Dirty Dingus Magee

Dingus Magee (Frank Sinatra) and Hoke Birdsill (George Kennedy) are rivals in this light-hearted western. Yerkey's Hole is a lawless town where brothel madam Belle Nops (Anne Jackson) is the mayor. She appoints Birdsill the new Sheriff and he arrests wanted criminal Magee. The reward is only $10.

It's a quirky comedy of the old western genre. I don't think the humor works. It definitely isn't working that hard. I barely smirked. Sinatra is well-known for being lackadaisical in his acting during this time. I can't dispute that for this movie. The role needs an energetic comedian. He may be better as Birdsill.

Dirty Dingus Magee (1970)

** (out of 4)

Dimwitted outlaw Dingus Magee (Frank Sinatra) runs into old friend Hoke Birdsill (George Kennedy) and robs him of $400. Hoke goes into the next town looking for a sheriff but finds the town not to have one but the Mayor (Anne Jackson), who also happens to run the local whore house, gives him the job so Hoke sets out to capture Magee but it turns out both are so stupid they keep up making new agreements to become rich.

DIRTY DINGUS MAGEE was a commercial and critical flop when it was originally released and star Sinatra pretty much gave up the acting career until 1977 when he made a television movie and then tried one more theatrical comeback in 1980. This film has been beaten to death by many critics but I think they were a tad bit unfair. Yes, the film isn't nearly as funny as it should have been and yes, perhaps Sinatra could have been more interested in doing better movies at the times but looking back on this film it's a pretty innocent film that manages a few nice laughs and there's no question that there are some good supporting performances.

Director Burt Kennedy directed countless Westerns in his career including some that mixed comedy in including SUPPORT YOUR LOCAL SHERIFF. This film manages to get a few nice laughs as both Sinatra and Kennedy's characters set up deals with each other but the two men are just so stupid that one has to cross the other but then isn't smart enough to get away. The majority of the comedy comes from small simple scenes where Sinatra gets in trouble and then has to knock out Kennedy or vice versa. There's a strong supporting group of players who also throw into the dumbness of the characters.

As far as the performances go, Sinatra really isn't too bad here but it's clear he really wasn't giving it his all. He had proved that he could be a great actor so it's easy to see why many critics felt he was sleepwalking in movies like this. Kennedy, on the other hand, is extremely good and manages to show off what a good comedic actor he was long before THE NAKED GUN series. The supporting cast contains good performances from Jack Elam who gets to play John Wesley Hardin and Lois Nettleton is great as a nymphomaniac who doesn't want to admit it. Jackson is also charming in her role as the Mayor and Michele Carey is good as the Indian woman who takes care of Dingus.

DIRTY DINGUS MAGEE certainly isn't a masterpiece as there are a great number of flaws. The biggest flaw is that there's really not much of a story as the same type of situation just keeps happening over and over. There's also an extremely long shoot out at the end of the picture, which just drags on and on. Still, fans of this type of film will want to check it out as there are a few nice laughs and there's no doubt that the supporting actors are quite good.

A silly movie, but not as bad as some say it is. If you are in the mood for something silly this fits the bill. George Kennedy was not really known for comedy but he pulls it off quite well here just as he did in the Naked Gun movies. A comment in another review on this site written by ed-shullivan in June of 2016 mentions that Frank Sinatra is too old for Michele Carey. I agree with that. Sinatra was 28 years older than Michele. However it was also mentioned that George Kennedy is far too old for Lois Nettleton. Actually George Kennedy was only two years older than Lois Nettleton. George was born in 1925 and Lois was born in 1927. Lois had one of the funniest parts in DDM as a nymphomaniac school teacher. She came on to every man she met!

This is a sort of live-action equivalent of the famous cartoon series. Fun Western parody in which satire goes on and on the same comical premise. The bandit Dingus Mgee (Frank Sinatra) arrives in the town of Yerkey's Hole, where a series of disorder and altercations break out. There he meets an old friend (George Kennedy) with whom he begins a prolonged confrontation to keep a loot. In the town of Yerkey's Hole, Belle Knops (Anne Jackson) is both Mayor and bordello-madam. She appoints Hoke town Sheriff and tries to get him to stir up the Indians so the soldiers at the nearby fort won't go to Little Big Horn, that why the troopers ae the main clients of her prostitutes. Along the way Dingus keeps attempting to save his Indian girlfriend (Michele Carey) and keeps rescuing her . Sinatra plays cowboys and indians for adults! It's kind of a western. He's sort of a cowboy !. It is the fastest fun in the west!

