User reviews

Burt Kennedy who gave us so many good westerns spoofs comes up a wee bit short of good with Dirty Dingus Magee. Not that it doesn't have a few funny moments, but the cast just doesn't quite get with the spirit of the things the way they did in such films as The Rounders and Support Your Local Sheriff.

For one thing Frank Sinatra looks like he's waiting for Dino and Sammy to come on the scene. Old Blue Eyes in the meanwhile is just going through the motions of a performance. Which consists of him acting just like a human version of the Road Runner.

Wile E. Coyote in this case is George Kennedy who never played such a goofy role on screen before or since. Sinatra spends the entire 91 minutes of Dirty Dingus Magee consistently making a fool out of poor Kennedy.

Best performances in the film belong to the women, to Anne Jackson for one of the brassiest bordello madams ever done on screen and to Lois Nettleton as the nymphomaniac school teacher, Prudence Frost. Yes, the name is part of the gag.

But when that gag becomes the best one in the film, you've got a problem.

In 1965 David Markson wrote the novel 'The Ballad of Dingus Magee' in which the hero is a scrawny teenager. Fast forward to 1970 and we have a far from scrawny, 55 year old Frank Sinatra in the title role! Mr. Sinatra is indisputably one of the greatest interpreters of popular song ever to step up to a microphone and represents a Golden Age of entertainment that is alas gone forever. His films are a mixed bunch to say the least but with a strong director and the right material he has given some fine performances. Hollywood is an unforgiving place however, in which memories are short. His last commercial and critical success had been 'Von Ryan's Express' in 1965 and in the world of film, five years is far too long. Although he remained both popular and active as an entertainer this dreadful opus of Burt Kennedy effectively scuppered his film career.

Such infantile, puerile nonsense is almost too painful to behold and the spectacle of a middle-aged Sinatra in red long johns cavorting with the somewhat younger, mini-skirted squaw of luscious Michele Carey is exceedingly absurd. The supporting cast does its best in the circumstances and the standout performance is that of Lois Nettleton as Prudence("Prude for short but not for long")

It looks as if the cast had great fun in making this but the end result is an acute embarassment to all concerned and should be filed under 'T' for 'Turkey'.

Don't expect to be sitting on the edge of your seat, but do expect to be entertained. Its a comedy and a spoof of westerns. Comparing this movie to the rounders or support your local sheriff was a huge stretch...heck comparing Support your local sheriff to the rounders is silly too. I would give this movie about what it is rated at...around a 6. The actors are all familiar and since it was made in 1970 it is a piece of nostalgia too. Heck, Jack Elam is in it, so its a true western. Anna is smoking hot (why else would she have been in Elvis movies) Its a silly style western comedy, it is what it is.If it were not for the constant conniving by Sanatra and Kennedy..there really would be less of a plot.

If you like goofy Westerns that you don't have to put a lot of thought into, then this is the movie for you. Frank Sinatra plays Dirty Dingus and George Kennedy plays the Sheriff on old blue eyes trail. This is a fun and lighthearted Western comedy that nobody takes seriously including the production staff and the director. There are many scenes full of goofs they just send you roaring. There is also plenty of eye candy with Michele Carey playing the part of the Indian girl who wants Dingus all to herself. If you like lighthearted comedy Westerns such as 'Texas across the river" or "Sergeants 3" then you will love this movie. Pull out the popcorn and sit back to watch Franck Sinatra looking like Moe of the Three Stooges playing cowboy and Indians in Dirty Dingus Magee.

Dingus, a man with no morals or conscience, steals anything of value that he can get his hands on. When he robs an acquaintance, a reward is put on his head and his troubles begin. Cornball humor all the way, but a funny picture nonetheless. George Kennedy was hilarious as the "not overly intelligent" sheriff whose brain was muddled by all the conks to the noggin he received.

Dirty Dingus Magee is no classic western by any means. It is a ho hum comedy/western that lacks any appeal for Mr. Sinatra who plays a comedic run of the mill hobo thief. For most of the film he is wearing nothing more than a red single piece long john underwear and a really, really, I mean really bad teenager toupee that reminds me of Moe from the original Three Stooges. I guess the producers spent more on casting Sinatra in the lead role and ran out of money for a wardrobe designer?

