b"WESTERN PARODIESthe Good, the Bad, and the UglyBy Charlie LeSueurCharlie LeSueur, AZs Official Western Film Historian. Encore Fellow @ Western Spirit, ScottsdalesMuseum of the West. azfilmhistorian@gmail.com, silverscreencowboyz.comG enre films have been thefilming his weekly television show with wife,topic of spoofs, parodies,Dale Evans.take-offs, satires, and farce (I had to look up the differenceThe addition of beloved stars like Roy and Trigger in terms). From detective, horror, sci-fi, and romance(actually Little Horse) probably couldnt have been films, comedies have honored, exposed weaknesses ordone without the clout of Hope as a driving force. Film maligned every film class, but no genre has seen moreand TV were at extreme odds with each other at the good, bad and ugly comedy films made about it thantime but the immensely popular Hope was able to get the Western. what he wanted, and he wanted Roy and Trigger added to the mix resulting in box-office magic.Spoofing westerns within the film community even created a sub-genre all its own. Callaway WentHope would go even further in combining film and Thataway (1951) was an amusing behind the scenesTV in 1959 with Alias Jesse James. Popular film and look at the B western actor with fans confusing himtelevision cowboys meshed quite well in the final gun-with his onscreen hero; it was done before with twobattle to help Hope and co-star Rhonda Fleming round real cowboy stars, Gene Autry in The Big Show (1936)up the bad guys led by Wendell Corey and Jim Davis as and Dick Foran in Cowboy from Brooklyn (1938). TheseJesse and Frank James.films were very good at spoofing their own industry; Jock Mahoney would do his take on this type of self- For cowboy fans it was quite a thrill to see, Ward mockery in Slim Carter (1958) and 1985s Rustlers'Bond (Seth Adams), Gail Davis (Annie Oakley), Fess Rhapsody carried on this tradition with great success. Parker (Davy Crockett), Roy Rogers and Trigger, Jay Silverheels (Tonto), Hugh O Brian (Wyatt Earp), Iron During the 1950s, with television and film studios Eyes Cody, with Gary Cooper spoofing himself by at war with each other, Bob Hope made three saying only one word, Yep. Of course, there was the excellent western comedies poking fun withoutobligatory cameo by Bing Crosby; Gene Autry and damaging the genre. His customary breaking theJames Garner as Bret Maverick shot cameos but they fourth wall and talking to the audience added to thewere not used in the final film for some reason.I know its only a movie so lets have fun atmosphere enhancing the proceedings. But with the good, theres Hope may have been the greatest purveyor of westernalso the bad comedy in the 1950s with three films. The first wasand the ugly 1948s The Paleface with Jane Russell, but it wasof western 1952s Son of Paleface, again with Russell, that neatlycomedies, combined the age of film and television by includingwhich well Roy Rogers and Trigger; Roy was in the middle of antake a look at antagonisticnext month break-up see ya then. with Republic Pictures and Clockwise from top: Callaway- Howard Went ThatawayKeel, Dorothy McGuire, Fred MacMurray; Big Show - Gene Autry as nasty B cowboy star, Tom Ford; Slim Carter with Jock Mahoney & Julie Adams; Alias Jesse James cameos; Son of Paleface Rustlers' ; Rhapsody with Tom Berenger.ArizonaRealCountry.com April 2019 39"