Don Knotts plays Jesse Heywood. Fresh out of dental school, he heads West to rid the frontier of oral ignorance.
At the same time, local authorities have arrested a fetching female bandit named Penelope Cushings (Barbara Rhoades).
To keep her shapely figure out of jail, she agrees to go undercover and help find the culprit who’s been selling guns to the Indians.
When her undercover partner is killed, she finds herself with a dilemma. She needs a husband to join the wagon train headed West. She needs a husband in a hurry.
Heywood seems a likely candidate. So they get hitched. He’s eager for their wedding night. She’s eager to find out what’s hidden in all those wagons.
When Indians attack, he takes cover and blindly fires a six-shooter in the direction of the Indians. She stands in the wagon bed and guns down one Indian after another, but lets him take credit for saving the day.
Suddenly, he’s a hero. But it isn’t long before the men behind the gun sales learn the truth: The federal agents are the most unlikely couple after all.
Don Knotts as Dr. Jesse Heywood ponders an enticing dental exam of Penelope Cushings (Barbara Rhoades) in The Shakiest Gun in the West (1968)
Review:
A remake of “Paleface,” the highly successful 1948 comedy Western starring Bob Hope and Jane Russell.
This one provides some genuinely funny scenes — the shootout between Heywood and Arnold the Kid, the Indians’ use of fire arrows and Heywood losing a dental tool in Penelope’s cleavage among them — but isn’t as consistently funny as its predecessor.
Knotts plays a squeamish dentist who faints at the sight of a bullet wound, but who is quick to believe Penelope’s compliments on his manliness and his ability to hold off an entire Indian tribe.
Knotts was nearing the end of his run as Barney Fife on “The Andy Griffith Show” when this film was released. He’d return West in the Apple Dumpling Gang films.
This marked just the fourth credited role for Barbara Rhoades, who also appeared in “There Was a Crooked Man” and enjoyed a long career as a TV actress, with a recurring role on “One Life to Live” as recently as 2011.
Barbara Rhoades as Penelope Cushings, being convinced federal service is preferrable to 300 years in prison, in The Shakiest Gun in the West (1968)
Directed by:
Alan Rafkin
Cast:
Don Knotts … Dr. Jesse Heywood
Barbara Rhoades … Penelope Cushings
Jackie Coogan … Matthew Basch
Don “Red” Barry … Rev. Zachary Gant
Ruth McDevitt … Olive
Frank McGrath … Mr. Remington
Robert Yuro … Arnold the Kid
Carl Ballantine … Abel Swanson
Terry Wilson … Welsh
Pat Morita … Wong
Herb Voland … Dr. Frielander
Fay DeWitt … Violet
Dub Taylor … Pop McGovern
Hope Summers … Celia
Dick Wilson … Indian chief
Vaughn Taylor … Rev. Longbaugh
Ed Peck … Sheriff
Edward Faulkner … Sam Huggins
Arthur Space … Sheriff Tolliver
Greg Mullavey … Phelps
Runtime: 101 min.
Title tune: ‘Shakiest Gun in the West’
sung by: The Wilburn Brothers
Don Knotts as Dr. Jesse Heywood wonders about the wisdom of getting married without his mother in attendance. Future bride Penelope Cushings (Barbara Rhoades) looks on in The Shakiest Gun in the West (1969)
Memorable lines:
Dr. Jesse Hayward, kneeling over attorney Sam Huggins: “Everybody stand back. He probably has a badly infected wisdom tooth.”
Penelope Cushings, peeling back his jacket to reveal a bloody gunshot wound: “You fool, here’s the trouble.”
The sight of which makes Hayward faint.
Penelope Cushings, showing up at Dr. Hayward’s office in a fancy, low-cut dress: “I hate to bother you like this, but I have a terrible, terrible tooth ache.”
Dr. Hayward: “Is it in your mouth?”
Dr. Jesse Hayward, waiting in bed for Penelope to join him when she emerges from her changing curtain in her Western garb: “You can’t sleep like that. Those spurs will kill me.”
Don Knotts as Dr. Jesse Heywood prepares for his showdown with Arnold the Kid (Robert Yuro) in The Shakiest Gun in the West (1968)
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