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Support Your Local Sheriff, a review by Rogmeister

Support Your Local Sheriff (1968)  Directed by Burt Kennedy. 
Cast: James Garner, Joan Hackett, Walter Brennan, Harry Morgan, Jack Elam, Bruce Dern

Burt Kennedy directed a number of westerns and quite a few of them seemed to have a fair amount of humor. This one, released in 1968, may just be his funniest, an outright comedy (but not anywhere as outrageous as Blazing Saddles). James Garner heads an all-star cast including Joan Hackett, Walter Brennan, Harry Morgan, Jack Elam, Henry Jones and Bruce Dern.

The basic setup has loner James Garner coming into a gold-mining town which has one problem...The Danbys, a mean family headed by Walter Brennan who always lean on the locals for a share of their gold. They've had 3 sheriffs in the last two months and when Garner's character takes the job, most figure he'll be yet another very temporary lawman. The new lawman's first job is to arrest one of the Danby boys (Bruce Dern) he earlier saw kill a man in the saloon. Only problem there is that the new jail hasn't gotten it's bars yet. Then old man Danby (Brennan) comes in and pulls a gun on the sheriff...who promptly sticks his finger in the pistol barrel!

"If I'd have fired, the gun would have blown up right in my face!"
"Well, it wouldn't have done my finger any good either, would it?"

There's a lot of funny stuff in this movie and you owe it to yourself to check it out if you haven't seen it yet. Jack Elam is especially good as the gruff deputy who doesn't particularly want the job...it's my favorite performance by Elam.

Interestingly, there was a follow-up movie titled "Support Your Local Gunfighter" released 3 years after this one. Despite the nearly identical title and much of the same cast, it isn't a sequel but another comedy western using the same tongue-in-cheek humor.  That one did replace Joan Hackett with a different leading lady (Suzanne Pleshette) and also added Chuck Connors as a famous gunslinger.

Not much in the way of extras are included in this DVD...just the theatrical trailer.  Perhaps we'll get a special edition released someday.

(From Roger's Ongoing Westerns Marathon on June 24th, 2009)

Bloomington, a review by Tom

Bloomington (2010/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia TLA Releasing (United Kingdom) Director: Fernanda Cardoso Writing: Fernanda Cardoso (Writer) Length: 83 min. Video: Anamorphic Widescreen 1.78 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 5.1, English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: English

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Stars:
Allison McAtee as Catherine
Sarah Stouffer as Jackie
Katherine Ann McGregor as Lillian
Ray Zupp as Zach
J. Blakemore as Wade

Plot:
With echoes of lesbian hit Loving Annabelle, BloomingtonExtras:

• Commentary
• Featurettes
• Outtakes
• Scene Access

An okay movie, but nothing special. I enjoyed it for the most part.

Rating:

(From Lesbian Movie Marathon on February 6th, 2012)

Tom's TV Pilots marathon, a review by Tom

The Comeback: The Complete Only Season (2005/United States) IMDb | Wikipedia (United States) Length: 376 min. Video: Full Frame 1.33:1 Audio: English: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Spanish: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo, Commentary: Dolby Digital 2.0 Stereo Subtitles: English, French, Spanish

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Plot:
For fallen star Valerie Cherish - former B-list sitcom actress desperate to revive her career - no proce is too high to pay for clinging to the television spotlight. Valerie agrees to be the subject of an intrusive reality television show, with cameras following her every move as she lands the part of "Aunt Sassy" in a tedious new sitcom, Room and Bored.

Lisa Kudrow stars in this uncomfortably funny and insightfully biting comedy series from writer Michael Patrick King (Sex and the City).
In the spirit of reality television, there seems to be no end to the humiliating circumstances Valerie Cherish will endure, all in the name of fame.

The Comeback
1.01 The Comeback (Pilot)
Writer: Michael Patrick King (Writer), Lisa Kudrow (Writer)
Director: Michael Patrick King
Cast: Lisa Kudrow (Valerie Cherish), Malin Akerman (Juna), Robert Bagnell (Tom Peterman), Lance Barber (Paulie G), Robert Michael Morris (Mickey), Laura Silverman (Jane), Damian Young (Mark Berman), Kellan Lutz (Chris), Jason L. Olive (Jesse), Kimberly Kevon Williams (Shayne), Jim Bentley), Bill Escudier (Milo), Kim Fields (Herself), Marla Garlin), Nathan Lee Graham (Peter), Marilu Henner (Herself), Lillian Hurst (Esperanza), Andres Londono), Morann Peri), Jonathan Stark), Tom Virtue (Assistant Director), James Burrows (Himself (uncredited))

This series is the raw footage of a fictional reality TV series about the comeback of a has-been actress played by Lisa Kudrow. I liked the behind the scene stuff of the sitcom she has started to be part of. But I am not much of a fan of the reality TV style.

Rating:

(From Tom's TV Pilots marathon on April 1st, 2011)