The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw (1959)

Two stars for Ms Mansfield's obvious charms (oh for 3D!).More was (and knew he was) an actor of limited range, essentially he played himself and did it well. His early work in the "Doctor" films is pleasing and his skillful creation of Douglas Bader in "Reach for The Sky" made the man a lot more charming than he REALLY was.He was in effect, to the 1950's what Hugh Grant was to the 1990's: a soft spoken inoffensive Englishman, well bred and thrust into situations where his good breeding kept him afloat.In this "Western" he is the scion of a British gunmaker sent to the Wild West to sell the companies wares. Let's be frank, More was TOO OLD for the part, although trim and dark haired he was clearly middle aged and the "Hugh Grant schtick" of youth and lack of worldly experience looks foolish.Ms Mansfield looks decorative and the cinch waisted outfits certainly display her "talents" - sadly her acting is mostly wooden and distracted and the lack of chemistry between the leads is obvious.The distraction of seeing so many British actors mugging, and mangling their vowels to sound American just reinforces my opinion that this is a dud and should be shelved next to "Space Mutiny" (see elsewhere)

In the first place, the cliché of the "fish out of water" might be over-used now, but it was hardly over-used in 1958. There are echoes of Bob Hope's Paleface and Son of Paleface, but those were ten years earlier.Secondly, just because a movie might have had some scenes filmed in Spain does not make it a Spaghetti Western. Spaghetti Westerns are westerns produced by Italians and directed by Italians. That's where the name "spaghetti" comes from, see? The Western is not my favorite genre, but I enjoy Kenneth Moore. Jayne Mansfield does an adequate job. My favorite is of course poor William Campbell as Keno.

A British comedy Western filmed in Spain, starring a bastion of English acting (Kenneth Moore), an American sex-bomb (Jayne Mansfield) and directed by the man who brought us High Sierra & White Heat (Raoul Walsh}. Yes that's quite a hodge-podge of elements and it's no surprise to find that that's exactly what the film is; a mixture of fun froth and cringe inducing oddities.The film is adapted by Howard Dimsdale from a short story written by Jacob Hay. The plot centres around Jonathon Tibbs (Moore), the young son of a family of English gunsmiths. He travels to the American West in the 1880s to sell firearms to the locals. While on stagecoach route he survives an Indian attack purely by stiff upper lip British luck, and then he inadvertently acquires a reputation of quickness on the draw due to his wrist mounted Derringer style weapon. Sensing an opportunity to finally clean up Fractured Jaw, which is in the middle of a war between The Lazy S & Box T factions, the mayor bluffs Tibbs into becoming the sheriff. Cue hilarity as the hopelessly ill equipped Englishman starts to clean up the town with the help of buxom saloon owner Kate (Mansfield) and his new family; the Indians.The problems with the film are many, the over used fish out of water formula, the budget restrictions being over obvious and the glaringly blatant lack of chemistry between the two oddly casted leads-are just the ones that first spring to mind. Then you can add the bad idea to include the likes of Robert Morley and Sid James in your film, and give them next to no time on screen. So yes it's not too harsh to say that The Sheriff Of Fractured Jaw is a weak film in many ways. Yet it is funny, something that comes quite often with the fish out of water formula if the writing is clever enough. Mercifully Dimsdale's screenplay sets up a number of humorous set pieces and Walsh, tho long past his best, professionally puts them together.Moore gives the whole British tenderfoot act his complete gusto, and Mansfield looks terrific; every inch the sex-bomb befitting her legacy. Some fine support comes from Henry Hull & Bruce Cabot, while the tunes (Mansfield dubbed by the brilliant Connie Francis), notably the gorgeous theme song "In The Valley Of Love," keep the film brisk and firmly footed in the light entertainment department. It's a film that if you dwell on it too much could drive you to distraction, but as time fillers go in the comedy Western sub-genre, it just about finishes above average and is recommended for like minded adults on a very rainy day. 6/10

I just happened to be at my father`s house and he had the western channel on.Which my father is a diehard western fan.This movie came on and I couldn`t believe Jayne Mansfield was in a western.I decided to watch some of the movie and got interested in it.It was not one of the best movies I had ever seen but I did enjoy it.I thought Kenneth Moore was very good as the sheriff.I didn`t really care for the singing in this movie but I did enjoy seeing Jayne Mansfield.