever – he’s actually introduced emerging from a tepee-*-lavatory!) and Joan Sims (as the traditionally sultry saloon hostess); besides, Angela Douglas (who subsequently appeared in three more “Carry Ons” and would later become Mrs. Kenneth More!) – playing the real-life Annie Oakley – makes for an extremely charming gun-toting heroine. The last third of the film turns into a spoof on the seminal HIGH NOON (1952) – with Dale left to face James and his gang alone in a delightful, and most original, climax. Incidentally, the sheriff’s heroic resistance of a stagecoach raid by Hawtrey’s Indian warriors (ending with James – who engineered it – disappointingly quipping, “I’ve met braver cowards than you braves!”) was actually the work of Douglas i.e. in the vein of THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (1962); Dale’s subsequent awkward coaching in the handling of firearms, then, is hilarious. Another influence from classic Westerns is in the catfight between Sims and Douglas – in this case drawing on DESTRY RIDES AGAIN (1939). While CARRY ON COWBOY’s send-up of a popular genre easily makes it one of the gang’s best-known entries, I was surprised to learn that it’s not held in highest regard by even staunch fans of the series – such as the people behind the official “Carry On” website, citing its (deliberate) lack of authenticity as a major drawback; I couldn’t disagree more since, to my mind, the level of humor and ingenuity displayed throughout is soaring indeed for this erratic (and idiosyncratically crude) brand-name...

Like the great Mr Ted Ray in the earlier "Carry on Teacher",Mr Sid James gives a performance that appears to be borrowed from some higher plane. His "Johnny Finger" sits uneasily amongst the usual good - natured buffoonery one has come to expect from the series.Yes he has the one - liners,the awful puns and double entendres(see above),but there is a genuine air of menace about him that is quite chilling and he never reverts to his comforting "Sid James" persona to take the edge off his portrait of a smiling gun - for - hire killer.He is the glue that keeps the disparate parts - from the inadequacies of Mr Jim Dale to the wonders of the splendid Miss Joan Sims - of "Carry on Cowboy together. There is the added bonus of a perky turn from Miss Angela Douglas as an Annie Oakley who is as pretty and sexy as she is unlikely. Reading Mr Kenneth Williams' diaries it is clear he never had much time for the "Carry On" series he graced for so long and that he hated Mr James,but you would never guess it as he tackles his role as Mayor Burke with evident relish. I would be very surprised if Mr Mel Brooks hadn't sneaked a look at "Carry on Cowboy" as he prepared for his masterpiece "Blazing Saddles",the scene in the Governor's office is a dead giveaway.That this fine comedy was made almost back - to - back with the appalling "Cary on Screaming" is further proof that you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear and that even great comics are sometimes defeated by their material.

Cowboy is an excellent film everyone is top notch. It is a classic there could not be a better western carry on than this. This is the one to start with. Dale is excellent as Marshall P Knutt, as is Angela Douglas as Annie Oakley. Joan Sims is excellent as Belle Armitage the sizzling western women.Charles is great as Big heap as is Bresslaw as little heap.the film is brilliant, this shows that the producers really put the effort in to it and it does show. Sid of course plays the Rumpo kid the outlaw of the area and makes a brilliant job of it.This is one of the finest carry ons the series ever made. The plot of the story is as follows. Stodge City is a rough town out in the middle of the wild west. It is being terrorised by the Rumpo Kid Sid James Marshall P Knutt is being sent to clear up the town and he is a sanitation engineer i will not spoil too much of the film so carry on watching!!

Several years before Mel Brooks took his satirical talent and inflicted on the western genre in Blazing Saddles, the Carry On troupe blazed that trail ahead of him in Carry On Cowboy. It's interesting to me to hear British players doing American accents because I get an idea of what we sound like to them. Elements of Destry Rides Again, The Paleface, and with a High Noon type finale are present in Carry On Cowboy. Sid James plays that dastardly outlaw the Rumpole Kid who killed sheriff Jon Pertwee. The good citizens of Stodge City ask for a US Marshal to be sent, but what they get is a sanitary engineer named Marshal P. Nutt played by Jim Dale. Though his qualifications in law enforcement are slim, Dale gives it a go and fortunately has sharp shooting Angela Douglas playing Annie Oakley and as in love with Dale as Wrangler Jane was with Captain Parmenter on F Troop. As they would say across the pond, jolly good show. And do we really sound like that.

The Carry On team this time, in a British film acting as Americans, spoof the great westerns. Basically Johnny Finger, the Rumpo Kid (Sid James) is the suspicious new arrival to the town of Stodge City, and Major Judge Burke (Kenneth Williams) is convinced he's either up to or guilty of something. So he sends for Marshal P. Knutt (Jim Dale), mistaking him for a Marshall when he's really a plumbing and drainage expert. There is no real plot or story to it, but then again, hardly any westerns I've seen do. It is a good film for all the misunderstandings jokes, some fight scenes, including with Chief Big Heap (an almost show stealing Charles Hawtrey) and just the whole Carry On premise. Also starring Joan Sims as Belle Armitage, Angela Douglas as Annie Oakley, Bernard Bresslaw as Little Heap, Peter Butterworth as Doc; Percy Herbert as Charlie, the Bartender and Jon Pertwee as Sheriff Albert Earp, but where's Barbara Windsor when you want her? Carry On films were number 39 on The 100 Greatest Pop Culture Icons. Good!