The Fighting Parson

I've seen a few of Hoot Gibson's westerns and he certainly isn't like the cowboy heroes of the day in many of them. For instance, in "The Fighting Parson", he and his friend, Arizona Joe, are low-down cowboys with a bit of a larcenous side to them. After being caught cheating at dice, Arizona has to run off to save his skin...and Steve (Gibson) is on his heels. A bit later, they come upon the clothing belonging to a traveling preacher and Steve takes it....and is soon mistaken for the preacher heading to the town of Red Dog.

When he arrives, there is a hanging about to take place....and the condemned man recognizes Steve! Not wanting to be exposed as a fraud, the Preacher insists that they spare the guy...and soon the condemned man and his gang are up to no good once again! This is a serious problem...but an even more serious one is that Steve has no idea how to behave like a man of God....and he is afraid to christen babies, marry folks and preach on Sundays! Fortunately (or perhaps not) before he has to perform any of these functions, the real Reverend Doolittle arrives in town...in his underwear! What's next? See the film...as there's much more to it than this! And, see who you should root for, considering that Steve and Arizona aren't exactly angels!

While the acting is a bit suspect from time to time (sometimes, Hoot himself seems to have trouble remembering his lines), this is a rather enjoyable film...mostly because it's so very different. It's sort of a western-comedy and it's far from the sort of thing you'd usually see from cowboy heroes, that's for sure!