Lucky Luke - Daisy Town (1971)
Directed by René Goscinny

Film Review

Lucky Luke's first cinematic outing is this entertaining and spirited animated film, the work of the famous cowboy's creator, René Goscinny (who also gave us Astérix).  Although targeted at children, the film will appeal to adults, who will doubtless enjoy spotting references to numerous classic American westerns.  The film's sequel was La Ballade des Dalton (1978), which is just as enjoyable, and possibly one of the best examples of a mainstream French animated film.

Film Synopsis

When it was founded by an enterprising party of American settlers not so long ago, Daisy Town was intended to be a haven of peace, a place where parents could bring up their children in safety and where neighbours could live side-by-side in perfect harmony.  How quickly this supposed modern Utopia turned into a heaving swamp of unbridled lawlessness.  Once the town had acquired its present reputation for vice and debauchery, sharp-shooting bandits and other low-life came from far and wide to settle here, and show just how wild the Wild West could be.  Driven to despair if not to hard liquor, Daisy Town's honest notables invite Lucky Luke, a brave and incorruptible cowboy, to take over the post of Sheriff and restore the rule of law.

Acompanied by his faithful horse Jilly Jumper, our intrepid hero gladly accepts the post and wastes no time imposing his authority on the troubled town, but in the notorious Dalton Brothers he finds he is up against the most fearsome and despicable of adversaries.  This ruthless band of desparados is not going to make things easy for Lucky Luke, and in their vengeful determination to thwart the cowboy's clean-up campaign they are prepared to do anything - even forming an alliance with the marauding Indians.  The scene is set for one of the fiercest showdowns the Wild West has ever known...