El oeste es una peste

CARRY ON COWBOY, an extremely broad spoof of the ever-popular western genre, marks a real high for the Carry On team; this is even better than CARRY ON CLEO, and despite missing a couple of regulars in Hattie Jacques and Kenneth Connor, this proves to be a real highlight of the series.

The film features a devilish turn from Sid James, who's having a ball as the Rumpo Kid, a gunslinger and outlaw who holes up in a western town and proceeds to wreak havoc. Up against him are nasally Mayor Kenneth Williams, the famous sharpshooter of legend Annie Oakes (played well by Angela Douglas), and Jim Dale as a would-be Marshall.

Jim Dale is the real revelation, playing what was quite possibly his best role in a Carry On movie. He's charming, endlessly funny, and gives a decent performance too. I never much liked the guy when I watched these movies as a kid, but that's changed with his role here. CARRY ON COWBOY also features two additions to the stable, with the excellent Peter Butterworth and Bernard Bresslaw in minor parts. The humour is typically scattershot but it has a high threshold of laughs compared to groans, and fans will be in their element.

I know the credit for the definitive comedy western mostly goes to Mel Brooks Blazing Saddles I think this is a pretty good contender. Weserns are often pretty funny to watch these days any way because apart from notable exceptions the genre seems a little camp these days. Its a very classy carry on and the budget seems much more generous than other offers in the series. The sets are very impressive and the costumes look wonderful. The outdoor locations are much more convincing than other efforts. I must check to see where it was filmed as it certainly looks like the west in USA. The English team handle the American accents very well and the ever reliables are all in fine form. If at times the accents sound a little like the south of London it actually adds to the fun of the proceedings.Having been to USA several times let me assure you the accents are accurate. Williams is very good as always and Joan Sims looks lovely and proves yet again what a great star she was. Jim Dale in many ways gives the stand out performance. This remarkably gifted actor gave so much to this series and his energy and comic timing is brilliant. Sid is there at the top of his game. Jon Pertwee gives a really funny performance as the sheriff, blind and deaf and it is a comedy masterpiece. Charles Hawtrey is camper than ever and plays the Indian chief with his famous glasses and unlike the others remains Hawtrey as we all want him. Of course its a stroke of comedy genius that all the actors have American accents except for the Indian chief who speaks with a perfect English Oxford English.There is no American accent from the loved performer. The early part is hilarious but once the great Hawtrey starts playing a drunk with a love of fire water it strangely gets a little sad when you are reminded of the great performers sad decline. Its a fun film and the only reason I give it a six is because despite the merit the gag gets a bit thin. Its a sketch idea dragged out into a movie length. Still its a a funny movie.

I wasn't sure if Carry On Cowboy was going to be English tourists to the American west or not.

Well, it wasn't. I wanted to compare it to the Doctor Who episode "The Gunfighters" but to tell the truth, that wouldn't be fair.

This was actually good. No reason why the American accent, western or otherwise, should be difficult for these skilled masters of the language to duplicate.

Kenneth Williams was lost however in his mayor. Shockingly interesting to see him delivering such a performance, but they should have done more like Carry On Cleo and allowed the caricatures they portrayed to still shine through.

Or better yet, do some mock-up of the dialects like "Allo, Allo" used to do.

Then it was extremely funny for Hawtrey to not attempt anything different when doing the native chief.

As an American, I can point out one cliche that was inaccurate. When Williams was shocked at the dancehall girls. That was always a man of the cloth, never a politician. But then I suppose he was sticking to the Kenneth Williams' Carry On persona, wasn't he?

Sid James really surprised me with his western speech. I was waiting for some "oy" or "look 'ere, mate" to slip out, but either it never did or I wasn't paying attention.

Jim Dale looks like Michael Palin. That was half who I thought it was when he was in "Carry On Spying".

And then there was that monster of a scene-stealer again, the soothsayer from "Carry On Cleo" this time as the sheriff. What a talent this underrated fellow, Jon Pertwee, was.

Best known for a sci fi tv show, a good one, yes, but still.

As I sit with just one more "Carry On" that I possess on DVD to review (I've already watched it), I can say that for some odd reason "Carry On Teaching" was my fave, perhaps because it was the first one that hit me funniest and raised my expectations, whether they were met or not, I can honestly say I didn't know what to expect here.

Well, on to the last Carry On film in this set: Carry On Screaming.

This is probably the best film in the Carry On series.

This would be far more critically well received if were not part of a series. The acting is unusually good, as are the sets and costumes.

It is hardly intellectually stimulating, but it isn't supposed to be.

I know I am not exactly comparing like with like, but 'Annie Hall', for example is a far cleverer film, yet it didn't make me laugh as much. Surely laughter is the main, possibly the only reason for watching a comedy.

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