A Fistful Of Fingers (1995)

The first feature (just) from Edgar Wright sees the man perhaps biting off a little bit more than he can chew in this Western spoof filmed in and around his hometown.

The story? "No-name" (Graham Low) travels in search of The Squint (Oli van der Vijver) for reasons that we don't know but that we hope will become clear by the end of the movie. That's it. Along the way, "No-name" meets up with Running Sore (Martin Curtis) but any actual development of the plot only serves the set-up and delivery of more gags.

Okay, so it may not be up there with many of the later outings from Wright in his professional career but his first big-screen outing as writer and director remains a surprisingly enjoyable experience that shows a lot of love and care far outweighing the meagre budget and resources.

The Western clichés are adhered to, or subverted, with glee (my favourite being the saloon that gets noisy and lively when a stranger enters and then becomes paused when he leaves again) and while they may not be the biggest or most sophisticated gags in the world I'd have to give props to Wright for the sheer wealth of comedy that he tries to cram in there. I was smiling a lot and one or two moments still managed to make me laugh out loud - a woodland gunfight being one of the best.

The actors, and accents, are pretty bad but they all go along with the nonsense and deserve points for simply doing their bit to help the movie get made. Jeremy Beadle and Nicola Stapleton are the only two faces I recognised from elsewhere, with the former popping up to provide a great gag if you remember Beadle's About. Oh, and Mr. Wright himself appears on screen briefly but I'm sure he doesn't put this appearance at the top of his C.V.

The self-deprecating director often points out the many flaws in this film and uses it to cite examples of what not to do with your low-budget first feature but I'd say that he's being a bit too hard on himself. This stands up as a daft little film that remains a bit of fun for those who get to see it.

6/10

It's a very, very tricky movie to track down but here's an optimistic link anyway

http://www.amazon.co.uk/A-Fistful-Fingers-VHS/dp/B00004CT72/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1340563145&sr=8-1