Great Guns

Hot Summer Night (1956, MGM)
dir.: David Friedkin
James Best as Kermit
Leslie Nielsen as William Joel Partain
Colleen Miller as Irene Partain

It must be mentioned that James looked Best when sexily brandishing his, er, gun.

He did pretty well in the manhandling department, as well.

ABOVE: James Best menacing Mala Powers as a Man on the Prowl (1957, UA)

But even in standard dreamboat mode, he still packed heat.

It's no small irony, then, that Mr. Best, typed in his Hollywood heyday as a sexy bad boy (sometimes borderline psychotic in his swarthy intensity), went on to become best known as the bumbling backwoods Sheriff Rosco Coltrane on The Dukes of Hazzard.

There ain't no justice.

Gather Ye Rosebuds While Ye May...

...for what begins as this...


JAMES BEST IN THE CIMARRON KID (1952)

...may end up like this:


JAMES BEST IN THE DUKES OF HAZARD (1979-1985)