The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw – 1958 | 103 mins | Comedy, Western | Colour

Plot Synopsis

Raoul Walsh’s enjoyably silly western The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw was the first US western shot in Spain and charts the misfit antics of an archetypal Englishman abroad in the Old West. This truly bizarre historical concoction stars the unflappable Kenneth More alongside the Hollywood actress Jayne Mansfield who looks attractive and sings two or three musical numbers. From a short story by Jacob Hay, Walsh briskly directs this jovial tale with vigour and pace

Jonathan Tibbs (Kenneth More) is a stiff-upper-lipped aristocrat who journeys to the Wild West to sell handguns on behalf of a failing gunsmith business he has inherited. Mistaken for a gunslinger, he inadvertently accepts the post of Sheriff and is asked to tame the wild frontier town of Fractured Jaw. Tibbs gentlemanly greenhorn employs impeccable manners and quaint notions of fair play to tame the lawless town and its nearby marauding Indians. It’s not all shooting and violence though, as he even finds time to win the heart of busty chorus girl Kate (Jayne Mansfield) in the process.