The Shakiest Gun in the West

The Shakiest Gun in the West is a 1968 American comedy Western film starring Don Knotts. It was directed by Alan Rafkin and written by Jim Fritzell and Everett Greenbaum. The film is a remake of The Paleface, a 1948 film starring Bob Hope and Jane Russell. Plot Jesse W. Heywood graduates from dental school in Philadelphia in 1870 and goes west to become a frontier dentist. As a "city slicker", he finds himself bungling in a new environment. On his way west, his stagecoach is held up and robbed by two masked bandits. A posse catches one of them, Penelope "Bad Penny" Cushing. Facing prison, Penelope is offered a pardon if she will track down a ring of gun smugglers that also involves a local Indian tribe. Because the wagon train she plans to accompany will not permit single women to join, she tricks Heywood into a sham marriage. Jesse, excited for his wedding night and not realizing that his marriage is a sham, looks for Penelope, who is investigating crates of "Bibles" that the Preacher and his minion have in their tent. Jesse startles Penelope, alerting the camp. Her investigation foiled, she goes to bed dragging along her bungling husband.