Well its no McClintock but it it least tells us all about A Million Ways to Die in the West / Rated R for raunchy stuff and violence
Comedy and Westerns have been around for a long time. In the 30's and 40's comedy teams like the Marx Bros., Abbott and Costello, Laurel and Hardy all strapped on their six guns and mounted up. They were followed by the Bowery Boys in the 50's performing the same slapstick that was covered in the 30's and 40's. Large scale A films took up the chase in the 60's and 70's with films like James Coburn in Waterhole #3 and James Garner's Support Your Local Sheriff and Support Your Local Gunfighter. Although a little raunchy Mel Brooks set the standard with Blazing Saddles.
While there have been many in between then and now the genre returns ala Blazing Saddles with Seth MacFarlane's A Million Ways to Die in the West. You get to see about 15 of them. Most of them are humorous despite the extreme violence involved. Seth writes, directs and stars as the innocent sheepherder living on the American Frontier in 1882. Before proceeding a stern warning is necessary. There is a lot of sex, some drug use and pervasively bad language throughout. You do not want to go unless this is OK.
The film was shot in New Mexico and Utah. The Utah scenes all involve Monument Valley. The cinematography in MV is stunning. When you add composer Joel McNeely's incredibly big score you get an opening as good as any that have preceded it in the movies. JM provides a symphonic wonder that is a lot like the extraordinary work Jerome Moross did for The Big Country.
The cast is spot on. SM plays innocence and looks the part. Except when he gets all potty mouth. Charlize Theron is his eventual love interest although he starts out with Amanda Seyfried. Giovanni Ribisi is his best pal. Liam Neeson is the evil bad guy. There are lots of fun cameo's and one right after the words The End appear on screen. One more turns up at the end of the credits. Stay for it.
As comedies go this one is not as much fun as Mel Brooks provided but, Seth M. re-covers the ground pretty well. Since he is ably supported by a cast that all seem to be solidly on the same page and one of the biggest Western scores to come down the pike since The Magnificent 7, how can he lose? Every time the juvenile humor and potty mouth dialogue rears it's unnecessary head there follows another look at the beautiful scenery in the desert South West to calm down the vulgarity of the on screen shenanigans. All in all it works pretty well. Eventually Seth should outgrow the necessity to litter his work with virtual litter. He may even be the next Mel Brooks.
Rated 3.2 out of 4.0 Saddles Ablazing