Carry on Cowboy (1965) User Reviews

CARRY ON COWBOY (Gerald Thomas, 1965) ***

[Bunuel1976 · 7/10 · 12 January 2008]

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-cum-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...

A fast-paced highlight of the series

[Leofwine_draca · 7/10 · 5 November 2014]

CARRY ON COWBOY, an extremely broad spoof of the ever-popular western genre, marks a real high for the Carry On team; this is even better than CARRY ON CLEO, and despite missing a couple of regulars in Hattie Jacques and Kenneth Connor, this proves to be a real highlight of the series.

The film features a devilish turn from Sid James, who's having a ball as the Rumpo Kid, a gunslinger and outlaw who holes up in a western town and proceeds to wreak havoc. Up against him are nasally Mayor Kenneth Williams, the famous sharpshooter of legend Annie Oakes (played well by Angela Douglas), and Jim Dale as a would-be Marshall.

Jim Dale is the real revelation, playing what was quite possibly his best role in a Carry On movie. He's charming, endlessly funny, and gives a decent performance too. I never much liked the guy when I watched these movies as a kid, but that's changed with his role here. CARRY ON COWBOY also features two additions to the stable, with the excellent Peter Butterworth and Bernard Bresslaw in minor parts. The humour is typically scattershot but it has a high threshold of laughs compared to groans, and fans will be in their element.

camp cowboys

[petersj-2 · 6/10 · 18 September 2008]

I know the credit for the definitive comedy western mostly goes to Mel Brooks Blazing Saddles I think this is a pretty good contender. Weserns are often pretty funny to watch these days any way because apart from notable exceptions the genre seems a little camp these days. Its a very classy carry on and the budget seems much more generous than other offers in the series. The sets are very impressive and the costumes look wonderful. The outdoor locations are much more convincing than other efforts. I must check to see where it was filmed as it certainly looks like the west in USA. The English team handle the American accents very well and the ever reliables are all in fine form. If at times the accents sound a little like the south of London it actually adds to the fun of the proceedings.Having been to USA several times let me assure you the accents are accurate. Williams is very good as always and Joan Sims looks lovely and proves yet again what a great star she was. Jim Dale in many ways gives the stand out performance. This remarkably gifted actor gave so much to this series and his energy and comic timing is brilliant. Sid is there at the top of his game. Jon Pertwee gives a really funny performance as the sheriff, blind and deaf and it is a comedy masterpiece. Charles Hawtrey is camper than ever and plays the Indian chief with his famous glasses and unlike the others remains Hawtrey as we all want him. Of course its a stroke of comedy genius that all the actors have American accents except for the Indian chief who speaks with a perfect English Oxford English.There is no American accent from the loved performer. The early part is hilarious but once the great Hawtrey starts playing a drunk with a love of fire water it strangely gets a little sad when you are reminded of the great performers sad decline. Its a fun film and the only reason I give it a six is because despite the merit the gag gets a bit thin. Its a sketch idea dragged out into a movie length. Still its a a funny movie.

Carry On Cowboy

[Smalling-2 · 12 May 2000]

A sanitary inspector is mistaken for a law marshal in a slummy western town, and is expected to sweep away the gang terrorizing the habitants.

Unexpectedly clever, engagingly performed and enjoyably spirited western spoof that ranks among the best of the series.

The Randy West

[lastliberal · 6/10 · 3 May 2007]

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.

Way out western

[Lejink · 7/10 · 17 September 2018]

One of the funniest and best of the Carry On series, as ever the team picking up on a popular genre of the day in this case, obviously Westerns, for a laugh-a-minute spoof. "The Magnificient Seven" had recently been a big success and no doubt Messrs Rogers and Thomas took some inspiration from it.

With almost the perfect Carry On cast present and correct (only Barbara Windsor and Kenneth Connor are absent) and a script full of gags, of single, double and occasionally triple entendre, you're never far away from the next rib-tickling joke or situation.

