GusF Is it my imagination or do barkeeps in Westerns always seem to be named Charlie...? Anyway, it's not on the same level as the last two absolutely hilarious films but it's still a very funny parody of the Western genre. I don't know whether, as with "Carry On Cleo", the sets were built for another film but they look almost as the good as the ones used in actual Westerns of the era, as do the costumes. At first, I thought that it would be funnier if the cast had played their roles in their natural accents but the fake American accents add to the fun.As he did in "Carry On Spying", Kenneth Williams plays against his usual type and adopts a wonderfully over the top accent as Sheriff Burke. Charles Hawtrey has less screen time than in the last two films but he excels as Big Heap, a character who, like Julius Caesar and Mark Antony in "Carry On Cleo", works so well partly because he is the polar opposite of depictions of Native American in films of the era. The contrast between his portrayal and that of his deliberately clichéd son Little Heap, played by Bernard Bresslaw, is especially funny. As in several earlier "Carry On" films, Sid James plays the role of the Rumpo Kid fairly straight and is surprisingly menacing at times! Joan Sims gets more to do as Belle than she did as Calpurnia and is as superb as ever. Her best scenes are the ones in which she is trying to seduce Marshall and in which she fights Annie Oakley for him. Jim Dale has its biggest role in the series to date as the meek and mild Marshall P. Knutt, the opposite of his character Horsa from the previous film. Kenneth Connor is absent for the first of eight consecutive films and I suspect that the role of Marshall may have been originally intended for him. Dale has good comic timing but he's no Connor, I'm afraid. The funniest member of the supporting cast in the film is certainly Jon Pertwee as the deaf and blind but well meaning Sheriff Earp. The joke would probably have gotten old fast so it was probably for the best that his appearance was quite brief. Peter Butterworth is the best newcomer on this occasion.

Spikeopath When Judge Burke sends for help to rid Stodge City of The Rumpo Kid and his gang of trouble makers, he's delighted to hear that he is being sent a trained Marshall. Trouble is is that it's Marshall P. Knutt, a trained sanitary engineer.In 1964 the "Carry On" team has ventured into their first parody of the movies with Carry On Cleo. A huge success, and arguably the best film of the lot to many fans, it prompted the Thomas/Rogers/Rothwell team to believe that movie pastiche's was the way forward for the franchise. Enter Carry On Cowboy a year later. With a knowing of the genre and all its conventions, screenwriter Talbot Rothwell produced one of the better parodies to have ever been made. The stock cartoon fervour and cheeky asides still exist, but Carry On Cowboy is a more leaner, even darker "Carry On" than any of the others film's in the series. In its own right, with out the "Carry On" name attached, it's a fine comedy, with dashes of violence and even a revenge thread running thru it (courtesy of the gorgeous Angela Douglas as Annie Oakley). It's also one of the few film's in the series to demand a bit more from its actors outside of guffaw jinx and innuendos. Sid James, Kenneth Williams and Joan Sims rise to the challenge, happy in the knowledge that Jim Dale and Charles Hawtrey were there to grab (and get) the laughs. 8/10

MARIO GAUCI This is not only one of the best sustained efforts from the “Carry On” crew but a classic film in its own right. I had mentioned it as a rare example of a British Western spoof when I recently watched THE FROZEN LIMITS (1939) with The Crazy Gang; incidentally, the film’s style is pretty close to that of BLAZING SADDLES (1974) – but it actually anticipates Mel Brooks by almost a decade! There are so many inspired gags in this outing (right from the opening sequence with the black-clad Rumpo Kid arriving in town and immediately gunning down three men, only to then ask himself “I wonder what they wanted?”) that it’s hard to remember them all – even a mere couple of hours later. Notable, however, is the merciless lampoon of the Wyatt Earp legend by making its namesake here (played by soon-to-be Dr. Who Jon Pertwee) – and whom the Mayor even addresses as Twerp – completely useless, being both short-sighted and hard of hearing! The “Carry On” stalwarts are in top form, foremost among them Sidney James (as the afore-mentioned Rumpo Kid, amiable outlaw leader – in urgent need of cash at the saloon, he excuses himself to casually hold-up the bank situated just opposite!), Kenneth Williams (as the Mayor of Stodge City – reportedly, he lifted his American accent from legendary comedy producer Hal Roach), Jim Dale (as Marshall P. Knutt, a sanitary engineer mistaken for the new sheriff because of his name!), Charles Hawtrey (as the unlikeliest Indian Chief ever – he’s actually introduced emerging from a tepee-cum-lavatory!) and Joan Sims (as the traditionally sultry saloon hostess); besides, Angela Douglas (who subsequently appeared in three more “Carry Ons” and would later become Mrs. Kenneth More!) – playing the real-life Annie Oakley – makes for an extremely charming gun-toting heroine.The last third of the film turns into a spoof on the seminal HIGH NOON (1952) – with Dale left to face James and his gang alone in a delightful, and most original, climax. Incidentally, the sheriff’s heroic resistance of a stagecoach raid by Hawtrey’s Indian warriors (ending with James – who engineered it – disappointingly quipping, “I’ve met braver cowards than you braves!”) was actually the work of Douglas i.e. in the vein of THE MAN WHO SHOT LIBERTY VALANCE (1962); Dale’s subsequent awkward coaching in the handling of firearms, then, is hilarious. Another influence from classic Westerns is in the catfight between Sims and Douglas – in this case drawing on DESTRY RIDES AGAIN (1939).While CARRY ON COWBOY’s send-up of a popular genre easily makes it one of the gang’s best-known entries, I was surprised to learn that it’s not held in highest regard by even staunch fans of the series – such as the people behind the official “Carry On” website, citing its (deliberate) lack of authenticity as a major drawback; I couldn’t disagree more since, to my mind, the level of humor and ingenuity displayed throughout is soaring indeed for this erratic (and idiosyncratically crude) brand-name...

charlescorn Perhaps I have overly fond childhood memories of Carry On movies and now that I'm starting to rediscover them, I'm a bit more critical. That said, many do stand the test of time, but Carry On Cowboy is not one of them.Carry On Cowboy is a film in that category of movie in which: (1) you can't wait for it to end, but (2) it's so unbelievably bad that you assume it has just got to get better at some point, so you continue to watch. Torture!I didn't laugh once. The biggest attempt at a gag in the film seemed to revolve around Jim Dale being clumsy. The occasional example of Dale doing a poor impersonation of Norman Wisdom is bad enough (eg Carry On Doctor), but to repeat it again and again is agony. Towards the end of the movie, when Dale practices shooting a gun, was so painful to watch I half-hoped he would shoot me instead. The only selling points are the great sets and the half-decent American accents of the Carry On gang.