After Frank Capra made him a star in the Oscar-winning YOU CAN'T TAKE IT WITH YOU, Jimmy Stewart got a chance to play something a little different in this Western for director George Marshall. While the film does everything it can to give him equal billing with co-star Marlene Dietrich, he owns this film. No wonder Dietrich's bad girl falls for Stewart's sly lawman.
The town of Bottleneck is run by gamblers and thieves. Saloon owner Kent (Brian Donlevy, KISS OF DEATH) uses his dance hall girl Frenchy (Dietrich, THE SCARLET EMPRESS) to cheat men out of their ranches. And she does a good job of cheat men out of their pants. When the sheriff goes missing, the crooked mayor appoints the town drunk Washington Dimsdale (Charles Winninger, 1936's SHOW BOAT) to be the new sheriff. However, the new appointment gives Dimsdale a purpose, so he calls for the son of a famed lawman to help him clean up the town. That man is Tom Destry Jr. (Stewart). But when he shows up without any guns, he becomes the laughing stock of the community. Kent believes he has a new lawman in his pocket, but Destry is craftier than he appears.
One can feel the hand of the studio over this production. Stewart doesn't show up until the end of the extensive first act, which belongs to Dietrich, who then fades into the background. She's given a few songs, which she sings without great success in English, just to give her more screen time. Coming out in 1939, the film suffers the full weight of the Hayes Code, providing a tacked-on "moral" love interest for Destry instead of the steamy and far more interesting romance between he and Frenchy. But all these issues don't really matter once Destry rides into town.
It's wonderfully entertaining watching Stewart's Destry maneuver two steps ahead of the swindlers. The character seems to live by the notion that it's good to keep your friends close and your enemies closer. Destry knows when to play the patsy, when to stick by the letter of the law and when to come out guns blaring. His patient approach causes hilarious frustration in Sheriff Dimsdale, who just wants to shoot it up with Kent and his men. Most movie fans know Jimmy Stewart from his gentler roles, but here he commands the screen with intelligence and strength. Dietrich is strong as the exotic dance hall girl who can't resist Destry. Their adversarial relationship just clicks. Sometimes screen chemistry can replace genuine romantic development. But with screen legends like Stewart and Dietrich, it's not much of a risk.
Destry becomes an iconic character in the end. He's calm and collected until you hurt his friends. But don't expect the typical showdown in the street; the filmmakers find a way to twist the macho Western cliché. Marshall does a good job of balancing the film's humor with true emotion. A good portion of the humor at the start is pitch black. When it comes to the tragic elements, he doesn't overplay them, which makes them touching. DESTRY RIDES AGAIN has fun with the genre while creating a classic Western hero in the process.
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Rick DeMott
Animation World Network
Creator of Rick's Flicks Picks