Jim Dale is the improbably named Marshall P Knutt, the innocent sanitation engineer accidentally sent to clean up Stodge City but not in the way he planned. Sid James is in great form in one of his best roles as the gun-totin' Rumpo Kid, while there's the usual strong support from Joan Sims obviously relishing her part as the Kid's jealous moll, Charles Hawtrey as the weedy hooch-loving Indian chief and Kenneth Williams, just about the only cast member to adopt an accent as the inept mayor, while future regulars Angela Douglas, Peter Butterworth and Bernard Bresslaw all make their series debuts. The film nods to almost every Western cliche together seen, to a Red Indian attack on the wagons, a barroom brawk, a catfight between Sims and Douglas and a very funny showdown scene at the end when Dale outwits the Kid and his gang. Naturally the humour is way out west as far as today's P.C. standards are concerned with sexism probably the most abused "-ism" on display, but it's all harmless fun and very amusing. I'll certainly doff my Stetson hat to it.

Before Blazing Saddles

[bkoganbing · 6/10 · 5 December 2013]

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.

Sure is a shame about those gosh-darn awful accents.

[BA_Harrison · 6/10 · 18 November 2014]

Having recently arrived in the United States, clumsy British sanitation engineer Marshal P. Knutt (Jim Dale) applies for work and, due to a mix-up concerning his name, is mistaken for a U.S. Marshall and sent to lawless Stodge City to 'clean up the town'.

I'm a life-long fan of the Carry On series and have seen most of them several times over, but this rather ambitious attempt at parodying the Western genre is one I rarely revisit, being far from the gang's best work. The film delivers a few stunts, a spot of action, and a surprisingly convincing Wild West town setting, but the plot is uninspired, much of the humour is laboured, and the film comes seriously unstuck thanks to the extremely awkward performances, the majority of the cast clearly struggling hard to pull off a convincing American accent.

Sid James, as outlaw The Rumpo Kid, suffers the worst, his crap cowboy drawl sounding like a strange cross between Jimmy Cagney and… err… well, Sid James. John Wayne it ain't! Other guilty parties include Kenneth Williams, who aims for gruff Texan (but shoots wide of the target), and Joan Sims as buxom saloon owner Belle and Angela Douglas as beautiful vengeful gunslinger Annie Oakley, both of whom sound more West End than Wild West. Charles Hawtree plays a red Indian chief, but wisely opts to stick with an English accent.

On a more positive note, Jon 'Dr Who' Pertwee, who plays blind and deaf Sheriff Albert Earp, provides a few solid laughs by blundering into obstacles at every turn, there's a fun cat-fight between sexy Sims and delicious Douglas as they vie for Dale's attention (with Edina Ronay joining in on the fun as well), and a silly High Noon-style finale manages to end the film in reasonable style.

5.5/10, rounded up to 6 for Douglas's sexy musical number, which she performs in a body stocking decorated with diamanté, accessorised with a big, pink feather boa. Yeehaw!

Carry On Cowboy

[jboothmillard · 6/10 · 4 January 2007]

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!

The Worst Carry On?

[charlescorn · 1/10 · 19 September 2006]

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.

The Rumpo Kid and the parody supreme.

[hitchcockthelegend · 8/10 · 26 September 2009]

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

Carry on Cowboy

[CinemaSerf · 6/10 · 26 July 2023]

When the legendary "Rumpo Kid" (Sid James) rides into the peaceful, tee-total town of Stodge City (population 201-204, depending), he shatters that tranquility despite the protestations of the local judge "Burke" (Kenneth Williams). Pretty soon, whisky is flowing, he is running/milking the town and has also befriended the glamorous "Bella" (Joan Sims) who is the star turn at the hotel. Desperate, the judge asks the governor to send them a sheriff with backbone, and by return they mistakenly get the sanitary consultant "Knutt" (Jim Dale) who is to law and order what an one armed man might be to juggling! Luckily, he has the feisty "Annie Oakley" (Angela Douglas) to assist him and soon, well - think OK Corral - sort of! It's not much good this. Maybe because the American accents are all over the place, or because the story is really thin and I'm afraid that I just found the antics-style comedy from Dale a bit repetitive and dull. Charles Hawtrey's efforts as "Big Chief Heap" don't fare a great deal better, and this seemed like a far longer than ninety minute watch. Not sure it'd be at the top of John Wayne's list - it isn't at the top of mine, either.