George Kennedy plays a hapless sap that keeps getting sucked in to Dirty Dingus Magee's schemes to make them both richer and richer. Of course there is a string of horny ladies from the local cathouse, as well as the good looking actresses Lois Nettleton and Michele Carey who seem to be just dying to get into bed with these two over the hill actors Frank Sinatra and George Kennedy? Why are they so hot for lust with Dirty Dingus Magee and Hoke Birdsill? Well because that is probably the way Sinatra and Kennedy insisted the script be written to boost their aging egos.

This is a lousy western/comedy lacking any interest what so ever. Sinatra realized there was little interest in his screen appearances anymore from his hey days with earlier classic fine films like Pal Joey and Oceans 11 and so he only appeared in front of the camera four (4) more times spanning over the next 17 years.

Sinatra was always a good looking, lean, suave and smooth singing crooner who had natural charisma. Unlike actors such as Sean Connery or even John Wayne who continued throughout their acting careers to hold their audiences attention and fascination, Sinatra as Dirty Dingus Magee was a total bomb.

I am glad I watched it because I felt it is like when you drive by a bad car accident, you don't really want to see the carnage but human nature dictates you just have to take a look. And so I did with DDM, I watched it and I can only rate it a 3 out of 10 for good picture quality and nothing else.

On his way to San Francisco by stagecoach, unemployed George Kennedy is robbed at a rest stop (while he's urinating) by old acquaintance Frank Sinatra as Dingus Magee, who works as an "ass breaker" (he breaks in donkeys). Kennedy takes up with Anne Jackson in the next town, Yerkey's Hole; she's both the mayor and the cathouse madam, and christens Kennedy the new sheriff after a roll in the hay (he must be a helluva lover!). Dingus is arrested (while making love to an Indian squaw), but he breaks out of jail, steals a chest full of money from a stagecoach and is captured by Apaches. The Indians in this movie, speaking in broken English and using 'funny' hand signals, are used as jokesters and punchlines, while Sinatra (in dark make-up) looks shamefaced throughout. This was probably meant to be a western lark, a goofy good time, but instead it's a visual and verbal insult. NO STARS from ****

I consider myself well educated, articulate, literate. So loving this movie is a bit embarrassing. It is silly, adolescent, a little creepy (How old all the "leading men" are! And how young and voluptuous and willing the women!) But I loved this movie. I laughed all through it.

Frank Sinatra is somehow simultaneously wide-eyed and leering as Dingus Magee. He never once gives any indication that he isn't taking this seriously. He plays it like a professional actor! And he does it well.

George Kennedy is as professional. He knows that when you play a clown, you must never, ever be clownish. He gives a good, solid, straight performance of a ridiculous character. And when he is sworn in as the sheriff, the oath he takes made me laugh so hard I couldn't breathe for a while! Anne Jackson is always worth watching. Her turn as the mayor(madam) of Yerkey's Hole is delightful. She comes as close as anyone to winking at the camera, but she manages to maintain professionalism, and gives the movie her inestimable good work.

Then there's the stunning Michelle Carey as (I am not making this up) Anna Hot Water. You now have her name. Need I say more? I have sometimes wondered if it was a law in Hollywood that you couldn't make a western comedy without Henry Jones and John Dehner. Throw Jack Elam in and you have a winner.

Suggestive? Throughout? Profane? Never. No blatant sex, no nudity, no gore, the only violence is comic.

Silly, stupid, a plot a 13-year-old boy would love.

Yep. I really enjoyed this movie!

As l said before Sinatra is bad actor, but not unprovided of charisma, in this movie he brings a huge cast to share a silly but enjoyable western comedy of two dumb crooks, actually George Kennedy stolen the movie for your brilliant performance, a plenty of gorgeous women raise to much especially the indiscreet Lois Nettleton as Prudence Frost and odd guys like Jack Elam and Harry Carey Jr. given the colors lights to the movie, delightful and silly, really funny a little dated for nowadays.

Resume:

First watch: 2017 / How many: 1 / Source: DVD / Rating: 6.5

Dingus Magee (Frank Sinatra) and Hoke Birdsill (George Kennedy) are rivals in this light-hearted western. Yerkey's Hole is a lawless town where brothel madam Belle Nops (Anne Jackson) is the mayor. She appoints Birdsill the new Sheriff and he arrests wanted criminal Magee. The reward is only $10.

