But rather than cash-in on Knotts' newfound popularity (teamed, as he was by this time, with Tim Conway), Disney unwisely fashioned Hot Lead and Cold Feet as a vehicle for British actor Jim Dale. Popular in Britain's Carry On comedies of the 1960s, Dale had starred in the Disney-esque Digby, the Biggest Dog in the World (1973) and had played the villain in Disney's misguided Pete's Dragon (1977). The studio perhaps saw Dale as an heir apparent to regular leading man Dean Jones, but ultimately Dale made just one more film for the studio, The Spaceman and King Arthur / Unidentified Flying Oddball (1979).

The overly familiar story concerns twin brothers: feared gunslinger Wild Billy Bloodshy (Jim Dale) and British-educated missionary Eli (also Dale). When their wealthy, crotchety father, Jasper (Dale yet again), falls to his apparent death, the family fortune, essentially the entire town of Bloodshy, is willed to whomever wins a decathlon-like race across the countryside. Unsurprisingly, Billy and his henchmen conspire to fix the race, while greedy Mayor Ragsdale (Darren McGavin), plots to murder them both.

Beyond the generally tired, by-the-numbers slapstick, Hot Lead and Cold Feet's biggest flaw is that its story is populated by characters only tangentially connected with the main action, while the focus of the narrative, Eli's unfailing belief in the goodness of his fellow man, falls flat and is under-developed. Another problem is the lack of motivated action. Soon after Eli arrives at Bloodshy, it's matter-of-factly revealed that Jasper is in fact alive and well, though his unusual will and reason for staying "dead" are never explained.

Being a Disney film, there are two precocious children, orphans Marcus (Michael Sharrett) and Roxanne (Debbie Lytton), perfunctory roles at best. The same holds true for schoolmarm Jenny (Karen Valentine), Eli's kinda love interest.

Knotts' role as Sheriff Denver Kid, an only slight variation of his Barney Fife character, seems especially tacked on. Indeed, the role seems to have been greatly expanded, as his comic duels with Western movie icon Jack Elam are stand-alone set pieces with nothing to do with Eli and the big race. While hardly classics of screen comedy, the scenes with Knotts and Elam are funnier than anything involving Jim Dale.

In all three parts, Dale mugs unforgivably, much as he did in Pete's Dragon. Though a likeable enough actor, the script gives him little to work with, which may explain Dale's decision to play to the back row. As old man Jasper, Dale is further hampered by lumpy old age makeup that inexplicably is shaded gray-green, making the old-timer look like a rotting corpse. Jasper is accompanied in these scenes by British valet Mansfield, played by familiar character actor John Williams in what would prove his last film role. Williams was by then 75 years old and looks it, yet gamely but uncomfortably is pulled into the slapstick; at one point a big rock bonks the head of the elderly thespian.

Prolific TV director Robert Butler undermines the slapstick by shooting everything in very tight medium shots. At times the gags almost fall off the edge of the frame. This is especially obvious during early scenes when Eli first arrives in town, and many of the sight gags are half out of the frame or shot with shaky hand-held cameras using long lenses. During a canoe race down the rapids, a second unit crew shoots everything in clear long shots which is cut with more too-tight close-ups. Kevin Corcoran, "Moochie" in all those Disney comedies with Tommy Kirk, is billed as Associate Producer.

Video & Audio

Disney's live action comedies have been released in both 16:9 enhanced widescreen and disappointing full-frame format. There seems to be no rhyme or reason to which titles get what format, but in any case Hot Lead and Cold Feet is presented in the former, a widescreen transfer with decent color and reasonable sharpness. The mono sound, with much dialogue obviously looped in post-production, is clean and clear. English HOH subtitles are included, as well as subtitles in French and Spanish. An alternate French audio track is likewise included.

Extra Features

The only extra is a full-frame theatrical trailer, complete with narration and text. Like the poster, the trailer strongly suggests that Knotts, not Jim Dale, is the star of the picture, and the trailer notes its original co-feature, The Madcap Adventures of Mr. Toad, the Ichabod-less condensed version of The Adventures of Ichabod and Mr. Toad (1949).

Parting Thoughts

Hot Lead and Cold Feet is routine when it isn't badly structured and ineptly executed. It's not terrible, but it is dull and unengrossing.

Stuart Galbraith IV is a Los Angeles and Kyoto-based film historian whose work includes The Emperor and the Wolf -- The Lives and Films of Akira Kurosawa and Toshiro Mifune. His new book, Cinema Nippon will be published by Taschen in 2005.