There is a certain air of Twain pervading this story. It anticipates the challenges and demands such influential figures as Gandhi and Martin Luther King would present to storytelling in the foreseeable future. It is a meditation on the manly use of force and the value of being downright neighborly. In its own way, it is a deconstruction and demythologizing of the Old West where the bullets are wrapped up in an anecdote with a certain twinkle in the eye of the teller. Jimmy Stewart as Tom Destry Jr. Proves what a little friendly persuasion can do in between a few tall tales and a little straight shootin', partner.
It once occurred to me that it might do well to consider and know everything there is to know about violence, before beginning to study and apply the non-violent philosophy. Thomas Jefferson 'Tom' Destry Jr., becoming the new sheriff of Bottleneck appears seemingly unaware of the depth of corruption that exists in the town. Saloon owner Kent, played by Brian Donlevy, along with his girl friend Frenchy as memorably portrayed by Marlene Dietrich, run Bottleneck like one of their rigged poker games, prepared to kill anyone who gets in their way. Destry Jr., son of the famous lawman Tom Destry, appears more than willing to talk things over with all parties involved and not much else. At the outset, he even refuses to strap on a gun!
Stewart's low-key performance as Destry Junior calls to mind Tyrone Power's foppish turn as Don Diego a year later in THE MARK OF ZORRO (1940), vainly attempting to recover from a bad bout of ennui, and much later, Christopher Reeves' dissembling in SUPERMAN (1978). But nobody makes the everyman overcoming formidable if not impossible odds as appealing or as true to life as ol' Jimmy. As he proved earlier that year in Capra's MISTER SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939), you can only go so far with him before the reckoning comes. Here it hitches a ride on a bullet near the end of a tragic pause between funny stories and the quips of a raconteur.
While there is the usual good girl-bad girl juxtaposition between Marlene Dietrich as Frenchy, the saloon singer, and Irene Hervey as Janice Tyndall, sister of cattleman Jack Tyndall, there are intriguing shades and sides to the characterization of Miss Dietrich. The surprising scenes have the townswomen marching through the streets to exert a moralizing force on the men's planned skullduggery and shoot-outs. This development in the plot makes the social context of the film richer and gives it more heart after all the chuckles caused by Destry Junior or at his expense. While not every woman in this film is a paragon of virtue, the general impression is that they all have the grit and strength of suffragettes.
Director George Marshall essentially serves up a murder mystery wrapped and basted in wit and humor. The town drunk is appointed sheriff and surprises everyone by making the right decision at the right time. We expect someone like John Wayne to come lumbering into town, but are intrigued to find ourselves encountering the easy-going demeanor of a slim Westerner who dislikes wearing guns and favors milk over hard liquor. The fact that nothing is exactly as it seems give the narrative a diverting pace. The apparent temporization of Destry as the lead character, in contrast to the aggressive assertiveness of the barroom girl Frenchy, gives the film a tension and suspense that engages our attention and our affection for the main characters at the same time. When the dust from the action and the gun smoke finally settles, we feel as though we have been finally let in on Destry's leisurely line of reasoning as Frank Skinner's musical score takes us out through the end credits on an optimistic note in spite of the tragic incidents that have inspired and ultimately resolved this tale of the West.
It once occurred to me that it might do well to consider and know everything there is to know about violence, before beginning to study and apply the non-violent philosophy. Thomas Jefferson 'Tom' Destry Jr., becoming the new sheriff of Bottleneck appears seemingly unaware of the depth of corruption that exists in the town. Saloon owner Kent, played by Brian Donlevy, along with his girl friend Frenchy as memorably portrayed by Marlene Dietrich, run Bottleneck like one of their rigged poker games, prepared to kill anyone who gets in their way. Destry Jr., son of the famous lawman Tom Destry, appears more than willing to talk things over with all parties involved and not much else. At the outset, he even refuses to strap on a gun!
Stewart's low-key performance as Destry Junior calls to mind Tyrone Power's foppish turn as Don Diego a year later in THE MARK OF ZORRO (1940), vainly attempting to recover from a bad bout of ennui, and much later, Christopher Reeves' dissembling in SUPERMAN (1978). But nobody makes the everyman overcoming formidable if not impossible odds as appealing or as true to life as ol' Jimmy. As he proved earlier that year in Capra's MISTER SMITH GOES TO WASHINGTON (1939), you can only go so far with him before the reckoning comes. Here it hitches a ride on a bullet near the end of a tragic pause between funny stories and the quips of a raconteur.
While there is the usual good girl-bad girl juxtaposition between Marlene Dietrich as Frenchy, the saloon singer, and Irene Hervey as Janice Tyndall, sister of cattleman Jack Tyndall, there are intriguing shades and sides to the characterization of Miss Dietrich. The surprising scenes have the townswomen marching through the streets to exert a moralizing force on the men's planned skullduggery and shoot-outs. This development in the plot makes the social context of the film richer and gives it more heart after all the chuckles caused by Destry Junior or at his expense. While not every woman in this film is a paragon of virtue, the general impression is that they all have the grit and strength of suffragettes.
Director George Marshall essentially serves up a murder mystery wrapped and basted in wit and humor. The town drunk is appointed sheriff and surprises everyone by making the right decision at the right time. We expect someone like John Wayne to come lumbering into town, but are intrigued to find ourselves encountering the easy-going demeanor of a slim Westerner who dislikes wearing guns and favors milk over hard liquor. The fact that nothing is exactly as it seems give the narrative a diverting pace. The apparent temporization of Destry as the lead character, in contrast to the aggressive assertiveness of the barroom girl Frenchy, gives the film a tension and suspense that engages our attention and our affection for the main characters at the same time. When the dust from the action and the gun smoke finally settles, we feel as though we have been finally let in on Destry's leisurely line of reasoning as Frank Skinner's musical score takes us out through the end credits on an optimistic note in spite of the tragic incidents that have inspired and ultimately resolved this tale of the West.
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