Wonderful Movie

Don't listen to the negative reviews

Absolutely Fantastic

Although it has its amusing moments, in eneral the plot does not convince.

Destry is a great western that came out in 1939, one of the best years in film history. It's a great western drama with a lot of comedy elements about a gunless deputy who comes in to clean up the town of Bottleneck.James Stewart was an interesting choice for the lead as young Destry, the son of a lawman who's given up his guns and wants to clean up the town peacefully. (You'll have to watch the movie to see how that works out).The supporting cast is great with a lot of comedic characters and classic old west bad guys. I fell hard for Marlene Dietrich when I first saw this movie as a kid. If you're a fan of classic westerns, this one should be in your top ten.

"Destry Rides Again" is the oft filmed story of a non gun toting lawman who cleans up a frontier town. It was previously filmed in 1932 with Tom Mix and later in 1950 as "Frenchie" with Joel McCrea and in 1954 as "Destry" with Audie Murphy.This version which came out in the movies' best year 1939, stars Marlene Dietrich and James Stewart. This film recharged her career and Stewart was just emerging as a major star.The town of Bottleneck is a lawless place under the control of gambler Kent (Brian Donlevy) who with his cronies and Frenchie the "saloon singer" (Dietrich) are cheating honest ranchers out of their properties by luring them into poker games.Rancher Lem Claggett (Tom Fadden) is the latest victim. When he loses his ranch, Sheriff Keogh (Joe King) is murdered trying to get the man's ranch back. Kent has Judge Slade (Samuel S. Hinds) appoint town drunk Washington Dimsdale (Charles Winniger) as the new sheriff. Dimsdale however, takes his job seriously and sends for Tom Destry Jr. (Stewart), the son of his former friend Tom Sr.Destry is at first a laughing stock until he demonstrates his prowess with six shooter. Frenchie it seems has a heart of gold and starts to take a liking to Tom. Young Janice Tyndall (Irene Hervey) also has her eye on Tom. Barfly Boris (Mischa Auer) loses his pants to Frenchie in a poker game which results in his wife Lilly Belle (Una Merkel) charging into the saloon and having a slam bang fight with Frenchie.Following a tragic event Tom becomes angered, straps on his father's guns and.....................................................To me, there was just too much light comedy in light of the seriousness of the story. The likes of Auer, Billy Gilbert As the bartender and Allen Jenkins and Warren Hymer as Donlevy's boys is just too much comedy relief. Even Winniger's character has comedic traits. Jack Carson, who would soon become known for his comedic roles, plays a rough and tough rancher who is at first mistaken for Destry.Dietrich's character was hilariously parodied by Madeliene Kahn in "Blazing Saddles" (1974)to the point that Dietrich's performance is overshadowed to modern viewers. It did however, get her back into the spotlight as she would follow this film up with two with John Wayne. James Stewart was just starting to be seen as a major star. He would appear in the classic "Mr. Smith Goes to Washington" the same year and win an Academy Award the following year for "The Philadelphia Srory".Despite it's faults, this film is still looked upon as a true classic.

Itself a remake, this is a practically perfect comic western (with serious overtones) about a new way for proclaiming peace in a violent town that has rebelled against law and order for decades. They are so determined to keep this part of the wild west that the town judge declares the town drunk (Charles Winninger) the new sheriff. But much to their surprise, Winninger instantly sobers up, and determined to honor the memory of the late Sheriff Tom Destry (whom he was a sober deputy under), Winninger brings his son (James Stewart) to town.There's more than just unruly drunks in this town, there's also the dishonest judge (Samuel S. Hinds), ruthless power-broker (Brian Donlevy) and the fiery saloon singer (Marlene Dietrich) who is involved in the corruption as much as Hinds and Donlevy. Buy being a woman, at least one of the classic Hollywood kind, she's also got heart, although you wouldn't know it from her floozy image.There's a classic cat-fight between Dietrich and the equally hot tempered leader of society (Una Merkel) who gives as much as the hot tempered Dietrich when she confronts her over demanding husband Mischa Auer's pants in exchange for his pants. Dietrich fights back when Stewart dumps water on the two fighting felines, preferring other props over guns. Stewart's entrance off the stagecoach, complete with parasol and birdcage, isn't what you'd expect of a law enforcement officer, but he has some surprises up his sleeve.Dietrich has three musical numbers written by a young Frank Loesser. The most famous of course, is "See What the Boys in the Backroom Will Have" (which she would perform in concerts for decades), although "You've Got That Look" is memorable as well. This was later a successful Broadway musical with Andy Griffith, although Harold Rome wrote the music, not Loesser.This has a great supporting cast including Allen Jenkins as accused killer Gyp Watson, Jack Carson as an honest farmer who stands up to corrupt protection racketeers, Billy Gilbert as the bartender, Lillian Yarbo as Dietrich's maid, and Irene Hervey as Carson's fiancée. Everything in this is picture perfect, and while "Blazing Saddles" was not an official remake, there's enough in common to compare the two. This has one of the great endings in movies, and considering the year it came out in (Hollywood's greatest year), that is quite a compliment.

Yet another classic from Hollywood's most golden year, 1939, a highly entertaining light- hearted Western which sees James Stewart's Tom Destry Jr, son of a renowned but slain lawman, recruited by his pa's old deputy, the now alcoholic Wash (played in the style of Oliver Hardy) by Charles Winninger to clean up the god-forsaken town of Bottleneck way out west, coming up against the shifty mayor-come-judge, played by and the town's Mr Big, Joseph Kent played with his usual vigour by Brian Dunlevy. Kent's sometime girlfriend and willing accomplice in his nefarious plans, is bar-room entertainer tart-with-a-heart Frenchy (well they could hardly have called her German-y) by the irrepressible Marlene Dietrich, her eyes (and thighs!) flashing everywhere.It actually takes Stewart over twenty minutes to arrive on screen, as we're introduced to top-billed Deitrich's feisty nature and see her drinking what the boys in the back are having, sing raucous songs and help Dunlevy to cheat ordinary townsfolk out of their home and land so that he can create a new, highly profitable cattle run to exploit. Young Destry seems on the slow and simple side at first, allowing himself to be the butt of Dunlevy and his henchmen but as usual with Stewart, softly softly catchy monkey and wrongs are righted by the final curtain.Both stars are great, Deitrich's journey from hard-nosed to vulnerable essayed very skilfully while Stewart just drawls and moseys along in his time-honoured. They contrast and combine beautifully while Brian Dunlevy is also very good as the counterbalancing ruthless criminal kingpin who's due his just desserts.Director George Marshall directs with verve and although one or two of the supporting characters seem a little too eccentric, particularly Russian émigré "Don't call me Callahan", it's all great fun with many memorable scenes, including Deitrich's musical numbers, Stewart's first display of his gun-toting skill and of course the celebrated, no-holds barred cat-fight between Deitrich and Una Merkel.This is a great rollicking, roistering Western like they don't make 'em any more, more's the pity.