Redundant and unnecessary.

Did you people see the same film I saw?

Clever, believable, and super fun to watch. It totally has replay value.

A terrific literary drama and character piece that shows how the process of creating art can be seen differently by those doing it and those looking at it from the outside.

A comedy that takes a cultured, well-bred Englishman and plops him down in the middle of the American "Wild West" wasn't new when this film was made ("Ruggles of Red Gap" did it in 1918 and was remade at least twice) but this isn't a prime example of the premise. Although he's a bit too old for the part, Kenneth More does a good job as a gun salesman for a British firearms company owned by his family who is sent to the West to sell his family's products and the Spanish scenery fits in quite well for the American west. Veteran character actor Henry Hull gleefully chews the scenery as the crotchety, scheming mayor who finagles More into taking the job of sheriff of the tough, wild town of Fractured Jaw, which is plagued by a feud between the forces of two local ranchers and troubles with local Indians, with Bruce Cabot playing the head of one of the warring factions. On the downside, the rest of the supporting cast is weak and much of the humor falls flat.However, the film's biggest negative is Jayne Mansfield, playing a tough saloon singer who falls for More. She's just, to put it charitably, awful. She can't act to save her life, but her acting wasn't the reason she was hired for this--or any other--picture. She had done comedies before ("Will Success Spoil Rock Hunter", "The Girl Can't Help It") so she had some idea of how to deliver lines, but you sure couldn't tell by her performance in this film. She's inept to the point of embarrassment. Her chest was her single biggest talent (or talents, depending on your point of view) and even that's not enough to carry a picture. She and More have no chemistry whatsoever, and even though More gives it "the old college try", there's just nothing there.Her incompetence ruins what potential the picture had, but given the script's limitations and usually reliable director Raoul Walsh's heavy-handed direction, it really didn't have a whole lot of potential to begin with. I don't know if it was a hit or not--it may have been in England, but I can't see how American audiences would have taken to it. Western comedies don't have a particular good success record overall--"Blazing Saddles" notwithstanding--and this picture is a good example of why. There are, at most, three reasons to watch this film, Kenneth More's amusing performance being one of them, but otherwise, forget it.

By all means, not perfect, the story is rather predictable in that it uses the somewhat over-used fish-out-of-water formula, and there are one or two scenes due to the chemistry, the effectiveness of which is varied throughout the course of the film, of the leads feel laboured. However, The Sheriff of Fractured is a lovingly filmed movie with cinematography, sets and costumes set in the grand tradition of the genre that look beautiful, and there is a witty soundtrack including the touching In the Valley of Love. The script made me laugh and smile, Walsh's direction is great, Kenneth More is at his most diffident, Jayne Mansfield is appealing and sexy and it isn't everyday you see Sidney James as a drunk. So overall, it is a flawed, but fun and charming film. 8/10 Bethany Cox

Good family film - something particularly wholesome about Kenneth More - and I don't want to 'rain on the parade' (More is one of my favourite actors and 1958 one of my favourite years - see also: A Night to Remember', More et al 1958). But there does seem to be a lack of chemistry between More (Jonathan Tibbs) and Jayne Mansfield (Kate) - notwithstanding that this is primarily a spoof-western comedy rather than a RomCom. Did they actually get on? Some of the scenes with just the two of them are painfully laboured. But, yes, the film (due in no small part to the laconic ease of More) is entirely watchable, and the production values - even for this lightweight film - are as high as you would expect from any mainstream Hollywood film of the day.

A film with an extraordinary pedigree,a cast of fine actors,directed by one of the true mavericks of the studio system who worked with D.W.Griffith,"The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw"is a gem of a movie.So artless that is of course extremely artful,what appears as serendipity is in fact the result of good pros getting together and having a lot of fun whilst never taking their eye off the ball. Mr Kenneth More is immaculate as the Englishman Abroad,so well - mannered,well - dressed and well - spoken that in a lesser actor those characteristics might have seemed a parody,but Mr More,all breeze and confidence carries it off perfectly.America may no longer be a British colony but he doesn't have to believe it if he doesn't want to. He takes up with Miss Jayne Mansfield,the owner of the saloon and very innocent and appealing she is too.In 1958 her career was reaching its peak - if I may use such an expression - ,a young,winsome and tragically ill - fated actress who very few took seriously but who is - in my opinion - due for a reassessment in an era when women's achievements are considered in contexts other than those of their physical attributes. Mr Bruce Cabot and Mr Henry Hull are on hand to add authenticity to what is a fish - out - of - water comedy.Unlike other Western Brits (English Bob,say,or John Cleese in "Silverado")Mr More does not have a nasty streak.He is simply the old - fashioned decent English chap finding himself in a tricky situation a long way from home and muddling his way through. I have no idea why "The Sheriff of Fractured Jaw" was made,whether Mr Walsh owed the studio a picture of whether Rank thought Mr More's career might benefit from more U.S. exposure or whether somebody just thought it seemed like a good idea at the time,but after fifty years I'm happy to report that to me it still seems like a good idea,and with the passing of time it has become a funny rather touching movie that will please lovers of the Western because it is respectful of the genre and lovers of innocent beautifully played comedy because it is respectful of that genre too.