G is for The Gun and the Pulpit
Here lies a short review of The Gun and the Pulpit, which wasn't half bad.
This movie is full of "the guy who" (David Huddleston) and "that guy whose face I recognize from ... where?" (Geoffrey Lewis). Plus it also features Slim Pickens and Marjoe Gortner. Our old pal Marjoe is Ernie Parsons, a gunfighter who's only one step ahead of a murderous posse. In the high desert, he comes across the corpse of a preacher that was recently murdered. He takes the preacher's clothing and horse, and rides on to the town where the preacher was headed. That town is under siege by a rich rancher who is ruling it like his own private fiefdom. This rubs Ernie raw, especially when he sees the attractive eighteen-year-old girl that's being run out of town (along with her younger siblings and recently-widowed mother). He convinces the girl's mother to stay, and faces down the rancher. In the process, he does preach several sermons (that Marjoe can preach -- who'da thunk it?) ... with his gun on his pulpit.
An enjoyable light Western (closer in tone to Silverado than The Outlaw Josey Wales) -- but I simply cannot see Slim Pickens in a Western without thinking of him as Taggart from Blazing Saddles, especially since both came out the same year.
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smithee_awards) wrote,
