Wonderful old classic
Added 9/15/2009
What a wonderful old western this is. Although filmed in 1939, it's still as fresh as ever, and the scale of the production was as impressive as any of the later westerns 30 years later. The scenes often employ hundreds of extras, such as during the bar fights and other scenes. But the movie's real strength is its clever mix of typical western shoot 'em up antics combined with an unlikely sheriff who would rather talk people down than shoot them. That plus the fact that he brings first-rate sleuthing abilities to bear on the problem of solving the previous sheriff's murder make it as entertaining a western as has ever graced the silver screen. Basically, Stewart is just about the shrewdest and craftiest sheriff to ever wear a badge, and in the end the bad guys are just outsmarted rather getting a bad case of "lead poisoning." Dietrich, Donlevy, Auer, and Winninger are also great in their roles. All in all still a fine movie and well worth your time.
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One of the Best Westerns ever made!
Added 6/20/2009
Destry Rides Again is one of my very favorite movies because it has everything that you could ever want in a film- Wild West Action, Romance, Musical numbers, Drama, Comedy, Perfect performances by everyone in the film, Tear jerking scenes, a great director, great camera shots, and more. This movie grabs your attention from start to finish. I've seen this movie a number of times and never get tired of it. Back in the 1980's I took a trip with my parents by plane to Tucson, Arizona and while we were there we went to see the site of where this movie was made. When we entered the saloon and I saw the bar, I got real excited because I had seen the movie before we made the trip, and when I saw it in person it thrilled me. This film starts outside of the saloon with guns going off and yells from those involved in the shootings. The background music couldn't be any better than this as it puts you in the mood for what is to happen. I like the Black woman who is Frenchie's maid. There are several scenes with her that is really comical. One scene shows Frenchie with a tray of eggs and she asks the maid to put them on the table. The maid starts fussing about doing this and then she asks Frenchie, "What'll I do with these here eggs?" Before Frechie leaves she says, "Try sitting on them." The maid looks questioningly about this and says, "I can't sit on no eggs. I would smash 'em." You have to listen very closely to the dialogue in the movie because they talk fast at times and you might miss something. Charles Winninger is great as the town drunk who soon becomes the sheriff of Bottleneck. He looks at Frenchie and asks, "Are you sure I'm the sheriff?." Frenchie exclaims, "Sure you are." Then he says, "I'm done with the liquor. It's either the bottle, or the badge." Another side of this movie that makes it so good is the heavy fog of cigarette smoke that hangs in the air in the saloon. I love the scene where Boriss's wife comes stomping into the saloon and walks up to Frenchie and says, "---and how'd ja do it, by making eyes at him?" Frenchie has the nerve to answer her "---than to be married to you." Borris's wife answers back in anger, "That's what I thought you said." Then comes the fight between Una and Marlene(and you know, I don't know who really is the better fighter. They really go at it.) Tom walks up slowly and dumps a whole bucket of water on them and Una screams, gets up and runs out of the saloon. Frenchie feels she has won the fight and says, "Get me a drink!" The bartender does this and after she drinks, she sees herself in the mirror and shrieks. But before that happens Frenchie is so angry with Tom that she takes 2 guns and turns around and faces him. Everyone leaves the bar and Frenchie starts throwing beer bottles at him. When she sees that doesn't work she throws a guitar at him, and then picks up a chair to throw, but by this time she is worn out. Tom says, "You're tuckered out." To where she gets up quickly and starts throwing her fists at him. Tom gets the point and starts to leave, but he gives her one last tease and she comes close to hitting him with a beer bottle. Marlene looks very fashionable with her hair up in curls that sparkle and with the clothes she wears. I love how Wash steps into the saloon and says, "Well, he's here.---and Frenchie, oh, this is someone that you have ta meet." The drama keeps building up as there is bitter feelings between Destry and the bad guy (Brian Donlevy). Wash and Tom take a walk in town one day and they come to a hitching post. Wash tells him the story and when Tom questions him, he says, "No---and the neighbors. Tom, you gotta get out a town." The scene where the 3 bad guys come in town and one shoots a man and kills him, and Tom talks to them calmly and jokingly at first, but then he is boiling with anger and tells them off, Jimmy Stewart does this scene so well. Mischa Auhr and Una Merkel almost steals the show with their comedy. I love when Frenchie and "Callahan" are playing cards and he tells her his real name, but she ignores what he says and keeps calling him Callahan. Then comes the best part where