If Dante Alighieri had miraculously resurrected in the year 1971 from the Birth of Christ and accidentally got into the cinema hall, where the tape “Support Your Local Gunfighter” was on, he could have admired how skillfully its creator presented the world of the threshold of hell on the screen. The town of Purgatory (in Russian “Purgatory”) you are unlikely to find it on the map, but the overflowing life of its inhabitants will seem extremely familiar to you. As if you yourself have lived there all your life, if not in reality, then at least in those dreams that are inspired by your favorite westerns.
The main character of the film gets there by the will of circumstances, the hostage of which remains in the course of further, smile-inducing misadventures. Purgatory seems to him to be a place of salvation from a prolonged carousel and the role of a gigolo with a jealous lady with solid capital. The gold-bearing name of this lady (Goldie) is tattooed on the chest of Latigo Smith (his role was played by James Garner). Actually, the delay in Purgatory, where the hero of this comedy western gets, is connected with the desire to get rid of this drunken brand “I love Goldie”.
Latigo dreams of escaping from the train
From the very first minutes, as Latigo gets off the midnight train, he is not mistaken for who he is. He is seen as a terrifying marksman and a cold-blooded killer nicknamed Slick Morgan. But, some people are not nervous at all, but are trying to turn an imaginary Trickster into a target, repeatedly making unsuccessful attempts to send him to his forefathers. However, the audience does not have to guess who this impulsive person is. But the motive of the daughter of the owner of one of the two local mines, in whose role the star of Hitchcock’s “Birds” Suzanne Pleshette appears on the screen, is more comical than her ill-conceived actions. It turns out that young Paty Barton dreams of moving from Purgatory to New York and enrolling in a College of noble Maidens there, which will be possible if Dad’s efforts to get to the gold mine are not hindered, as it seems to her, by the Trickster Morgan hired by a rival mine owner.
Jag: Mister, would you like to buy a pair of spurs? They're brand new. Latigo: No, I don't ride"
Let’s suspend our attempts to become like Shahrezada, who, probably, could more colorfully retell the plot of this western, delicately built in its scenario basis. Let’s just note that the creator of the film, Bert Kennedy, who by that time had been working in the field of production of the most famous purely American film genre for a quarter of a century, was once named by one of his colleagues “the best screenwriter of westerns.” And in directing, he was not deprived of talent, which is proved by at least a list of Hollywood stars who starred in his films: Henry Fonda, Robert Mitchum, Frank Sinatra, Randolph Scott, Robert Ryan, Raquel Welch, Rita Hayworth, etc. Yes, there are few high-profile films in Bert Kennedy’s filmography, among them, perhaps, “The Return of the Magnificent Seven” with the impeccable movie cowboy Yul Brynner and “Military Van” with the delightful duet of John Wayne and Kirk Douglas. Kennedy not only wrote wonderful scripts himself, but also invited such outstanding writers as Joseph Heller (author of the classic Catch 22) and Edgar Lawrence Doctorow (creator of Ragtime, later translated to the screen by the great Milos Forman) as co-screenwriters.
"Latigo: I told you, I don't ride. Only by train. At most, in the carriage. Only crazy people would do that for a living on horseback."
Returning to the film “Support Your Local Gunfighter”, which we recall here, it should be noted how well the acting ensemble works in the frame, accurately embodying all the scenario not only of actions, but also of the characters of the characters. For an hour and a half of screen time “Support Your Local Gunfighter” from the cramped world of the car (resembling a brothel on wheels), we get to almost all possible locations of westerns of city registration – saloons, casinos, brothels, rooms of the rulers of local life and even the office, it seems, of the only one in the city, aesculapius drinkers.
And the underground life breaks out with mini-earthquakes that occur strictly on schedule – local miners, apparently, rely more not on pickaxes, but on sticks of dynamite, which pyramids of boxes every now and then get into the frame, serving as the background of the explosive events of this film. And although the gold-bearing vein will be found only in the finale, every minute of this tape is filled with the precious metal of the wittiest dialogues. Here, for example, is a piece of one of them, where Latigo talks with his random buddy Jag (Jack Elam has become his screen avatar), who is assigned to play the role of the pseudo-Trickster Morgan.
“Latigo: I don’t like to work, it tires me.
Jag: And how are we going to get food without work?
Latigo: We?
Jag: Well, I decided we were in the same team.
Latigo: Horses?
Jag: Well, yes.
Latigo: I told you, I don’t ride. Only by train. At most, in the crew. To make a living on horseback– only crazy people would do that. I can’t stand horses.
Jag: It’s almost treason in these parts.”
However, just a minute later, Latigo jumps on his metaphorical horse of eloquence and portrays a cowboy with Romeo’s heart in front of the saloon owner, returning to his usual role of a gigolo.
So enterprising natures, like Latigo Smith, can succeed in Purgatory, but it’s better not to stay there for a long time, because the main entertainment here is burning through life with a glass or roulette. But anyone who watches this funny parody western can briefly look into the Purgatory world and recharge their mood.
PS Watch it until the very last seconds to hear the final line of Jag!
Watch the movie Support YourLocal Gunfighter (1971) online:
