Support Your Local Sheriff! (1969)

Gee, I saw my previous western comedy only about six months ago. But this was made 30 years later, near the time of more offbeat westerns, so I expected it to feel pretty different.

Jason McCullough (James Garner), a drifter with plans to move to Australia, stops at the fictitious young town of Calendar, Colorado. As a gold rush town, it's very expensive for the time, so he opts for a temp job -- as sheriff. Why, especially in a brawl-happy town where sheriffs have never stuck around long enough to collect pay, thanks to the Danby clan? Well, for all his casual air, he'd hate for Joe Danby (Bruce Dern, the only surviving actor today) to get away with the murder McCullough witnessed. Besides, he has a quick and accurate draw, which he's kept under wraps to avoid the wrong kind of attention until now.

My Darling Clementine (1946)

Has it really been nearly eight months since my last western? (I'm talking full-fledged westerns, so The Force Awakens doesn't count.) And just like in that one, Walter Brennan gets cast as the main villain. I ought to get used to that.

I've seen two other films about Wyatt Earp and Doc Holliday, but they didn't include a Clementine. No, she doesn't follow the story told in the song. Her function here is as a love interest whom Doc keeps at bay, apparently due to his tuberculosis -- not for fear of her catching it, but for shame at appearing so weak. He still carries on with another woman, nicknamed Chihuahua, who actually gets more screen time. Clementine appeals to Wyatt to talk sense into Doc. Of course, this isn't really the main conflict....

The Westerner (1940)

Bland title, ain't it? It came out the year after Stagecoach, so it's not like there hadn't been many westerns yet. Nevertheless, with William Wyler at the helm, I got curious. Thankfully, it's not what I'd call a generic western. The dynamic is too unusual for that.

From what I'd vaguely heard before about "Judge" Roy Bean, he was about as controversial as Wyatt Earp. This highly fictional telling casts him pretty clearly as a villain, however well-intentioned with regard to cattlemen. One man, Cole (Gary Cooper), gets mistakenly accused of running afoul of his "law" but curries favor by pretending to know personally Bean's celebrity crush, actress Lillie Langtry, the only other historically real character. In the grand western cinematic tradition of figuring out the morally right thing to do, Cole may jeopardize his fair-weather friendship by pressing for the rights of Texan homesteaders.