Frenchie tries to decide what to do with him. He says, "I know I got you beat." He lays down his card and she lays down 2 aces. She says "Ten bucks for your pants", to which he says, "My pants? Frenchie, you can't do this tome." "Off with those pants." When he hesitates she smiles and says, "Boys, get 'em." It's comical to watch Wash get so fuddled to where he pulls his shirt up from his pants and gets nervous. There are some touching moments with Wash. One is where he hears that Tom doesn't have guns and that he doesn't believe in them. Wash is dejected and says "---now you fooled me." Tom encourages him, or at least tries to, and asks Wash to make him the sheriff. Wash doesn't want to do it, but with Tom's coaxing he says, "OK, now repeat after me---". It's comical how Wash asks if he will uphold the law, and all the rest that goes with it." I love how this movie ends. There is so much action going on. The bad guys come and shoot Wash in the back. Recently I saw this movie and when this scene came I felt sad for him. The music that follows this scene couldn't be better as it makes you feel the danger of the trouble to come. The director of the movie did a fantastic job with the last scenes in the movie. The part where the men are shooting at each other and the women of the town march down the main street into the range of the gunfire, then turn and smash the bar windows and a large mob scene takes place. I love when Brian Donlevy hides down close to the floor and rolls the table over to the door. Frenchie tries hard to get through the crowd to be with Tom. When she looks up and sees Brian going into the room, she is afraid and calls out, "Tom," and all this time Brian is looking for the chance to kill Tom, only to find that when he does shoot Frenchie gets it in her back and drops dead. To leave all of the action and the shooting scene and go to view a town where there is nothing but peace, it's hard to accept it at first. The girl in the back of the wagon who sings the song, Little Joe, this is a chilling scene as it brings back the memory of Frenchie when she sang it. I also like where Tom is talking to a woman friend and begins to say something that, to her, sounds like a proposal. She says, "Yes, Tom?" and the movie ends with this scene with the credits included. What a movie! If I could, I would rate it a 10. It should have won an award. The Great Depression was over and to celebrate, all of the movie studios came out with many hit movies. I'm glad that this was one of them.
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IF YOU LIKE JIMMY STEWART
Added 4/27/2009
.....Then you will love this movie. Stewart plays the part of Tom Destry JR son of the legendary lawman who cleaned up Tombstone. Trouble is that Stewart doesn't like to carry a gun which makes him the laughing stock of the residents of the wide open town of Bottleneck and its lawless residents. Dietrich plays the part of Frenchy, her usual saloon girl floozie but Stewart in his disarming shucks ma'am manner manages to tap into a soft spot in her hard heart and she falls for him. After winning Frenchys heart Stewart manages to clean up the town and only has to slap leather once to take out the bad guy played by Brian Dunlevy who shoots Frenchy in the back as she throws herself in front of Stewart to save his life ...As Frenchy slips away she asks Stewart for a good-by kiss ....This is a great movie for buffs who like comedy mixed with pathos in the old West ...both Stewart and Dietrich are superb in a thoroughly enjoyable movie.
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You've Got the Look
Added 2/10/2009
We watched this particular DVD and I have to say, this film needs restoration badly. When Dietrich gets on stage to sing "See What the Boys in the Back Room Will Have,"you can barely distinguish her from the gauze curtain behind her. (Or was she photographed with a piece of gauze hung between her and the camera?) Universal did her no favors in the hair or makeup department either; when wet, her hair looks great, but dry, it looks like a Shirley Temple doll with shiny cellophane instead of human hair, and the cellophane is constantly winking and glittering in the camera's lens, like the jewels or sequins in her corsets and showgirl outfits. Now I know where Kylie Minogue got her total showgirl look.
It is a strange Western without Indians, though we hear them referred to in the dialogue, stories of how the elder Destry faced down a whole Comanche tribe, etc. Otherwise the conflict is between corrupt municipal bosses, allied with gamblers, who scheme to monopolize ownership of all surrounding land--that is, anywhere that could be used as a cattle trail. Wonder if the movie was inspired by current events in Europe; James Stewart, reluctant to strap on the guns and live as his father did, has to make up his mind in the face of escalating and evil violence--an allegory for the isolationism of the US when Hitler was taking over Europe? Everything fits, but if so, it makes the presence of Dietrich (and Mischa Auer) in the movie fit even more... Still you'd think there'd be Indians, or would that be a distraction from the anti-isolationist politics of the film?
