Anyone familiar with Marshall and Belson’s work (on The Dick Van Dyke Show, The Lucy Show, and the adaption of Neil Simon’s The Odd Couple, to name a few) will recognize the snappy patter and quick plays on words. No one did it better than they did.

The movie has a familiar plot: bad guy falls in love with pretty woman who tries to make him turn good, but the unrelenting, quick pace of the humor transcends the rather staid storyline. Evil Roy Slade quite simply takes no prisoners.

Mickey Rooney plays Nelson Stool, the railroad tycoon chasing Evil Roy. Dick Shawn stars as Ding Bell, the singing cowboy marshal Stool sends for. Henry Gibson plays Stool's ne'er-do-well nephew. Edie Adams stars as the woman scorned by Evil Roy. Milton Berle plays a shoe salesman who tried to help Evil Roy go straight. In a hilarious role, Dom Deluise stars as a psychiatrist. In an uncredited role, Ed Begley has a brief walk-on that's funny. This talented cast all add to the timing and pacing of the movie.

If the rejoinders or the wry observations don’t get you, then the visual gags or Astin’s constant preening and monologues will. The actors and actresses move like clockwork throughout the movie. Even when you get ahead of the plot and see something coming (like Evil Roy getting stuck riding a Shetland pony with his boots dragging the ground), the sight of it being played out is goofball hilarious.

This is one of the most perfect family movies I’ve seen in a long time. There’s no profanity, no nudity, no innuendo. It’s just slapstick comedy in its purest form.

If you haven’t seen Evil Roy Slade, you’re in for a treat. And if you have seen the movie, treat yourself to a return bout with the best comedic Western film ever made.