FRIDAY SURPRISE: To me, he'll always be Mayor Perkins.

Friday, December 09, 2011 Filed in: Friday Surprise!, Things I like

A couple of days ago I heard the sad news that veteran actor Harry Morgan had died. Most people remember him as Colonel Potter from "M*A*S*H", or possibly as Joe Friday's partner from "Dragnet". When I think of Harry Morgan, though, I think of my absolute favorite movie of all time: "Support Your Local Sheriff!"

It was a late-60s western spoof starring James Garner, Morgan, Bruce Dern, and Joan Hackett. Surrounding them was a panoply of character actors including stalwarts Jack Elam, Walter Brennan, Henry Jones, Walter Burke, and Kathleen Freeman.

Morgan plays Ollie Perkins, the slightly goofy mayor of Calendar - a gold rush town where his daughter (Hackett) is the largest mine owner (and, according to her, "THE richest" girl in the entire state.) In rides Jason McCullough (Garner), who takes the job as the town's Sheriff, and spends the rest of the movie dealing with a gang of outlaws and the odd residents of the town he’s protecting.

Morgan gets the majority of the great one-liners in the movie, and he delivers them with aplomb. Take the scene where he's trying to get his tomboy daughter married off to the new Sheriff:

Ollie: "She's a rich little ol' gal in her own right, Sheriff - sole owner of the Millard Fryemore Memorial Mining Company."
Jason: "Meaning...whoever marries her gets the mine?"
Ollie: "Shaft and all!"

One of my favorite scenes is when Jason has just taken the job of Sheriff and asks the Mayor if there is a badge that goes with it. Perkins hands him the badge, apologizing that it's all bent up:

Jason (fingering the dent in the badge): "It must've saved the life of whoever was wearing it!"
Ollie" "Well, it sure would've - if it hadn't been for all them other bullets flyin' in from everywhere!"

Another gem comes when the Mayor is showing Jason around their new jail:

Jason: “Well, everything seems to be in order.”
Ollie: "Our last Sheriff was a good organizer. Yellow clear through, but a good organizer!"

I've made no secret of the fact that I've worn out multiple VHS copies of this movie over the years and am now testing the lifespan of a DVD. I've seen it hundreds of times and have the dialogue memorized, which my wife can exasperatingly confirm.

Even after all those viewings I never fail to start laughing at the opening scene. The dialogue is crisp and witty, with nothing extraneous, and delivered by pros. Morgan's performance is one of the reasons it's so memorable, and the reason I will always think of him in this role.

If you've never seen it, sit back and enjoy.



-=[ Grant ]=-
© 2011 Grant Cunningham Click to email me!