by Allan Fish
(USA 1939 94m) DVD1/2
Little Joe, Little Joe
p Joe Pasternak d George Marshall w Felix Jackson, Gertrude Purcell, Henry Myers novel Max Brand ph Hal Mohr ed Milton Carruth m Frank Skinner m/ly Frederick Hollander, Frank Loesser art Jack Otterson cos Vera West
James Stewart (Thomas Jefferson Destry), Marlene Dietrich (Frenchy), Brian Donlevy (Kent), Charles Winninger (Washington Dimsdale), Samuel S.Hinds (Mayor Hiram J.Slade), Irene Harvey (Janice Tyndall), Mischa Auer (Boris Callahan), Una Merkel (Lily Belle Callahan), Allen Jenkins (Gyp Watson), Warren Hymer (Bugs Watson), Jack Carson (Tyndall), Billy Gilbert (Loupgerou),
Destry Rides Again is one of those films enshrined in cinema history, a film so wrapped up in western and Hollywood myth as to often prove problematic to discuss. Firstly on account of the fact that it was directed by George Marshall, a man not without talent but to whom the term journeyman was generally conceived, and secondly because so much attention is given to Marlene Dietrich’s truly renowned Frenchy and her immortal rendition of “See What the Boys in the Back Room Will Have” that it’s often forgotten that Destry is great on so many other counts. Perhaps the most important factor in retrospect, though, is just how much of a curiosity it must have seemed at the time. After all, its studio, Universal, pretty much divided its time equally between cheap horror sequels and Deanna Durbin musicals at the time of its release, and the western, though about to be resurrected thanks to the success of both this and the concurrently shot Stagecoach, was considered very much a cheap B movie genre. Most interestingly there was the casting, as in 1939 Marlene Dietrich (then pretty much box-office poison) and James Stewart were the least likely western couple you could have named, which in Stewart’s case is suffused with irony, when one considers the series of classics with Anthony Mann that placed him in the genre’s hall of fame. Dietrich meanwhile delighted in reinventing herself or, as Leslie Halliwell once said, enjoyed being a legend.
After a crooked card game means a rancher loses his land, the sheriff of Bottleneck gets shot by local crooked operator Kent, and an ex-deputy, Washington Dimsdale, now the laughing stock of the town as a perpetual drunk, is chosen as stooge sheriff. However, he aims to trick them by bringing in the son of legendary sheriff Tom Destry to be his deputy. But when Destry Jnr. arrives he seems to be made of a different, more pacifistic stock than his father, much to the horror of Dimsdale and the laughter of the local crooks.
The atmosphere is created from the opening shot of the town sign and the hail of bullets that greet it. It may be an atmosphere that seems old hat in the present era, used to Ian McShane’s deliciously profane Al Swearengen, but this is the ‘wild west’ Hollywood style. The music, the one street set, the songs and the perfectly pitched script combine to great effect, and are made even greater by tailor made casting down to the smallest role; Auer’s implausible pantless henpecked Russian, Merkel as his shrewish wife, Winninger as his old incorrigibly blustering self, Donlevy as a definitive tinhorn villain, the wonderfully crooked top-hatted Hinds as the mayor with a penchant for cheating himself at checkers and Gilbert’s double-taking barman (“I set ‘em up and you drink ‘em down”) are just the most memorable in a gallery of supports. And they are more than matched by the two surprisingly well-matched stars, each of whom is so perfect as to be beyond criticism. There is no-one alive who cannot raise a smile thinking of Dietrich singing any one of her barroom ballads (“the longer they wait, the better they like it” she says knowingly), of she and Merkel in the catfight of the century and Stewart’s drenching of the pair of them, of Stewart’s continual recollections of “I knew a fella” or of the memorably poignant rendition of Winninger’s theme from the kids on the back of that wagon. It may not be a masterpiece to rival the best of Ford, Hawks or Leone, but it doesn’t try to be. It’s simply the classic western entertainment package.
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It’s a rather fun and amusing film, despite the fact that it didn’t make my top 50. It has to be recognized as one of the films that re-energized a dead genre that really hadn’t done much since the early to mid 1920’s. In fact I can think of 3 from 1939….this one, Stagecoach and the rather decent Dodge City with that hilarious barroom brawl. Actually, it’s interesting that Mel Brooks took bits and pieces from both Dodge City and Destry for Blazing Saddles.Outside of 1939, I don’t recall having any other films approach my top 50….let alone top 100, from the 1930’s. Unless I’m forgetting one or two.
Forgot about The Big Trail (1930).
You’re also forgetting Frontier Marshal, the best western of ’39.
Just saw Frontier Marshal for the first time a few months ago. Richard Brody likes this one a lot too. Enjoyed it, and would like to see it in close proximity with My Darling Clementine eventually which I believe it influenced.
There must have been some delayed effect from De Mille’s 1936 The Plainsman since ’39 saw actually a fair number of westerns, including De Mille’s own Union Pacific, Henry King’s Jesse James and Warner Bros.’s misguided The Oklahoma Kid, beside the ones already mentioned. Perhaps the success of Gene Autry or other singing cowboys encouraged the big studios to go after the same market with something more upscale. Stagecoach and Destry are the best of the lot (though Frontier Marshal has its moments) so they get credited with starting rather than catching the wave. The top two endure, I suppose, because of their memorable collections of characters. Destry’s particular virtue is its ability to maintain an overall comic tone and still have an honestly dramatic climax amid the housewives marching on the saloon. On top of everything, Auer is priceless.
Yes the film is a diverse entertainment package and the Stewart-Dietrich chemistry was unlikely. But as you say it works extremely well and its a classic of sorts.
I am not a huge fan of this film (it didn’t make my own ballot) but I fully recognize it’s broad appeal with many, and completely understand that Stewart and Dietrich are a match made in heaven, in a unique hybrid that represents a perfect example of how the western crosses boundaries. The countdown has opened with a masterful essay from Allan, that is part of his book.
I need to see this again – I love Dietrich in it (and in everything), and she makes a great combination with James Stewart, but my memories of it have faded. Your piece is a great start to the countdown, Allan. Another Dietrich Western that I like is ‘The Spoilers’ with John Wayne and Richard Barthelmess, though sadly I don’t think she sings in that one.
I think this could have been a top tier classic, instead of one with imperishable moments, characters and and delightful star chemistry – what lets it down is the lacklustre ending with women cleaning up the town, which was a mite twee. Brilliant opening though.
I think this film is pretty unique as one of the first films to function as both a genre parody and an excellent example of a film from that genre at the same time. There were Western parodies before, I guess, from Buster Keaton and Laurel and Hardy, but this is something less obviously comic yet just as funny and all-around entertaining. A terrific film. Blazing Saddles is pretty much a more postmodern, updated-for-the-seventies remake.
Yeah, this is an odd one. I bought it at a video rental store closure a few years ago and watched in 2011 but many of the details have become foggy. The general impression I retain is of a genre mash-up, as others here have indicated. Interesting inasmuch as it was also a trendsetter in its (most prominent) genre; as StephenM puts it (nice to see him in these parts, btw, it’s been a while no?): “both a genre parody and an excellent example of a film from that genre” – not only that, but an EARLY film from that genre, and an iconic one. I find it interesting that the elements Allan rightly notes as eccentric – like the German singer – nonetheless seemed iconographic enough for Brooks to specifically spoof in 1974. A fascinating paradox to my mind.
Incidentally, for those reading this, I’m finally catching up on the western countdown halfway through. Should be fun.