Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971)

James Garner is Latigo, a smooth-talking gambler on the run from a woman with marital intentions.

He winds up sneaking off a train in the town of Purgatory, then looks up the local doc to get rid of his other problem.

Seems somehow, he’s wound up with ‘I Love Goldie’ — that would be the fiancee’s name — emblazoned across his chest in a tattoo.

Turns out, Purgatory is a mining town. And two factions — one led by Taylor Barton and one by Col. Ames — are rushing to see who gets to the bonanza first.

Word has gotten around that Col. Ames has hired the notorious gunman “Swifty” Morgan to ensure that he wins that race.

When Latigo shows up, Barton and his associates just assume he’s “Swifty” Morgan.

Always looking for a way to turn a quick buck, Latigo figures to cash in on the confusion.

But instead of pretending to be “Swifty,” he passes off a new acquaintance, the hard-drinking Jug May (Jack Elam) as the gunman.

There are just two major problems: Barton’s wacky, gun-happy daughter Patience (Suzanne Pleshette) and the pending arrival of the real “Swifty” Morgan (Chuck Connors).

James Garner as Latigo, always looking to turn a buck in Support Your Local Sheriff (1971)

Jack Elam as Jug May, the drunk who befriends Latigo and winds up pretending to be a hired gun in Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971)

Review:

Not nearly as funny as 1969’s “Support Your Local Sheriff,” which also featured Garner, Elam and many of the same supporting cast members.

Here, everyone seems to be straining for laughs, and the script doesn’t wring nearly enough of those from the mistaken gunfighter plot twist.

Garner’s gambler is haunted by roulette and the number 23. Problem is, number 23 never seems to turn up when he’s tempted to play.

Meanwhile, Patience shows very little, determined to wipe out any obstacles standing between her and a stint at a finishing school back East.

That includes the handsome gambler/ gunfighter when he shows up in Purgatory.

Suzanne Pleshette as Patience, donning a disguise with the help of Abigail (Ellen Corby) in Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971)

Chuck Connors as hired gun Swifty Morgan, heading to Purgatory to find out why someone is using his name in Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971)

Directed by:
Burt Kennedy

Cast:
James Garner … Latigo
Suzanne Pleshette … Patience
Jack Elam … Jug May
Harry Morgan … Taylor Barton
Joan Blondell … Jenny
Marie Windsor … Goldie
John Dehner … Col. Ames
Chuck Connors … “Swifty” Morgan
Henry Jones … Ex
Dub Taylor … Doc Schultz
Kathleen Freeman … Mrs. Perkins
Dick Curtis … Bud Barton
Willis Bouchey … McLaglen
Walter Burke … Morris
Gene Evans … Butcher
Grady Sutton … Elmer
Ellen Corby … Abigail
Ben Cooper … Colorado

Runtime: 91 min.

Harry Morgan as Taylor Barton, the man who keeps tabs on his rival, Col. Ames, by dating Ames’ sister in Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971)

John Dehner as Col. Ames, one of the two men competing for the mining bonanza in Purgatory in Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971)

Memorable lines:

Latigo: “This is your office?”
Doc Schultz: “I doctor mules too. You got a pain in the ass, you just come see Doc Schultz.”

Abigail, watching her brother search her room for a particular male intruder: “Satisfied?”
Col. Ames: “I will be when you stop sneaking off with that Taylor Barton and riding that damn bicycle.”
Abigail: “I haven’t been riding for over a week. Taylor’s got a flat.”

Latigo, when Patience barges into his hotel room shaking a stick of dynamite: “What do you think you’re going to do with that?”
Patience: “Kill ya.”
Latigo: “With that?”
Patience: “I’m a rotten shot, and I’m gettin’ awful tired of missin’ you.”

Taylor Burnett to hotel owner Martha Perkins after she’s launched into a tirade about gunmen: “Martha, for the love of God, unhinge your mouth and depart.”

Latigo: “Like I said, a man should spread happiness as he walks through life.”
Jug May: “I think we’ve been spreadin’ it a little thick.”

Marie Windsor as Goldie, the gal who plans to marry Latigo, if she can find him, in Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971)

Joan Blondell as Jenny, the saloon girl charmed into bank rolling Latigo in Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971)

James Garner as Latigo, making a point with Col. Ames while Butcher (Gene Evans) looks on in Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971)

Dub Taylor as Doc Schultz, humored by Latigo’s tattoo problem in Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971)

Ben Cooper as Colorado, a local gunman confronting Latigo while Jug May (Jack Elam) looks on in Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971)

John Dehner as Col. Ames and James Garner as Latigo, realizing another problem might be bound for Purgatory in Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971)