6.8 | / 10 |
Users | 3.5 | |
Reviewer | 2.5 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
This hilarious oater finds Jesse Heywood as a Philadelphia dentist who leaves his home to open a new practice on the western frontier. The hapless dentist is saved by the expert gun handling of Penny, a reformed bandit trying to earn a pardon by intercepting gun shipments to hostile Indians. After several more situations in which Penny saves the nervous newcomer, Jesse believes he has exceptional firearms prowess and believes himself to be a hero. Comedy ensues when the jumpy Jesse faces a bevy of bad men and nervously clutches a six shooter with a very unsteady hand. Penny has to help the pseudo-hero out of even more trouble before they can ride off together into the sunset.
Starring: Don Knotts, Barbara Rhoades, Jackie Coogan, Don 'Red' Barry, Ruth McDevittComedy | 100% |
Western | 66% |
Video codec: MPEG-4 AVC
Video resolution: 1080p
Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
Original aspect ratio: 2.35:1
English: DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0
English SDH
Blu-ray Disc
Single disc (1 BD)
Region A (B, C untested)
Movie | 3.5 | |
Video | 4.0 | |
Audio | 3.0 | |
Extras | 0.0 | |
Overall | 2.5 |
The Shakiest Gun in the West isn't exactly a Western parody, but it certainly has a lot of fun putting its clumsy hero, played by the venerable comedian Don Knotts (The Ghost and Mr. Chicken, The Andy Griffith Show), into a number of familiar situations that he usually bumbles and stumbles his way through, and usually not too worse for wear. Directed by Alan Rafkin, who had previously worked with Knotts in Chicken and would direct him again in 1971's How to Frame a Figg, understands the talent he has working in front of the camera and, for the most part, allows Knotts to shape the film with his physical antics. From dimwitted dentistry to dusty duels, The Shakiest Gun in the West is a showcase for Knotts' talents within the film's vast and diverse landscape that practically extends from sea to shining sea.
The Shakiest Gun in the West delivers a surprisingly steady and true 1080p transfer. Universal may not be known for consistency with its catalogue releases, which range from extremely poor to very good. Fortunately, The Shakiest Gun ion the West favors the latter. It's impressively filmic, with a modest but consistent grain structure presenting a fairly handsome cinematic appearance. There's a pleasing sense of depth to the image, and textures remain essentially firm and stable for the duration, whether more urban brick and concrete details in Philadelphia exteriors at film's start or more dusty terrain and woods and fabrics en route to the West. Facial and clothing textures are stout, and the image never struggles to maintain sharpness and reveal finer features on humans and the clothes they wear (with a range that includes Indian garb, dusty cowboy pants and vests and hats, and resplendently complex poofy dresses). The image provides some beautiful colors, including fresh natural greens, various garments, brown horses, and blue skies. The palette is impressively vibrant within the movie's context and there's never a feel of fading. The print is not free of blemish. Various pops and speckles appear intermittently, but lightly, throughout. Otherwise, this is a very good presentation from Universal.
The included DTS-HD Master Audio 2.0 lossless soundtrack offers limited range but adequately clear and detailed sound elements. Dialogue, the dominant sonic factor in play, images nicely to the center and presents with good, dependable clarity, with few exceptions, notably tinny, hollow, echoing reverb around the 19-minute mark. Gunshots are loud, not particularly clear and played up for some mild action and comedic effects alike, at times, but the movie's large-scale shootout offers some modestly impressive bangs. Mild atmospherics, focused in the middle as well, set the scene for several locales, including a nighttime camping ground in chapter five or some gusting winds in chapter seven.
The Shakiest Gun in the West contains no top menu, no extras, no DVD copy, no digital copy, and no slipcover.
The Shakiest Gun in the West sees Don Knotts doing what he does best, acting the goofball in a world in which he doesn't belong but somehow, someway, makes work. The film has fun dropping him in various Western tropes and relishes his responses to each and every one of them, and the actor essentially plays himself and plays to his surroundings. This is a fun little escape with plenty of replay value. Universal's featureless Blu-ray does deliver very good 1080p video and perfectly fine two-channel lossless audio. Recommended, but wait for a price drop to around the ~$10 range, which is a bit more palatable for the presentation Universal has released.
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