Main Cast: Sidney James, Kenny Williams, Jim Dale, Charles Hawtrey, Joan Sims
Release Year: 1963
Country: US/UK
Run Time: 91 minutes
Plot
In one of the best of the long-running Carry On series, Western clichés are run through the Carry-On wringer. The film takes place in wild and woolly Stodge City, a town held in thrall to the nasty dealings of The Rumpo Kid (Sidney James). The Rumpo Kid holds the town in such abject terror that Judge Burke (Kenneth Williams) compels Sheriff Albert Earp (Jon Pertwee) to run The Rumpo Kid out of town. But when Earp confronts The Rumpo Kid, Earp is shot dead for his troubles. Burke puts out a call for a new lawman for the town and, due to a series of misunderstandings, an English custodian, Marshall P. Knutt (Jim Dale) is hired for the job. Arriving at the same time as Knutt is Annie Oakley (Angela Douglas), who has come to town to get vengeance for her father's murder (her father being the deceased sheriff). Events simmer and boil to a final confrontation between The Rumpo Kid and Nutt, who utilizes his custodial skills to defeat The Rumpo Kid and his evil gang. ~ Paul Brenner, All Movie Guide
Angela Douglas - Annie Oakley; Percy Herbert - Charlie; Bernard Bresslaw - Little Heap; Davy Kaye - Josh; Peter Butterworth - Doc; Sydney Bromley - Sam; Jon Pertwee - Sheriff Albert Earp; Lionel Murton - Clerk; Peter Gilmore - Curley; Alan Gifford - Fiddler; Brian Rawlinson - Stage Coach Guard; Sally Douglas - Kitikata; Margaret Nolan - Miss Jones; Edina Ronay - Dolores; Tom Clegg - Blacksmith
Credit
Gerald Thomas - Director, Rod Keys - Editor, Eric Rogers - Composer (Music Score), Alan Hume - Cinematographer, Peter Rogers - Producer, Talbot Rothwell - Screenwriter
Carry On Cowboy is the eleventh in the Carry On series of films. It was released in 1965 and was the first film to feature series regulars Peter Butterworth and Bernard Bresslaw. (The film is noted, by some, for the appearance of the The Rocky Horror Show creator Richard O'Brien as an uncredited horse-riding stuntman, though he is indistinguishable from the other background artists.)
Plot summary
The film, a parody of Western films, is set in the fictitious town of Stodge City (a parody of the real-life Dodge City). An outlaw known as The Rumpo Kid (played by Sid James) arrives in town and quickly turns the quiet town into a base for his network of cattle rustlers and thieves, whilst fooling the inept Judge Burke (Kenneth Williams).
In Washington DC, Englishman Marshal P. Knutt (Jim Dale), a "sanitation engineer first class", arrives in America in the hope of revolutionising the American sewage system. He accidentally walks into the office of the Commissioner, thinking it to be the Public Works Department, and is accidentally mistaken for the new US Peace Marshal for Stodge City.
The Rumpo Kid hears of the new Marshal, and tries all he can to kill the Marshal without being caught, including sending out a pack of Indians, led by their Chief Big Heap (Charles Hawtrey) and hanging the Marshal after framing him for cattle rustling. Knutt is saved only by a highly-fictionalised depiction of Annie Oakley (played by Angela Douglas).
Eventually, Knutt runs the Kid out of town, but once Rumpo discovers that Knutt is only a sanitary engineer and not the Peace Marshal he once thought, the Kid swears revenge, returning to Stodge City for a showdown. By hiding beneath the manholes in the main street, Knutt kills off Rumpo's gang, but fails to capture Rumpo, who escapes into the dusk.
