Director Burt Kennedy does not seem to be related to lead George Kennedy. George won an Oscar for Cool Hand Luke, but D.D.M. was three years later, and a whole different film! This one is a corn-ball western. Hoke Birdsill (G. Kennedy) spends the whole movie chasing after Dingus Magee (Sinatra), after somehow letting Sinatra rob him and escape twice. Magee has goofy run-ins with the injuns, and Birdsill is deputized by the mayor (Anne Jackson), who also happens to run the local "cat-house". Some fun dirty jokes in here, but the plot itself is as dry as the sandy desert they are crossing. The usual show-downs and shoot-outs. The grand finale ending is pretty funny. Did you notice Jack Elam playing piano with handcuffs on? and did you notice that we hear the bell ringing the last five minutes of the film, but they keep showing the bell standing still, with no-one anywhere near it? Based on the book by David Markson.
Review of Dirty Dingus Magee