Carrying On Inappropriately...

[Xstal · 1/10 · 29 December 2023]

Carrying On Inappropriately with Carry on Cowboy.

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.

What an awful sequence of films these were, revisited today, they demonstrate just how out of touch and offensive the so called humour of yesteryear was, and how a generation of inappropriate behaviour was considered acceptable.

Carrying On Inappropriately with Carry on Cowboy.

What A Lark!

[richard.fuller1 · 18 June 2004]

I wasn't sure if Carry On Cowboy was going to be English tourists to the American west or not.

Well, it wasn't. I wanted to compare it to the Doctor Who episode "The Gunfighters" but to tell the truth, that wouldn't be fair.

This was actually good. No reason why the American accent, western or otherwise, should be difficult for these skilled masters of the language to duplicate.

Kenneth Williams was lost however in his mayor. Shockingly interesting to see him delivering such a performance, but they should have done more like Carry On Cleo and allowed the caricatures they portrayed to still shine through.

Or better yet, do some mock-up of the dialects like "Allo, Allo" used to do.

Then it was extremely funny for Hawtrey to not attempt anything different when doing the native chief.

As an American, I can point out one cliche that was inaccurate. When Williams was shocked at the dancehall girls. That was always a man of the cloth, never a politician. But then I suppose he was sticking to the Kenneth Williams' Carry On persona, wasn't he?

Sid James really surprised me with his western speech. I was waiting for some "oy" or "look 'ere, mate" to slip out, but either it never did or I wasn't paying attention.

Jim Dale looks like Michael Palin. That was half who I thought it was when he was in "Carry On Spying".

And then there was that monster of a scene-stealer again, the soothsayer from "Carry On Cleo" this time as the sheriff. What a talent this underrated fellow, Jon Pertwee, was.

Best known for a sci fi tv show, a good one, yes, but still.

As I sit with just one more "Carry On" that I possess on DVD to review (I've already watched it), I can say that for some odd reason "Carry On Teaching" was my fave, perhaps because it was the first one that hit me funniest and raised my expectations, whether they were met or not, I can honestly say I didn't know what to expect here.

Well, on to the last Carry On film in this set: Carry On Screaming.

The 10th proper Carry On has all key ingredients of the iconic, daft, silly series

[danieljfarthing · 7/10 · 6 September 2023]

The 10th proper Carry On, 1965's "Carry On Cowboy", had all the key franchise players: director Gerald Thomas, writer Talbot Rothwell and stars Sid James, Kenneth Williams, Charles Hawtrey & Jim Dale. In cowardly Mayor Williams' wild-west town plumber Dale's mistaken for a marshall sent to bring down outlaw James & his gang inc Peter Gilmore & Percy Herbert. Daft shoot-ups & silliness ensue, also involving the likes of Joan Sims, Jon Pertwee, Angela Douglas, Peter Butterworth & Bernard Bresslaw (the latter three on their Carry On debuts). While not quite as iconic as the preceding "Carry On Cleo", it's still a fine episode in the saucy slapstick Brit-com series.

"Stick yer hands up yer bum!"

[adamjohns-42575 · 7/10 · 2 April 2021]

I thought I'd seen all of the best Carry On's already, so with only four left to watch I was happily surprised to see this one, which still had something to show me today. Apart from the fact that it is perfect viewing for a Good Friday afternoon, it is also quite hilarious.