It's a quirky comedy of the old western genre. I don't think the humor works. It definitely isn't working that hard. I barely smirked. Sinatra is well-known for being lackadaisical in his acting during this time. I can't dispute that for this movie. The role needs an energetic comedian. He may be better as Birdsill.

Dirty Dingus Magee (1970)

** (out of 4)

Dimwitted outlaw Dingus Magee (Frank Sinatra) runs into old friend Hoke Birdsill (George Kennedy) and robs him of $400. Hoke goes into the next town looking for a sheriff but finds the town not to have one but the Mayor (Anne Jackson), who also happens to run the local whore house, gives him the job so Hoke sets out to capture Magee but it turns out both are so stupid they keep up making new agreements to become rich.

DIRTY DINGUS MAGEE was a commercial and critical flop when it was originally released and star Sinatra pretty much gave up the acting career until 1977 when he made a television movie and then tried one more theatrical comeback in 1980. This film has been beaten to death by many critics but I think they were a tad bit unfair. Yes, the film isn't nearly as funny as it should have been and yes, perhaps Sinatra could have been more interested in doing better movies at the times but looking back on this film it's a pretty innocent film that manages a few nice laughs and there's no question that there are some good supporting performances.

Director Burt Kennedy directed countless Westerns in his career including some that mixed comedy in including SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF. This film manages to get a few nice laughs as both Sinatra and Kennedy's characters set up deals with each other but the two men are just so stupid that one has to cross the other but then isn't smart enough to get away. The majority of the comedy comes from small simple scenes where Sinatra gets in trouble and then has to knock out Kennedy or vice versa. There's a strong supporting group of players who also throw into the dumbness of the characters.

As far as the performances go, Sinatra really isn't too bad here but it's clear he really wasn't giving it his all. He had proved that he could be a great actor so it's easy to see why many critics felt he was sleepwalking in movies like this. Kennedy, on the other hand, is extremely good and manages to show off what a good comedic actor he was long before THE NAKED GUN series. The supporting cast contains good performances from Jack Elam who gets to play John Wesley Hardin and Lois Nettleton is great as a nymphomaniac who doesn't want to admit it. Jackson is also charming in her role as the Mayor and Michele Carey is good as the Indian woman who takes care of Dingus.

DIRTY DINGUS MAGEE certainly isn't a masterpiece as there are a great number of flaws. The biggest flaw is that there's really not much of a story as the same type of situation just keeps happening over and over. There's also an extremely long shoot out at the end of the picture, which just drags on and on. Still, fans of this type of film will want to check it out as there are a few nice laughs and there's no doubt that the supporting actors are quite good.

"Dirty Dingus Magee" is a pretty dopey movie and it did nothing to help the acting career of Frank Sinatra. Not surprisingly, following this film, he stayed out of films for nearly a decade!

Sinatra plays the title role. Dingus is a very small-time crook who looks like a bum and isn't especially bright. His nemesis in the film is Hoke Birdsill (George Kennedy), a man Dingus robs at the beginning of the movie. Birdsill wants revenge and gets the local madam and part-time mayor to appoint him sheriff...so he can kill Dingus legally. However, it turns out Hoke is perhaps even stupider than Dingus and they spend most of the film trying to one-up the other.

The film tries very hard to be a comedy and isn't exactly subtle. The problem is that it just isn't very funny and it manages to take a great actor, Sinatra, and make him look like a second-rate one. I think pretty much anyone could have played this role and his talents are really wasted. This leads you to wonder WHY he took the role in the first place. My assumption is that with the success of "Cat Ballou", another anti-western western comedy, he thought he might win an Oscar....just like Lee Marvin won for playing Ballou. Regardless of why, it certainly isn't a very good film. A time passer, at best.

This is a sort of live-action equivalent of the famous cartoon series. Fun Western parody in which satire goes on and on the same comical premise. The bandit Dingus Mgee (Frank Sinatra) arrives in the town of Yerkey's Hole, where a series of disorder and altercations break out. There he meets an old friend (George Kennedy) with whom he begins a prolonged confrontation to keep a loot. In the town of Yerkey's Hole, Belle Knops (Anne Jackson) is both Mayor and bordello-madam. She appoints Hoke town Sheriff and tries to get him to stir up the Indians so the soldiers at the nearby fort won't go to Little Big Horn, that why the troopers ae the main clients of her prostitutes. Along the way Dingus keeps attempting to save his Indian girlfriend (Michele Carey) and keeps rescuing her . Sinatra plays cowboys and indians for adults! It's kind of a western. He's sort of a cowboy !. It is the fastest fun in the west!

