Destry Rides Again is a 1939 western directed by George Marshall, starring Marlene Dietrich, James Stewart, Mischa Auer, Charles Winninger, Brian Donlevy, Allen Jenkins, Irene Hervey, Billy Gilbert, Bill Cody, Jr. and Una Merkel.
In 1996, Destry Rides Again was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant”.
Plot
Saloon owner Kent (Donlevy), the unscrupulous boss of the western town of Bottleneck has Sheriff Keogh killed when he asks one too many questions about a rigged poker game. Kent, his henchmen and “Frenchy” (Dietrich), the dance hall queen now have a stranglehold over the local cattle rangers. The mayor, who is in with Kent, appoints the town drunk, Washington Dimsdale (Winninger), as the new sheriff, assuming that he’ll be easy to control. But what the mayor doesn’t know is that Dimsdale was a deputy under famous lawman, Tom Destry, and is able to call upon the equally formidable Tom Destry Jr (Stewart) to be his deputy and make Bottleneck a lawful, respectable area.
Destry confounds the townsfolk by refusing to strap on a gun, but he still carries out the “letter of the law” and wins over the doubters. A final confrontation between Destry and Kent’s gang is inevitable and with “Frenchy” won over, a final gunfight ensues. The rule of law eventually wins out.
Production
Famed Western writer, Max Brand contributed the original novel, Destry Rides Again but the story soon became a typical “oater” with the town of Bottleneck set on a Hollywood sound stage.
Other versions
- Universal Pictures released an earlier version, also titled Destry Rides Again (1932), directed by Benjamin Stoloff and starring Tom Mix.[2].
- A remake, Destry (1954), was directed by George Marshall and starred Audie Murphy and Thomas Mitchell.
- A Broadway musical version of the story, Destry Rides Again, opened in New York at the Imperial Theater on April 23, 1959, and played 472 performances. Produced by David Merrick, the show had a book by Leonard Gershe and music and lyrics by Harold Rome and starred Andy Griffith as Destry and Dolores Gray as Frenchy.
Cast
- Marlene Dietrich Frenchy, the saloon singer
- James Stewart Thomas Jefferson “Tom” Destry, Jr., the new deputy
- Mischa Auer Boris Callahan, the henpecked Russian
- “Charlie” Winninger ”Wash” (Washington Dimsdale), the new sheriff
- Brian Donlevy Kent, the saloon owner
- Allen Jenkins ”Gyp” Watson
- Warren Hymer ”Bugs” Watson
- Irene Hervey Janice Tyndall