The casting is incredible, the actors fall into their characters so easily and they all do a great job, not one letting the side down. My favourite has to be, always has been and probably always will be Charles Hawtrey who is genius in the role of Chief Big Heap, the Injun! (Native American)

I think this one belongs right up at the top of the Carry On list with Screaming, Cleo and Don't Lose Your Head as the best of the bunch.

Brilliantly plotted innuendo (In your end-oh), superb throw aways and one liners and a very clever western parody storyline, make it easy to follow and recognise.

Very enjoyable as you would expect from this superb team.

Pre-Monty Python Satire - Carry On Cowboy

[arthur_tafero · 7/10 · 8 January 2022]

In a series of burleque-house Vaudeville style comedy skits, the Carry-On Troupe (the forerunners to Monty Python), pull off a very funny romp through the Old West. One might even guess that this film was a model for Mel Brooks' spoof of the Old West in Blazing Saddles (but with much better production values and marquee actors). This film, on the contrary, was made for less than a few hundred thousand dollars (if that much) and with a wardrobe budget of nearly a hundred dollars. There are quite a few effeminate cowboys, dressed in the fashion of YMCA singers. There really isnt much of a story, but a gunslinger, the Rumphole Kid, (so subtle), takes over a town, and an effeminate sanitation engineer comes out to fix things. Really, you can't make this stuff up. Some very funny moments and more puns and sexual innuendos that you can shake your.......well we will leave it at that.

Not the best Carry on, but entertaining

[TheLittleSongbird · 7/10 · 11 April 2010]

Carry on Cowboy is not the best of the franchise, due to mainly the plot is rather lacklustre and slow moving and that Joan Sims is given little to do as Belle. That said though, it is nicely shot with some authentic looking scenery and good cinematography, and the score is fun. The script isn't the sharpest script in the films, but it does have its fair share of witty one liners. And as per usual, the performances are very well done. Kenneth Williams, Sidney James, Jim Dale.. all excellent. However, it is Charles Hawtrey who steals the film as the firewater-swilling Chief Big Heap.

Overall, not absolutely wonderful but worth watching. 7/10 Bethany Cox

The American accents kill it

[Rrrobert · 6/10 · 12 August 2018]

A good cast, good sets and costumes can't save this film which is short on laughs.

Jim Dale has a main role and does many pratfalls so if you like him, you'll probably enjoy it. Most of the other cast members use such strong "American" accents that half the time you are so distracted by their pronunciation that it kills the joke, or you miss what they have said entirely.

Joan Sims gave my favourite performance in it but she is sadly underused.

Carry on Cowboy delivers on every level. a perfect 10!

[RogerMooreTheBestBond · 10/10 · 26 July 2009]

I think Carry On Cowboy could be my favorite Carry On film. Carry on up the Jungle and Carry on at your Convenience are equally great. There are four Carry On regulars that deliver their best roles from all of the Carry On films. Sid James, who is always the best part of any Carry On film, delivers a top notch performance as the Johnny Finger, the Rumpo Kid. He takes over a town and robs and kills anyone in his way. Kenneth Williams plays the mayor and he tries to stand up to Sid, but it's useless. The way Kenneth plays the part and talks is perfect. The other two leads that are perfect are Jim Dale, who plays a waste disposal man and gets mixed up for being a Marshall who cleans up the waste(bad guys). And then there is Angela Douglas, who plays Annie Oakley to perfection. She is so pretty and proper. I love the way she looks in this film. She is out to get revenge for the man who killed her father. Kenneth calls for a Marshall and they send Jim. They arrive after a failed attempt by Sid to stop them. He and Kenneth talk about the job and they finally realize he was called for the wrong job. He ends up taking the job. Angela helps him out as a perfect shot during his troubles. Joan Sims plays the saloon girl who likes Sid. Sid likes Angela when he finds her in the tub. She later finds out he is the man who killed her father and she tries to kill him. She ends up killing his partner by mistake. Angela has a very sexy scene where she is wearing a showgirl outfit and singing a sexy song. It's the highlight of the film. She has a great pair of legs. The final showdown takes place at high noon after Angela learns Jim how to shoot. He defeats them by going underground in the sewer and calling them out. They end up shooting each other, but Sid gets away with Joan Sims on a horse. Jim ends up shooting his foot as he walks away. What a solid, entertaining film. I would suggest starting with this film if you have not seen any of them yet.

