Destry Rides Again (1939)

Destry Rides Again
Directed by George Marshall
Written by Felix Jackson, Gertrude Purcell and Henry Myers
1939/USA
Universal Pictures
Repeat viewing/Netflix rental
#132 of 1001 Films You Must See Before You Die

[box] Frenchy: Get out before I kill you!

Tom Destry Jr.: You mean you haven’t been tryin’?[/box]

This much-lampooned take on the Western has more of a serious side than I remembered.

The Old West town of Bottleneck is run by political boss and card cheat Kent (Brian Donlevy) and his paramour, saloon singer Frenchy (Marlene Dietrich).  When the sherriff objects to Kent’s methods in acquiring an unwilling settler’s ranch, he promptly disappears and is replaced by town drunk Wash (Charles Winninger).  But Wash, who was formerly a deputy, takes the job seriously and calls on Tom Destry (James Stewart), the son of a famous sherriff, to help him out.  He is dismayed when Destry arrives in town without a gun and seems determined to restore law and order without using one.

But Destry, despite his folksy anecdotes, is no fool and no slouch with a pistol either.  His smartest move is eliciting the heart of gold concealed in Frenchy’s rough-and-ready exterior. But can Destry really defeat the ruthless Kent without a gun?  With Una Merkel as a righteous matron and Mischa Auer as her henpecked husband.

This film has a comic tone, including the famous cat fight between Dietrich and Merkel, and several musical numbers.  In fact, it’s hard for me to watch Dietrich in this without thinking of Madeline Kahn in Blazing Saddles.  All that I remembered was the lighter parts so I was surprised at how sad the finale was and how cavalierly the sadness was treated in the end.  Any way, it’s Stewart’s first Western and quite entertaining.

Trailer