The 3 Funniest Wild West Movies
The genre of Wild West films usually conjures thoughts of gritty, hard-drinking men facing off against fierce villains, often at ridiculous odds, while saving the damsel in distress and her innocent townspeople. It is that very conceit that serves as fertile ground for comedy.
John Wayne, James Coburn, and many other traditional cowboy types have starred in at least one Wild West comedy, but they often fail. It’s usually the ordinary guys, or the professional comics, who shine in movies that combine cowboys and comedy.
Here are three of the best:
3: The Frisco Kid (1979)
The Frisco Kid, featuring Gene Wilder and Harrison Ford, delivers nearly every social morsel that feeds good comedy. Wilder stars as a newly ordained rabbi dispatched to San Francisco. His character not only provides fodder for comedic commentary on both stereotyping and anti-Semitism, but he also gives us plenty of laughs playing the innocent, naïve newcomer to the Wild West who is taken advantage of at every turn. Ford’s spot-on exasperation and reluctant guidance of the wet-behind-the-ears Wilder is supremely comical and relatable to any viewer.
2: City Slickers (1991)
Unlike The Frisco Kid, City Slickers is hardly a social comedy. It’s pure, hilarious farce. Billy Crystal is the ultimate fish out of water as one of the titular characters who is grudgingly lassoed into an immersive vacation as a ranch hand on a round-up. The film exploits every comedic aspect of a city-mouse-meets-country-mouse story, and it does so without being forced or contrived. Crystal, in his best role outside of When Harry Met Sally, is aided by two of the funniest supporting characters in film history. And Jack Palance, playing a cowboy who makes the Marlboro Man look like a 10-year-old girl, nearly steals the show.
1. Blazing Saddles (1974)
Forget great comedies of the Wild West genre. Blazing Saddles is one of the greatest comedies of all time. It combines social parody, farce, crudeness, and even silly musical numbers to create non-stop laughs for any movie lover. While entertaining its audience with some of the lowest of lowbrow humor and history’s most hysterical one-liners, Blazing Saddles whittles away at racism and corruption with some of the most biting and hilarious satire ever committed to celluloid. The film, starring Cleavon Little and Gene Wilder, pokes fun at the absurdity of humanity’s vices and will make you laugh until you cry while doing so.
This contbution was by Karen Andersen, the leader writer at MinTemaFest.dk. MinTemaFest is Denmarks leading party store, with many Vilde Vesten Wild West Party Products in available