Carry on in the saddle

[authorwriting · 8/10 · 12 April 2006]

I have a weakness for western movies and maybe that's the reason why I enjoy this one so much when I find so many others in the series to be bland and boring. It predates Blazing Saddles and, to my mind, makes better use of genre clichés.

Sid James is superb as the Rumpo Kid. As are the rest of the regulars though Kenneth Williqams' accent takes some getting used to. The studio sets look suitably like the American frontier and the plot involves all the western conventions from cowardly sheriffs, Indians and the obligatory bar room brawl.

Carry on laughing indeed.

A classic!

[tonygillan · 6 September 2003]

This is probably the best film in the Carry On series.

This would be far more critically well received if were not part of a series. The acting is unusually good, as are the sets and costumes.

It is hardly intellectually stimulating, but it isn't supposed to be.

I know I am not exactly comparing like with like, but 'Annie Hall', for example is a far cleverer film, yet it didn't make me laugh as much. Surely laughter is the main, possibly the only reason for watching a comedy.

The Legend of Marshall P. Knutt.

[Sleepin_Dragon · 9/10 · 6 October 2020]

Carry on Cowboy has to be considered one of the best of the Carry on films.

It is incredibly funny, the gags and one liners are relentless. As for the story it's a typical Western, it works on every level.

The best element for me as always been the visuals, it looks incredible, the production team surpassed all expectations, amazing sets and fantastic costumes. I will never forget the sight of Joan Sims in that blue dress, she looked incredible.

Sid James is absolutely magnificent as The Rumpo Kid, it is without a doubt one of his best performances, he looks very smart in his costumes, had a great accent, and really does deliver the laughs.

It's such a pity that Jon Pertwee had such a relatively small part, he is wonderfully funny for the limited time he's in it.

I cannot believe how comfortable so many of the cast look on horses, Sid, Pertwee and Bernard Bresslaw are all at ease.

A classic, invest in the blu ray, it's well worth it, and looks unbelievable, great film, 9/10.

A different critter among Carry Ons

[Oct · 20 December 2007]

The theme of the tenderfoot pitched into the Wild West and cleaning it up was old by the time England's merry Pinewood pranksters tackled it.

In a sense, that is the history of the USA in a nutshell: disciplining the wilderness with the aid of the greenhorn's civilisation. "Destry Rides Again" and "The Paleface" had made a joke of the epic long since-- safe to do so once the frontier was closed and tamed-- and not long before, Britain's Kenneth More had visited Hollywood to play the Limey sheriff of Fractured Jaw. Mel Brooks would go over the old ground in "Blazing Saddles" and John Cleese would uphold the law in "Silverado".

Enter Jim Dale as the 1966-vintage innocent abroad: a sanitary engineer (first class), mistaken for the US marshal who can rid Stodge City of the baleful reign of terror of the Rumpo Kid. ("Rumpo" is an obsolescent Britishism for Sid James's favourite activity-- cf "tiffin" in "Carry On... Up the Khyber".) Abetted or hindered by a corruptible judge, a saloon madame, a drunken Indian, a whiskery and wheezy old Confederate colonel, a six-gun-totin' Annie Oakley and other stock figures from generations of fleapit oaters, P. Knutt does his best and worst.

Scriptwriter Talbot Rothwell was now well launched on the great period of Britain's most successful and durable film comedies. Historical spoofs inspired Rothwell: Cleo, Screaming, Khyber. This one is a little different, and perhaps falls a little short.

