The Shakiest Gun in the West (1968)
Review by HTQ4
Film:
DVD:

Written by Edmund Hartmann, Frank Tashlin, Jim Fritzell, and Everett Greenbaum
Directed by Alan Rafkin
Starring Don Knotts, Barbara Rhoades, Jackie Coogan, Don Barry, Ruth McDevitt

Features:

• A couple of trailers
  

My Advice: Rent it.

Jesse W. Haywood (Knotts) has just graduated from dental school in Philadelphia, but he has dreams of heading out and helping stop the spread of plaque west of the Mississippi. As soon as he gets out there, though, he finds himself in way over his head. He is swept off of his feet by a beautiful bank robber named "Bad Penny" Cushings (Rhoades). He soon finds himself married to her and they are on their way out to the frontier. On the way, his wagon train is overcome by Indians and he gets the false reputation of being an Indian killer. What really happened was that Cushings saved his butt. Cushings has been working for the government on a sting operation and in return, she gets her record cleared. However, when she is kidnapped, it's up to the Shakiest Gun in the West--guess who--to rescue her and save the day.

If you take the same old, tired formula for a Western comedy and add Don Knotts to the mix, all you really get is the same old, tired formulaic Western comedy starring Don Knotts. I really believe that's the theme of this movie. It's not even a very good vehicle for Knotts. There's only so much bumbling gunslinger schtick that you can take in the course of a single film. It's funny the first few minutes, but it just keeps the movie from getting to the point. Not only that, but the opening segment of the movie goes on way too long. It's intended to set up the fact that he's a bumbling idiot, but the point is made a hundred times over in the course of this one scene. I just shudder at the fact that it took four people to write the screenplay. However, the movie does provide Knotts with the chance to become a Native American Drag Queen. I guess it deserves something for that, right?

As with the other entries in the Don Knotts Collection, this DVD is a disappointment. The only special feature is a group of trailers for other Knotts flicks. It's just a shame that they couldn't get him into the studio to record a commentary track for these movies--any of them. At the very least, they could have gotten some interviews with him talking about his experiences on these films. Instead, the only thing these DVDs have going for them is that they preserve these films in the DVD format (and Widescreen at that).

If you are in the mood for a good laugh either with or at the expense of these movies, pick them up as a rental. They really aren't worth the purchase.