Marshall's "The Sheepman" (Shot in Montrose, California, and in the San Juan range of the Colorado Rockies), now ranks with many as the best Western comedy of all time
This is using the word 'comedy' in the classical, theatrical sensenot in terms of spoofy fun and games, but humor arising from character and situation
"The Sheepman," in fact, is a most exciting picture, solidly based on one of the fiercest Western issues, although it has received comparatively barely enough attention; the bitter animosity prevailing between cattlemen and sheepmen...
So furious was the long-standing quarrel that it often exploded into a malevolence that was an exposed piece on the name of 'cowboy'involving the murder of sheep and shepherds alike Wyoming and Arizona both experienced the nastier manifestations
Sheep and cattle don't mixthis is worked out to be an agricultural statement the truth of which is self-evidentand so when Glenn Ford arrives in cattle territory, cheerfully proclaiming that he's bringing in sheep, all is set for a full-scale feuding...
But there's something incongruous in the sight of sheep in the Western movie settingespecially when there's a hard man in charge of them By the standards of cattlemen sheep-herding is unmanly, more unworthy even than sod-busting... And so the comedy element is built inthe disgust of the cattlemen at the mere sight of sheep, only equaled by disgust at the sight of Ford, taking care of them, entirely causing a great feeling of embarrassment
Marshall handles it all beautifully and is well served by first rate comedy talentFord (again the steel behind the smile, but an easier smile); Shirley Maclaine, many people's favorite comedienne, in marvelous form; Edgar Buchanan, as a devious freewheeling old-timer; Mickey Shaughnessy, as Jumbo the toughest cowboy in the town; Pedro Gonzales-Gonzales, the much depressed-looking herdsman
It's a great mixture, nicely stirrednot forgetting the 'straight man' cattle baron, Leslie Nielsen
This is using the word 'comedy' in the classical, theatrical sensenot in terms of spoofy fun and games, but humor arising from character and situation
"The Sheepman," in fact, is a most exciting picture, solidly based on one of the fiercest Western issues, although it has received comparatively barely enough attention; the bitter animosity prevailing between cattlemen and sheepmen...
So furious was the long-standing quarrel that it often exploded into a malevolence that was an exposed piece on the name of 'cowboy'involving the murder of sheep and shepherds alike Wyoming and Arizona both experienced the nastier manifestations
Sheep and cattle don't mixthis is worked out to be an agricultural statement the truth of which is self-evidentand so when Glenn Ford arrives in cattle territory, cheerfully proclaiming that he's bringing in sheep, all is set for a full-scale feuding...
But there's something incongruous in the sight of sheep in the Western movie settingespecially when there's a hard man in charge of them By the standards of cattlemen sheep-herding is unmanly, more unworthy even than sod-busting... And so the comedy element is built inthe disgust of the cattlemen at the mere sight of sheep, only equaled by disgust at the sight of Ford, taking care of them, entirely causing a great feeling of embarrassment
Marshall handles it all beautifully and is well served by first rate comedy talentFord (again the steel behind the smile, but an easier smile); Shirley Maclaine, many people's favorite comedienne, in marvelous form; Edgar Buchanan, as a devious freewheeling old-timer; Mickey Shaughnessy, as Jumbo the toughest cowboy in the town; Pedro Gonzales-Gonzales, the much depressed-looking herdsman
It's a great mixture, nicely stirrednot forgetting the 'straight man' cattle baron, Leslie Nielsen