Attention to detail extends beyond the sets and mounting of the production, which always belied Carry On's "low budget" tag: the accents and horsemanship are more than adequate, the body language in the crowd scenes accurate enough to be mistaken for a Randolph Scott or Audie Murphy vehicle, and apart from Hawtrey (who is funnier for not trying to be anything but himself) the principals, like the script, stay firmly in the roles as written.

This Carry On eschews anachronistic and topical gags as well as calculated flaunting of its cheapness. It lacks some of the more incongruous belly laughs and double entendres we expect from Rothwell-- although "bullocks", to be reiterated in Khyber, are harnessed here already. Babs Windsor, who turned everything into a cockney music hall romp, is replaced by the more actressy and straightforwardly glamorous Angela Douglas; Kenneth Williams depicts an old man for once, with no epicene overtones; Sid, who had often played Yanks, is conscientious about remaining in character. He does not lean as much as usual on his dirty laugh or "cor blimey", more on a priapic snorting.

There is more action, less slapstick. Future stalwarts Butterworth and Bresslaw make their bows, and have not yet established themselves enough to be given a lot of personally tailored business. Running gags are displaced for plot twists. In short, this is one Carry On that leans on story and consistency more than on a string of harking-backs, catchphrases and skits to carry it through.

However, there are plenty of pleasures, if also some sadness in seeing Joan Sims take a back seat to the younger glamour girls, becoming the "old bag" before Sid's very eyes. Rothwell, instead of raiding his bag of old chestnuts, comes up with some lovely fresh ones such as Judge Burke assuring Knutt that some of his best friends were lynched- "there ain't no stigma to it out here".

Above all, though, this is where Sid decisively became the tentpole of the series-- in Cleo he had still contested with Williams for the limelight.

Like the best screen comedians and horror stars such as Karloff, Sid can command attention without being varied in his parts or versatile in his effects; he is a very limited actor who can make his repeated schticks and tricks funnier and funnier with repetition. He is the British cinema's Lord of Misrule; it's impossible to imagine that ageing, knowing rogue playing a depressed type, failing to lift a film or not cheering up an audience. He is a life force, and when he accepted he was too old to chase skirt on the Carry Ons, they could never be the same again.

A very funny parody of the Western genre

[GusF · 8/10 · 10 May 2015]

Is it my imagination or do barkeeps in Westerns always seem to be named Charlie...? Anyway, it's not on the same level as the last two absolutely hilarious films but it's still a very funny parody of the Western genre. I don't know whether, as with "Carry On Cleo", the sets were built for another film but they look almost as the good as the ones used in actual Westerns of the era, as do the costumes. At first, I thought that it would be funnier if the cast had played their roles in their natural accents but the fake American accents add to the fun.

As he did in "Carry On Spying", Kenneth Williams plays against his usual type and adopts a wonderfully over the top accent as Sheriff Burke. Charles Hawtrey has less screen time than in the last two films but he excels as Big Heap, a character who, like Julius Caesar and Mark Antony in "Carry On Cleo", works so well partly because he is the polar opposite of depictions of Native American in films of the era. The contrast between his portrayal and that of his deliberately clichéd son Little Heap, played by Bernard Bresslaw, is especially funny. As in several earlier "Carry On" films, Sid James plays the role of the Rumpo Kid fairly straight and is surprisingly menacing at times! Joan Sims gets more to do as Belle than she did as Calpurnia and is as superb as ever. Her best scenes are the ones in which she is trying to seduce Marshall and in which she fights Annie Oakley for him.

Jim Dale has its biggest role in the series to date as the meek and mild Marshall P. Knutt, the opposite of his character Horsa from the previous film. Kenneth Connor is absent for the first of eight consecutive films and I suspect that the role of Marshall may have been originally intended for him. Dale has good comic timing but he's no Connor, I'm afraid. The funniest member of the supporting cast in the film is certainly Jon Pertwee as the deaf and blind but well meaning Sheriff Earp. The joke would probably have gotten old fast so it was probably for the best that his appearance was quite brief. Peter Butterworth is the best newcomer on this occasion.