Needless to say, we loved it. We devised a drinking game where we would take a shot every time the flustered sheriff pulled his shirt out of the front of his pants, and we took two shots every time Jimmy Stewart slowly and lovingly tucked it back in for him... we cried the last time he did this... in fact I'm still drunk.
2 out of 2 people found this helpful.
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Picks Up Steam And Has A Wild Finish
Added 2/6/2009
The first part was a little slow to me but once you get past it, this is an entertaining film which was popular with a lot of people, including this reviewer, who actually liked it better the second time around.
Marlene Dietrich plays a role typical for her, an edgy saloon singer named "Frenchy," and except for her singing, which I never thought was very good, she's great to watch. James Stewart ("Thomas Jefferson Destry Jr.") also plays his normal role as the peaceful hero as does the too loud-and-obnoxious Charles Winniger (Destry's uncle).
The ending is famous, a strange one in which the town's women storm the bad guys in a bar, culminating with Dietrich and Una Merkel fighting it out! It's very unrealistic but memorable and certainly fun to watch.
All-in-all, a pretty fast-moving film which offers a little bit of everything: action, romance, drama, comedy....and a lot of good, known supporting actors I didn't even mention. This is one of the classics of a very famous year in films. The shame of it is that the DVD transfer is very poor. I should have just kept my VHS copy of it.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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Wonderful old classic
Added 9/15/2009
What a wonderful old western this is. Although filmed in 1939, it's still as fresh as ever, and the scale of the production was as impressive as any of the later westerns 30 years later. The scenes often employ hundreds of extras, such as during the bar fights and other scenes. But the movie's real strength is its clever mix of typical western shoot 'em up antics combined with an unlikely sheriff who would rather talk people down than shoot them. That plus the fact that he brings first-rate sleuthing abilities to bear on the problem of solving the previous sheriff's murder make it as entertaining a western as has ever graced the silver screen. Basically, Stewart is just about the shrewdest and craftiest sheriff to ever wear a badge, and in the end the bad guys are just outsmarted rather getting a bad case of "lead poisoning." Dietrich, Donlevy, Auer, and Winninger are also great in their roles. All in all still a fine movie and well worth your time.
1 out of 1 people found this helpful.
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One of the Best Westerns ever made!
Added 6/20/2009
Destry Rides Again is one of my very favorite movies because it has everything that you could ever want in a film- Wild West Action, Romance, Musical numbers, Drama, Comedy, Perfect performances by everyone in the film, Tear jerking scenes, a great director, great camera shots, and more. This movie grabs your attention from start to finish. I've seen this movie a number of times and never get tired of it. Back in the 1980's I took a trip with my parents by plane to Tucson, Arizona and while we were there we went to see the site of where this movie was made. When we entered the saloon and I saw the bar, I got real excited because I had seen the movie before we made the trip, and when I saw it in person it thrilled me. This film starts outside of the saloon with guns going off and yells from those involved in the shootings. The background music couldn't be any better than this as it puts you in the mood for what is to happen. I like the Black woman who is Frenchie's maid. There are several scenes with her that is really comical. One scene shows Frenchie with a tray of eggs and she asks the maid to put them on the table. The maid starts fussing about doing this and then she asks Frenchie, "What'll I do with these here eggs?" Before Frechie leaves she says, "Try sitting on them." The maid looks questioningly about this and says, "I can't sit on no eggs. I would smash 'em." You have to listen very closely to the dialogue in the movie because they talk fast at times and you might miss something. Charles Winninger is great as the town drunk who soon becomes the sheriff of Bottleneck. He looks at Frenchie and asks, "Are you sure I'm the sheriff?." Frenchie exclaims, "Sure you are." Then he says, "I'm done with the liquor. It's either the bottle, or the badge." Another side of this movie that makes it so good is the heavy fog of cigarette smoke that hangs in the air in the saloon. I love the scene where Boriss's wife comes stomping into the saloon and walks up to Frenchie and says, "---and how'd ja do it, by making eyes at him?" Frenchie has the nerve to answer her "---than to be married to you." Borris's wife answers back in anger, "That's what I thought you said." Then comes the fight between Una and Marlene(and you know, I don't know who really is the better fighter. They really go at it.) Tom walks up slowly and dumps a whole bucket of water on them and Una screams, gets up and runs out of the saloon. Frenchie feels she has won the fight and says, "Get