Destry Rides Again 1939

     The Western town of Bottleneck has two kinds of residents.  The ones that hang out in the saloon and the ones doing farming and ranching.  Kent is the boss of the saloon and of Bottleneck.  There is a crooked card game and Kent has been ‘winning’ the deeds to farms and ranches.  Sheriff Keogh investigates the latest crooked game and he is killed for asking questions.  The town drunk is made the next Sheriff because the town expects him to always be drunk!!  The new Sheriff Washington Dimsdale sends for his nephew Tom Destry Jr.  Tom’s father was a famous lawman and Tom Jr. has also gone into upholding the law.  Washington is surprised when Tom Jr. arrives on the stagecoach and he seems nothing like a lawman!!

     Tom Jr. surprises everyone in the town.  He sets out to use guns as a last resort but he will use them if they are needed.  He demonstrates his gun skills to some men shooting up the town.  He can shoot each one of the knobs off a wagon wheel on top of the saloon.  There is never a dull moment in this film.  Destry is outsmarting the townspeople at every turn.  They are used guns to solving everything and not their wits.  3 ½* (I liked this movie)

94 min, Western directed by George Marshall with Marlene Dietrich, James Stewart, Mischa Auer, Charles Winninger, Brian Donlevy, Allen Jenkins, Warren Hymer, Irene Hervey, Una Merkel, Billy Gilbert, Samuel S. Hinds.

Note:  Imdb 7.7 out of 10, 100% critic 81% audience on Rotten Tomatoes, TCM Leonard Maltin 4* out of 4* average user review 3.4* out of 5*, Amazon 4.6* out of 5* with 154 reviews.

Special Note:  Filmed in Kernville and Universal City, California.  There is a fight scene with two women in the saloon.  Marlene Dietrich and Una Merkel agreed to fight.  The rules were no closed fists but they used feet and pulled hair.  Marlene had bruises for weeks afterwards.  Una Merkel said she was bruised from head to foot.  In real life James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich had an affair lasting for the duration of filming.  Marlene had many affairs with some short-lived and some lasting decades.  Some of the affairs overlapped each other and her husband knew almost all about them?  This is James Stewart’s first western film.  Originally, Gary Cooper was to take the role of Tom Destry.  He wanted more money than the producers were willing to pay.  This film was adapted for a Broadway musical starring Andy Griffith.  It opened April 23, 1959 at the Imperial Theatre and ran for 472 performances.  Included in the American Film Institute’s 1998 list of the 400 movies nominated for the Top 100 Greatest American Movies.  There is also another film with the same title from 1932 with Tom Mix.