Destry Rides Again

The town of Bottleneck is run by a casino owner and the singer Frenchy; when the sheriff is killed, a drunk is installed in his place. Tom Destry, called in as deputy, is the son of a famous lawman but carries no gun. The town laughs at him. George Marshall directed. James Stewart plays Destry, Marlene Dietrich plays Frenchy. The film was a comeback for Dietrich. After a run of failures she had been declared box office poison by theatre owners; this role changed her image entirely and rebuilt her career. The most remembered scene is the fight between Frenchy and another woman in the saloon, unusually rough and long for its time. The idea is the unarmed hero: Destry refuses violence and uses that as method rather than weakness. Playing against the western template, it influenced the films that followed. Comedy and tension run in the same scene. Who it is for: viewers who like classic westerns and Dietrich. Who it is not for: anyone expecting a hard western; this is largely a comedy.