Carry on Cowboy
A film review by Graeme Huggan
Copyright 1998
Set in the Wild West, this Carry on centres around the arrival of The Rumpo Kid (Sidney James) and his cronies in Stodge City. His dodgy dealings and summary shootings aggravate Judge Burke (Kenneth Williams) so much that he asks Sheriff Albert Earp (Jon Pertwee) to drive Rumpo out of town. Instead, the Rumpo Kid shoots the sheriff dead. Therefore, Judge Burke sends for a law marshall to come in and clean up the City. Due to a misunderstanding, an English sanitary engineer called Marshall P. Knutt (Jim Dale) is assigned, without knowing it, as the law marshall for Stodge City. He arrives at the same time as Annie Oakley (Angela Douglas) who is seeking revenge for her father, the Sheriff's murder. When Marshall arrives at Stodge City, he soon becomes aware of the misunderstanding and due to his rather limited intellect, he is manipulated by The Rumpo Kid and always ends up getting things wrong. In the end, there is a head-to-head between Rumpo and Marshall. With the Rumpo's past experience, it would seem that Marshall is out of his depth, but using his sanitary skills and learning the ways of the West from Annie Oakley, he at least stands some chance! Sid James, with an American accent, is perfect as The Rumpo Kid, a part which suits him down to the ground. Jim Dale provides one of his best Carry on performances as the stupid sanitary engineer, and Angela Douglas is very effective in her role as the revengeful daughter. Other regulars that appear in this movie include Charles Hawtrey and Bernard Bresslaw (in his debut) as Big Heap and Little Heap respectively. Big Heap is the local Indian leader and the crazy casting of Hawtrey for this part is very amusing, as is his performance:- he steals every scene he is in even though he does not enter the film until thirty minutes past. Joan Sims provides useful and amusing support as Belle, the local bar owner who takes a fancy to the Rumpo Kid. However, the part of Doc played by Peter Butterworth and Sheriff Albert Earp played by Jon Pertwee are not really necessary, and Pertwee's performance is rather poor. Kenneth Williams uses a new voice but struggles with the weak part of the 'Judge'. Even so, this Carry on was Sid James and Kenneth Williams' favourite. A very different Carry on film, in that it is played more seriously by the actors and possesses more realism than any other Carry on. The death count is the highest of any Carry on film. Sets, costumes and action sequences are all very commendable. The songs that are included in the movie (the title song and Annie's song) are very impressive. A strange but therefore very interesting Carry on film. Not the best of its kind but it is certainly the most distinctive film of the series.
My rating:- 4 out of 5 stars.
Written by Graeme Huggan.
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