Diverting Western satire in which there are several nutty characters and improbable happenings. This wacky spoof is packed with mayhem, lots of silly laughters and great entertainment and fun . Most of the laughs and sight gags galore work acceptably well ; humor is also bold and intelligent with a myriad of imaginative but well-known sketches . Demystified as well as amiable Western was one of a group of diverse characters changed the concept of this particular genre each bent on disproving a popular myth , yet tinged with humor , spoof and combining with anti-heroes , crazy Indians and anything else. The film is a send-up of "the Code of the West" with a lot of and exaggerated events, embarrasment and ridiculousness. A funny spoof of B Western that is almost live-action Roadrunner/Coyote and his disaster-prone cartoon, a similar experiment was subsequently made by Hal Needham in Cactus Jack (1979) . Here Sinatra plays the inept highwayman Dirty Dingus Magee who faces off his old enemy Hoke Birdsill taking turns at being either lawman or outlaw and being rivals or partners in crime, depending of the circumstances. But incompetent Hoke/George Kennedy mugs his way through a routine series of flops and he repeatedly fails to to get the loot. This comic Western is a kind of live-action similar to Roadrunner and Coyote. This is an enjoyable film but repetitive and director Burt Kennedy, apparently lost in the continuous gags , resorts to hackeyed camera trickery , including a truly silly denouement. The picture is fun enough and agreeable in parts and it has its moments here and there . The great duo of likeable protagonists: Frank Sinatra, George Kennedy are complemented by a nice support cast, such as : Anne Jackson, Lois Nettleton, Michele Carey, John Dehner, Henry Jones, Harry Carey Jr, Paul Fix and Jack Elam steal the show as the alleged criminal, murderer, shooter John Wesley Hardin, a real gunman who murdered a number of victims. The twisted screenplay besides having more than its fair scraps of funny lines ,throws up sympathetic roles. The formula deals to enhance the comic observations of the western originated on the decade 60 , being continued by the following filmmakers : Andrew McLagen and Burt Kennedy with ¨Support your local gunfighter (one of his better spoof Western)¨ , ¨Support your local sheriff¨ (his highpoint) , ¨Dirty Dingus Mcgee¨ and director Michael Gordon with ¨Texas across the river¨ ; a bit later on , Mel Brooks directed the indispensable ¨Blazing saddles¨, a surrealist , extreme and gross-out spoof with the ordinary bunch of loonies and loopies .

This amusing and hilarious Western was regular y professionally directed by Burt Kennedy. He initially was screenwriter , his initial effort, ¨Seven men from now¨ (1956), was a superb western, the first of the esteemed collaboration between director Budd Boetticher and star Randolph Scott. Kennedy wrote most of that series, as well as a number of others for Batjac, although it would be nearly 20 years before Wayne actually appeared in the film of a Kennedy script. In 1960 Kennedy got his first work as a filmmaker on a western, ¨The Canadians¨ (1961), but it was a critical failure . He turned to television where he wrote and directed episodes of "Lawman" (1958), "The Virginian " (1962) and most notably ¨Combat!"(1962). Directing ¨Support you local sheriff¨, ¨Support your local gunfighter¨ ¨War Wagon¨ and ¨ The Good guys and bad guys¨ that resulted to be four of his best Westerns . He returned to films in 1965 with the successful ¨The Canadians¨ (1965), later producing and directing the pilot for the TV series of the same name. The film will appeal to absurd, unruly , wacky Western comedy fans . This raucous Western spoof is a Frank Sinatra/George Kennedy vehicle , if you like their particular performances ,you'll enjoy this one .

This movie is a series of "blue" gags and poorly written slapstick mixed in with crappy stunts and a nauseating plot. I love Westerns, I love Frank Sinatra. But there's a reason it took him 7 years to appear in another movie - this picture soured everyone on him. We get two unfunny pee scenes, nymph schoolteachers, racist Indian gags, more boob jokes (T. Chest, anyone?), and even an "I got shot in the butt" vignette. Ugh. And Frank Sinatra sounds like a reject from Amos & Andy with the accent he affects. Only Jack Elam lends any real comic effect, or maybe I just think lazy eyes are funny. 96 minutes of this and you'll be wishing you were watching Seargents 3 or 4 For Texas. This movie fails on all accounts.

