DESTRY

US, 1954, 95 minutes, Colour.
Audie Murphy, Mari Blanchard, Lyle Bettger, Thomas Mitchell, Edgar Buchanan, Lori Nelson, Wallace Ford, Mary Wicks, Alan Hale Jr.
Directed by George Marshall.

This version of the Destry story is the third version. It was filmed in 1939, by the same director, George Marshall, with James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich. It had the title of the original novel, Destry Rides Again.

James Stewart was Destry in 1939 and here he is played by Audie Murphy who was emerging as a popular western star. His films were mainly B-budget supporting films – this one a little bit more upmarket. The next year he was to play himself and his war heroism in To Hell and Back. Mari Blanchard, a supporting starlet at Universal, was the Marlene Dietrich equivalent of the saloon hall singer. Lori Nelson, in many of these films also as the good girl, is the good girl here.

Lyle Bettger, always a sneering villain, plays the boss in charge of a frontier town. The sheriff is murdered and the son of a famous gunfighter comes in. He seems singularly unsuitable for the job – young, not carrying a gun. However, he is determined and brings law and order to the town. Character actors like Thomas Mitchell, Edgar Buchanan and Wallace Ford are in the supporting cast as is Mary Wicks who was to have a long career and is probably remembered very strongly for her Sister Mary Lazarus in the Sister Act films.

1. Enjoyable Western? its statue of a remake of a 1939 classic? Comparison, important or not?

2. The style of the Universal Western of the 50's, the treatment, Audie Murphy as a Western hero?

3. The conventions of the Western,. the town, gambling, lawlessness, the hero, heroine,. dance hall girl etc.? Average presentation, better than average? In what details?

4. The glory of the town, the illustration of its lawlessness? The need for reform?

5. The initial card game and the cheating, the owner and his ruthlessness, buying up the land, life and death?

6. The mayor and his crookedness and painting, the sheriff and his death. the joke about the drunken sheriff?

7. The character of the doctor and his contribution, the fighting women, the pleasant family? The good characters versus the bad characters in this kind of town? The need for the resolution of conflict?

8. Destry, his reputation, his arrival, small stature, a lady's man, his being exploited and being made a fool of, his upholding the law?

9. Destry seeking support in the town, his confrontation with Brandy, her change of attitude?

10. Destry’s search for evidence of the murder of the sheriff, his gun demonstration, knowledge of bullets, application of the law?

11. The build-up to the final shootout, the spectacular treatment and length, suspense? The importance of the death of the doctor, Brandy’s, helping and her being killed?

12. The appropriate ending with the restoration of order? Destry and the boy walking through the town, looking at a changed town, the possibility of marriage?

13. The use of music, colour, Brandy’s songs and the atmosphere of the saloon?

14. What does this film presuppose in its audience concerning westerns, conventions, America
in the 19th, century and its western heritage, glorifying, critique?