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The Shakiest Gun in the West (10-Jul-1968)

Director: Alan Rafkin

Writers: Jim Fritzell; Everett Greenbaum; Edmund Hartmann; Frank Tashlin

Keywords: Western/Comedy, Dentists

Don Knotts is Jesse W. Heywood, a newly licensed dentist from Philadelphia Dental College, heading west to spread "dental health through the west like a plague" and to "fight oral ignorance." Heywood gains an undeserved reputation as a crack shot as he becomes entangled with seductive lady bandit Penelope "Bad Penny" Cushing, who has been offered a pardon to break up a ring of gun smugglers. Adequate remake of Bob Hope's much-superior The Paleface (1948).

NameOccupationBirthDeathKnown for
Carl Ballantine
Actor
27-Sep-1922 3-Nov-2009 Lester Gruber on McHale's Navy
Jackie Coogan
Actor
26-Oct-1914 1-Mar-1984 Uncle Fester in The Addams Family
Don Knotts
Actor
21-Jul-1924 24-Feb-2006 Barney Fife on The Andy Griffith Show
Ruth McDevitt
Actor
13-Sep-1895 27-May-1976 Pistols 'n' Petticoats
Frank McGrath
Actor
2-Feb-1903 13-May-1967 Charlie Wooster on Wagon Train
Pat Morita
Actor
28-Jun-1932 24-Nov-2005 Miyagi on Karate Kid
Greg Mullavey
Actor
10-Sep-1939   Tom Hartman on Mary Hartman, Mary Hartman
Barbara Rhoades
Actor
23-Mar-1947   The Shakiest Gun in the West
Hope Summers
Actor
7-Jun-1896 22-Jun-1979 Clara Edwards on The Andy Griffith Show
Dub Taylor
Actor
26-Feb-1907 3-Oct-1994 Bonnie and Clyde
Dick Wilson
Actor
30-Jul-1916 19-Nov-2007 Mr. Whipple
Terry Wilson
Actor
3-Sep-1923 30-Mar-1999 Bill Hawks on Wagon Train

REVIEWS

Review by Dan Sichelski (posted on 28-Jul-2007)

This is a remake of the Bob Hope movie "Paleface" in which a timid dentist is mistaken for a gunslinger. It fits the typical Don Knotts movie format: coward mistakenly becomes a celebrated hero, coward begins to believe the hype, coward falls from grace when truth is discovered, coward rises to the challenge and actually becomes a hero. Bob Hope fans would probably prefer to see him in the role rather than Don Knotts. Don Knotts fans will be amused.






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