Dirty Dingus Magee

An outlaw (Frank Sinatra) and a sheriff (George Kennedy) tangle over a strongbox, Indians, and a schoolteacher.

Dirty Dingus Magee is a would-be slapstick western in the vein of director Burt Kennedy’s earlier success, Support Your Local Sheriff that unfortunately, never works.

For starters, the film is more bawdy cartoon then comedy, as most of its gags seem to rely on their (at the time) outlandishness for laughs. Viewed today, the film just feels flat and lazy, with lead Frank Sinatra sleepwalking though a ridiculous script. Costar George Kennedy does what he can, but he’s no leading man, and it isn’t until Jack Elam shows up near the film’s finale that the film gets its first real laughs.

Sinatra was in his mid fifties when the film was made, but he looks ten years older. Further, he seems tired. It’s well known that Sinatra didn’t like to rehearse and preferred single takes, but rarely has his total disregard for the material shown through as it does here, and thus, it’s no surprise that Sinatra would go on to announce his retirement a year later.

All and all, there really isn’t anything to recommend Dirty Dingus Magee. If you want a western comedy, watch Support Your Local Sheriff, if you want a western buddy actioner, watch The War Wagon, if you want a cartoonish western, watch The Villain, and if you want a western parody, watch Blazing Saddles, all of which are better than this unfunny, awkward mess.