Short and not too sweet
The Dentist is another Western short film (I’m rather into shorts at the mo), a nice little picture directed by Michael Brian Rawlins, starring him as the dentist, and co-written by Rawlins and Travis Jager, who plays the outlaw robber, the only other character.
It’s only 7 minutes long but nicely done, shot in an attractive and very ‘Western’ Tucson location with saguaros.

A salty outlaw holds up a bespectacled and timid man driving a wagon to rob him but the fellow has nothing to steal. He’s a failed dentist, without a sou. All he has is a chair and his kit of dental instruments. The outlaw is of course suffering from toothache. Well, I guess that was pretty prevalent in them days. The dentist offers to pull the offending tooth.

More I cannot say, for of spoilers there shall be none. But at 7 minutes you don’t have to wait long for the dénouement.
It’s on YouTube in good quality.
Quite enjoyable.
2 Responses
Excellent humorous short ! Tell us more about this neo-short trend…
The early Western was almost exclusively a one- or two-reel affair. GM ‘Broncho Billy’ Anderson, for example, churned them out. He made 52 in 1911, an average of one a week! So it’s good that the form is experiencing something of a revival. It is famously said that less is more and, rather like the short story and the long novel, there’s much to be said for conciseness. With good directing and editing you can establish character, have a plot and make a point very well in a 7- or 8-minute film, if you know what you are doing. Tomorrow I’ll be reviewing THE DEPUTY.