"Dirty Dingus Magee" was okay, I guess. It's a great looking movie. The locations, sets and costumes are all top-notch. The cast is good too. Despite what film critic Roger Ebert wrote, Frank Sinatra is in the whole movie. Sinatra is fine but his wig is ridiculous. At one point Sinatra is hung upside down and amazingly the wig stays on. It must have glued. The supporting is is fine too. George Kennedy and a dreamy Michele Carey are the standouts. The problem with this movie is the script. It's filled with corny "adult" humor that only gets a smile once in a while. Whenever there is a good joke, the movie drags it out to the point where it's not funny anymore. I was stuck in the house today so "Dirty Dingus Magee" was an okay time killer but I won't be watching it again.

If you liked Frank Sinatra's Tony Rome, you'll like Dirty Dingus Magee. It's a ridiculous, silly sex comedy with an abundance of gags about sex and cleavage, like many 1960s comedies. In the 60s, the restrictive Hays Code was lifted, so films were able to make jokes like that, and show a moderate amount of nudity. So, when you look at it from that perspective, of course Hollywood would go a little nuts making T & A jokes!

Dirty Dingus Magee is the name of Frank Sinatra's character; he's a womanizing thief who talks his way out of many sticky situations. The film starts as George Kennedy reunites with Frank; he's not happy to see him, and we soon find out why. Frankie talks and talks, and before we know it, he's robbed George of his nest egg and his favorite hat! The rest of the movie is a tug-of-war between George and Frankie, trying to rob, fight, arrest, and get ahead of the other. It's set in the Wild West, so there are cowboys, Indians, stagecoaches, and babes in brothels galore!

As silly as it is—and it is really silly—I actually thought this movie was very funny. George and Frankie have great chemistry together, and both their comedic timings are excellent. It's fast paced and doesn't milk the same joke over and over. Once a gag's been done, Joseph Heller and Tom and Frank Waldman write a new one, equally light-hearted and funny. If you've had a hard week, rent Dirty Dingus Magee and take a load off—just hold on to your hat!

Fair western slapstick comedy with very sexy women and animated like western characters which results in a fun atmosphere for fans of this genre.Sinatra was a good sport here in his portrayal of a very seedy and unglamorous character!The movie is dragged down by average production but the actors seemed to have fun making this movie and it shows.In the mood for a western comedy cartoon with real actors instead of Bugs Bunny?This one is it then.......

Yes. That's the whole movie. Sinatra tries (sometimes unsuccessfully) to have sexual relations with several Native American women. Meanwhile, the sheriff of a town full of prostitutes chases him around in search of buried treasure.

Based on a true story.

It has some funny lines, and there is slapstick to boot. Not a bad film if you really have nothing better to do with your time, but I wouldn't have paid money to see it when it premiered back in 1922 (even if it did only cost a half-penny for talkie). OK, seriously, this movie isn't that old, nor is it that funny. If you like westerns and Frank Sinatra, then maybe this film is for you.

It has been a long time since I watched the movie (at least 5 years) I thought it was quite good. Fun to watch. The movie was full of action and was amazing how it was built around a derby hat. Sure seemed that who had the derby, was in for nothing but trouble. The list of actors was quite amazing as it was full of big time actors. I would love to see it again. I am hoping my brother has the movie still. He is the one who had it to begin with. I liked the movie a lot more than my wife did. She thought it was silly. I found it caused me to laugh all threw it. It is sure a movie worth watching again.

I sure do recommend that you see this movie. In my opinion, it is a good movie.

A silly movie, but not as bad as some say it is. If you are in the mood for something silly this fits the bill. George Kennedy was not really known for comedy but he pulls it off quite well here just as he did in the Naked Gun movies. A comment in another review on this site written by ed-shullivan in June of 2016 mentions that Frank Sinatra is too old for Michele Carey. I agree with that. Sinatra was 28 years older than Michele. However it was also mentioned that George Kennedy is far too old for Lois Nettleton. Actually George Kennedy was only two years older than Lois Nettleton. George was born in 1925 and Lois was born in 1927. Lois had one of the funniest parts in DDM as a nymphomaniac school teacher. She came on to every man she met!