Fernand cow-boy (1956)
Directed by Guy Lefranc

Film Review

One of the most popular French comedians of the 1950s, Fernand Raynaud took to cinema like a duck to water with his first starring screen role in Guy Lefranc's La Bande à papa (1956), a gentle variant on the comedy-thriller that was perfectly suited for Raynaud's naive comedy persona.  This he followed with a light-hearted spoof of another popular genre, the western - Fernand cow-boy, again directed by Guy Lefranc.  Blazing Saddles the film certainly isn't, but this ambling, middle-of-the road comedy offers plenty of laughs as it works its way methodically through all the western clichés, with Raynaud clearly having the time of his life in a convincing mock up of the Far West.

On the down side, there isn't much (if anything) by way of a plot.  The film manages to get by simply by knocking out a quick succession of comic set-pieces, most of which build to a satisfactory punchline.  In one scene, Raynaud struggles to open a bottle of champagne and ends up flooding a bar when the cork finally pops out and unleashes an implausibly large volume of fizz.  There's the obligatory bar room brawl, in which the obligatory pianist has a hard job knocking out tunes as bodies keep crashing into the piano.  For sex appeal, look no further than Nadine Tallier, who resembles a sparrow that has strayed into a den of starving lions as she imitates a saloon singer.  The best gags seem to owe something to Buster Keaton, in particular the one in which Raynaud is repeatedly thrown out of a jail cell window and ends up getting himself locked up again.  It's inordinately silly, but fun.

The film's authors happily gloss over the fact that everyone in an American town speaks perfect French (even the stammering sheriff played by Noël Roquevert, who seems to think he is in a real western), which is odd given that the film begins with Raynaud trying to teach himself English whilst being attacked by Red Indians.  Script sloppiness of this kind is one of the reasons why Fernand cow-boy has failed to make it to classic status, but Raynaud's penchant for slapstick at least partly makes up for this, and there's plenty of fun to be found amid all the man-handled clichés.  Would you believe that Claude Sautet served as an assistant director on this film?  Well, we all do mad things in our youth...

Film Synopsis

When he learns that a rich uncle has bequeathed him a bar-hotel in the Far West, Fernand Mignot leaves his home in France and is soon on his way to Carson City, USA.  It proves to be an eventful journey - on the way, Fernand's stage coach is attacked by a band of marauding Indians - but our hero finally reaches his destination and is soon experiencing for himself western hospitality.  Fernand's arrival is resented by his hotel's manager, Jim Mariane, who arranges for him to be framed for murder and thrown into prison.  Rescued by the notorious outlaw William Black, Fernand soon finds himself in even deeper water...