Diverting Western satire in which there are several nutty characters and improbable happenings. This wacky spoof is packed with mayhem, lots of silly laughters and great entertainment and fun . Most of the laughs and sight gags galore work acceptably well ; humor is also bold and intelligent with a myriad of imaginative but well-known sketches . Demystified as well as amiable Western was one of a group of diverse characters changed the concept of this particular genre each bent on disproving a popular myth , yet tinged with humor , spoof and combining with anti-heroes , crazy Indians and anything else. The film is a send-up of "the Code of the West" with a lot of and exaggerated events, embarrasment and ridiculousness. A funny spoof of B Western that is almost live-action Roadrunner/Coyote and his disaster-prone cartoon, a similar experiment was subsequently made by Hal Needham in Cactus Jack (1979) . Here Sinatra plays the inept highwayman Dirty Dingus Magee who faces off his old enemy Hoke Birdsill taking turns at being either lawman or outlaw and being rivals or partners in crime, depending of the circumstances. But incompetent Hoke/George Kennedy mugs his way through a routine series of flops and he repeatedly fails to to get the loot. This comic Western is a kind of live-action similar to Roadrunner and Coyote. This is an enjoyable film but repetitive and director Burt Kennedy, apparently lost in the continuous gags , resorts to hackeyed camera trickery , including a truly silly denouement. The picture is fun enough and agreeable in parts and it has its moments here and there . The great duo of likeable protagonists: Frank Sinatra, George Kennedy are complemented by a nice support cast, such as : Anne Jackson, Lois Nettleton, Michele Carey, John Dehner, Henry Jones, Harry Carey Jr, Paul Fix and Jack Elam steal the show as the alleged criminal, murderer, shooter John Wesley Hardin, a real gunman who murdered a number of victims. The twisted screenplay besides having more than its fair scraps of funny lines ,throws up sympathetic roles. The formula deals to enhance the comic observations of the western originated on the decade 60 , being continued by the following filmmakers : Andrew McLagen and Burt Kennedy with ¨Support your local gunfighter (one of his better spoof Western)¨ , ¨Support your local sheriff¨ (his highpoint) , ¨Dirty Dingus Mcgee¨ and director Michael Gordon with ¨Texas across the river¨ ; a bit later on , Mel Brooks directed the indispensable ¨Blazing saddles¨, a surrealist , extreme and gross-out spoof with the ordinary bunch of loonies and loopies .

This amusing and hilarious Western was regular y professionally directed by Burt Kennedy. He initially was screenwriter , his initial effort, ¨Seven men from now¨ (1956), was a superb western, the first of the esteemed collaboration between director Budd Boetticher and star Randolph Scott. Kennedy wrote most of that series, as well as a number of others for Batjac, although it would be nearly 20 years before Wayne actually appeared in the film of a Kennedy script. In 1960 Kennedy got his first work as a filmmaker on a western, ¨The Canadians¨ (1961), but it was a critical failure . He turned to television where he wrote and directed episodes of "Lawman" (1958), "The Virginian " (1962) and most notably ¨Combat!"(1962). Directing ¨Support you local sheriff¨, ¨Support your local gunfighter¨ ¨War Wagon¨ and ¨ The Good guys and bad guys¨ that resulted to be four of his best Westerns . He returned to films in 1965 with the successful ¨The Canadians¨ (1965), later producing and directing the pilot for the TV series of the same name. The film will appeal to absurd, unruly , wacky Western comedy fans . This raucous Western spoof is a Frank Sinatra/George Kennedy vehicle , if you like their particular performances ,you'll enjoy this one .

If you like goofy Westerns that you don't have to put a lot of thought into, then this is the movie for you. Frank Sinatra plays Dirty Dingus and George Kennedy plays the Sheriff on old blue eyes trail. This is a fun and lighthearted Western comedy that nobody takes seriously including the production staff and the director. There are many scenes full of goofs they just send you roaring. There is also plenty of eye candy with Michele Carey playing the part of the Indian girl who wants Dingus all to herself. If you like lighthearted comedy Westerns such as 'Texas across the river" or "Sergeants 3" then you will love this movie. Pull out the popcorn and sit back to watch Franck Sinatra looking like Moe of the Three Stooges playing cowboy and Indians in Dirty Dingus Magee.