me a drink!" The bartender does this and after she drinks, she sees herself in the mirror and shrieks. But before that happens Frenchie is so angry with Tom that she takes 2 guns and turns around and faces him. Everyone leaves the bar and Frenchie starts throwing beer bottles at him. When she sees that doesn't work she throws a guitar at him, and then picks up a chair to throw, but by this time she is worn out. Tom says, "You're tuckered out." To where she gets up quickly and starts throwing her fists at him. Tom gets the point and starts to leave, but he gives her one last tease and she comes close to hitting him with a beer bottle. Marlene looks very fashionable with her hair up in curls that sparkle and with the clothes she wears. I love how Wash steps into the saloon and says, "Well, he's here.---and Frenchie, oh, this is someone that you have ta meet." The drama keeps building up as there is bitter feelings between Destry and the bad guy (Brian Donlevy). Wash and Tom take a walk in town one day and they come to a hitching post. Wash tells him the story and when Tom questions him, he says, "No---and the neighbors. Tom, you gotta get out a town." The scene where the 3 bad guys come in town and one shoots a man and kills him, and Tom talks to them calmly and jokingly at first, but then he is boiling with anger and tells them off, Jimmy Stewart does this scene so well. Mischa Auhr and Una Merkel almost steals the show with their comedy. I love when Frenchie and "Callahan" are playing cards and he tells her his real name, but she ignores what he says and keeps calling him Callahan. Then comes the best part where Frenchie tries to decide what to do with him. He says, "I know I got you beat." He lays down his card and she lays down 2 aces. She says "Ten bucks for your pants", to which he says, "My pants? Frenchie, you can't do this tome." "Off with those pants." When he hesitates she smiles and says, "Boys, get 'em." It's comical to watch Wash get so fuddled to where he pulls his shirt up from his pants and gets nervous. There are some touching moments with Wash. One is where he hears that Tom doesn't have guns and that he doesn't believe in them. Wash is dejected and says "---now you fooled me." Tom encourages him, or at least tries to, and asks Wash to make him the sheriff. Wash doesn't want to do it, but with Tom's coaxing he says, "OK, now repeat after me---". It's comical how Wash asks if he will uphold the law, and all the rest that goes with it." I love how this movie ends. There is so much action going on. The bad guys come and shoot Wash in the back. Recently I saw this movie and when this scene came I felt sad for him. The music that follows this scene couldn't be better as it makes you feel the danger of the trouble to come. The director of the movie did a fantastic job with the last scenes in the movie. The part where the men are shooting at each other and the women of the town march down the main street into the range of the gunfire, then turn and smash the bar windows and a large mob scene takes place. I love when Brian Donlevy hides down close to the floor and rolls the table over to the door. Frenchie tries hard to get through the crowd to be with Tom. When she looks up and sees Brian going into the room, she is afraid and calls out, "Tom," and all this time Brian is looking for the chance to kill Tom, only to find that when he does shoot Frenchie gets it in her back and drops dead. To leave all of the action and the shooting scene and go to view a town where there is nothing but peace, it's hard to accept it at first. The girl in the back of the wagon who sings the song, Little Joe, this is a chilling scene as it brings back the memory of Frenchie when she sang it. I also like where Tom is talking to a woman friend and begins to say something that, to her, sounds like a proposal. She says, "Yes, Tom?" and the movie ends with this scene with the credits included. What a movie! If I could, I would rate it a 10. It should have won an award. The Great Depression was over and to celebrate, all of the movie studios came out with many hit movies. I'm glad that this was one of them.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
|
IF YOU LIKE JIMMY STEWART
Added 4/27/2009
.....Then you will love this movie. Stewart plays the part of Tom Destry JR son of the legendary lawman who cleaned up Tombstone. Trouble is that Stewart doesn't like to carry a gun which makes him the laughing stock of the residents of the wide open town of Bottleneck and its lawless residents. Dietrich plays the part of Frenchy, her usual saloon girl floozie but Stewart in his disarming shucks ma'am manner manages to tap into a soft spot in her hard heart and she falls for him. After winning Frenchys heart Stewart manages to clean up the town and only has to slap leather once to take out the bad guy played by Brian Dunlevy who shoots Frenchy in the back as she throws herself in front of Stewart to save his life ...As Frenchy slips away she asks Stewart for a good-by kiss ....This is a great movie for buffs who like comedy mixed with pathos in the old West ...both Stewart and Dietrich are superb in a thoroughly enjoyable movie.
0 out of 0 people found this helpful.
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