The Comedy Western

As Hambledon Productions un-saddle at the Leicester Square Theatre for a run of their smash hit spoof A Fistful of Spaghetti, Marty McUrich takes a look back at that under-rated subgenre: the 'comedy western'...

Okay, let's be honest here. When thinking of comedy westerns, there's probably about ten films that spring to mind. Narrowing that list down to those which are genuinely, continuously funny may whittle it down to half that. It's equally hard to come across a bonafide Western which takes itself completely seriously either. These broadly-painted, often eccentric stock-characters that inhabit practically every dust-covered, windswept town are frequently played with a sense of tongue-in-the-cheek pomp, but keep searching and there are quite a few comedy-westerns worth their weight in gold...

It may surprise you to learn that arguably the first ever 'Spaghetti Western' was, in fact, a comedy titled The Sheriff Of Fractured Jaw, released in 1958. Starring Kenneth More and Jayne Mansfield and directed by Hollywood great Raoul Walsh, the film was the first Western to use a Spanish backdrop.

Perhaps the earliest, most entertaining comedy-western is Mack Sennett's A Movie Star (1916), itself a parody on Hollywood film, which focuses on the time when the local theatre is visited by the star of the film which is currently showing.

A year later, Douglas Fairbanks starred in Wild And Woolly, a comedy-romance about a rich New Yorker who wants to relive the 'Wild West' of the 1880s and so the town go to great lengths to convince him that they haven't advanced in the thirty years since.

Westerns, along with crime capers, led themselves to short films simply because they set up characters, locations and simple storylines very succinctly, and it wasn't long until the top comedy performers of the age saw the comic potential in them. Harold Lloyd was the first with An Eastern Westerner (1920) while Buster Keaton got mixed up with some Native Indians in The Paleface (1922) before producing the full-length feature Go West (1925) in which he is pursued by a hundred-strong herd of cattle through Los Angeles, disguised as the Devil.

Laurel & Hardy's Way Out West (1937), arguably, defined the genre for their generation, which was followed by the underrated Marx Brothers' Go West and W.C. Fields' famous pairing with Mae West for My Little Chickadee (both 1940).

The new decade continued to bring forth entries including Abbott & Costello's Ride 'Em Cowboy (1942), The Three Stooges' Rockin' In The Rockies (1945) and The Beautiful Blonde From Bashful Bend (1949), a strong contender for the greatest Western film-title ever. Few of these remain popular, but, thanks to higher production costs and the added bonus of colour, Bob Hope's The Paleface (1948) and Son Of Paleface (1952) have stood the test of time.

The 1950s saw the big, brassy, Hollywood musical nestle in on the Western genre, offering light-hearted, rather garish films such as Annie Get Your Gun (1950), Calamity Jane (1953), Seven Brides For Seven Brothers (1954) and Oklahoma! (1955). The comedy-western simply couldn't compete, although the afore-mentioned The Sheriff Of Fractured Jaw may have helped pave the way for the Carry On team to make a parody titled Carry On Cowboy (1965). The production values for this underrated effort are reasonably high and the cast, for the most part, play their roles 'straight'; in comparison, at least. Support Your Local Sheriff (1969) and the sequel Support Your Local Gunfighter (1971), both starring James Garner were more tongue-firmly-in-cheek offerings from the States.

The most iconic and respected comedy-western is Mel Brooks' Blazing Saddles (1974), tackling prejudice and racism with his trademark surreal comedy and slapstick. Starring Gene Wilder as the boozy gunslinger and Cleavon Little as the new Sheriff in a town overrun with Johnsons, the film has stood the test of time and remains arguably Brooks' finest picture.

Comedy-westerns continued throughout the 70s, with films such as The Ballad Of Cable Hogue (1970) starring Jason Robards and Buffalo Bill And The Indians (1976) starring Paul Newman; but none were particularly successful.

The next notable film was Three Amigos! (1986), an action-packed romp starring Steve Martin, Martin Shaw and Chevy Chase which has gained a certain cult status over the years, likewise City Slickers (1991).

In 1995, Edgar Wright, frequent collaborator with Simon Pegg, chose to make his first feature length film, a Western spoof called A Fistful Of Fingers. It's a hard-to-find gag-marathon that clearly paved the way for his later, greater efforts.

Coming up to date, Shanghai Noon (2000), Rango (2011), A Million Ways To Die In The West (2014) and The Ridiculous 6 (2015) have all tried to send up the Western genre, with varying results.

On stage however, apart from the musicals listed previously, there are comparatively few comedy-westerns. In fact, we struggle to find any... So there's something to be said for putting a fun-packed, fast-paced spoof western on the stage. And A Fistful of Spaghetti - with more than it's far share of gags, slapstick, mime, eccentric characters and more puns that you can shake a rattlesnake at - is not to be missed.

'A Fistful of Spaghetti' is at the Leicester Square Theatre until Sunday 6th March 2016. Info & Tickets