Week 11. Destry Rides Again (1939)

3.7 STARS - GOOD SHOW!

“I liked it a lot, but I thought that Frenchy was too dramatic…wait…who am I to talk?”  --Syd

“You gotta love Jimmy Stewart--so cute when he was young..” --Stacy

The Film:  The Western town of Bottleneck is run by saloon owner, Kent, with the help of his heavy-handed henchmen.  He runs a crooked card game, cheating a local rancher out of his land, aided by the saloon chanteuse, Frenchy (Marlene Dietrich).  When the town sheriff goes to investigate, he’s apparently killed.  But Kent puts out the story that sheriff suddenly had to leave town.  The corrupt, tobacco-chewing mayor, appoints the town drunk, “Wash” Dimsdale,” sheriff, hoping not
to have any trouble out of him. 

But Dimsdale sobers up and sends for Thomas Jefferson “Tom” Destry, Jr. (James Stewart) to be his deputy and help him clean up the town.  Destry is the son of a much-respected former sheriff, but trouble is, he doesn’t believe in carrying a gun.  Worse yet, on stepping out of the stage to town, he's holding a parasol and parakeet cage.  The rough townspeople attempt to humiliate him, but Destry handles their attacks--verbal and physical--with calm and wit.  Then he starts wondering what happened to the recently departed sheriff….






The Society:   1939 brimmed with a bumper crop of boffo box office brilliance.  (Say that three times fast!)  “Gone with the Wind,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington,” “Goodbye, Mr. Chips,” and “Stagecoach,” among many others, all hit the silver screens.   The NYT list puts up 17 films for that year.  (The same record number was also inducted into the National Film Registry.)  We narrowed our decision to “Mr. Smith,” “Mr. Chips,” “Ninotchka,” and “Destry.”  We ruled out “Gone with the Wind”--a shame to waste on our old 25-inch set--and “The Wizard of Oz”--already seen many a time.  Fortunately, the library decided for us.  Only “Destry” arrived on the post stage in time.

            But "Destry," our first Western served up a good excuse for a little cowboy grub cooked over open flame in our newly constructed backyard fire pit.  (Yes, we assigned Dad to the hard labor.)  Steaks, coal-roasted ears of corn, peach dump cake, and a special bean recipe that can only be named elsewhere in this blog.  Needless to say, we were all quite fat and sassy by the time film began to roll.

            One note:  This film should have been rated much higher by the family (in our humble opinion), but the factor of our family being a flock of females who can only abide happy, romantic endings, pecked off a full point.  (And one daughter--who shall remain nameless--spent the movie more focused on teaching herself how to knit.)

The Family Vote:

Syd - 4 Stars -   I liked it a lot, but I thought that Frenchy was too dramatic…wait…who am I to talk?  Though I did like her singing.  Destry was a good actor.  I liked how he talked.  I also liked how he had this whole law and order thing going.  I rated it a four for a minor detail.  I thought it went too fast about the [Spoiler Prevention].

Kayla - 3 ½ Stars -   It looked kind of weird because they would shoot them and they would just fall backwards.  The Frenchy lady had a really deep voice.  I didn’t like how there was always fighting; it never seemed to stop.  

Kenzie - 3 ½ Stars -   Eh.  I really didn’t think it was all that great.  For me, Frenchy was a bit of a B-word, and then she became one of the main characters as Destry’s lover.  As far as Destry goes, he wasn’t’ that bad, but it was sad when Frenchy [Spoiler Prevention] at the end.  

Stacy - 3 ½ Stars - You gotta love Jimmy Stewart--so cute when he was young.  I loved the way he handled conflict and got outcomes he wanted when people thought he needed a gun to keep peace.  The reason for only three and a half stars is the ending.  I do not like it when movies don’t end happily or the way I want them to.

Ladd - 4 Stars -   I had never seen “Destry” before.  But it’s great to know and love another wonderful Jimmy Stewart character.  Stewart is the movie.  He brings off the peace-loving, unflappable deputy sheriff, Destry, with his usual charm and grace.  The lawless, rough and rowdy scenes were incredibly well choreographed, especially the opening one with a horse being ridden in, then back out of the saloon, haymakers swinging everywhere and six-shooters  a-blazin’.   “Destry” is a delightful mix of so many elements--comedy, tragedy, Western, romance and even musical.  The theme--the triumph of the rule of law over rough Western justice--makes this an American classic.

That’s What Dad Says:  In those halcyon days of Hollywood, by 1939 Jimmy Stewart had appeared in 21 feature films (starting with only one in 1935), so he averaged five a year the next four years!  Two of his '39 films--“Destry” and “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington” have been inducted into the National Film Registry.  Stewart, who appeared in a grand total of 80 feature films in his lifetime, was nominated for five Academy Awards, winning one for “Philadelphia Story” (1940), as well as a Lifetime Achievement Award (1985).  He is surely one of the most beloved actors in Hollywood history, creating folksy, likable, down-to-earth, Everyman characters in many unforgettable films.

            This movie also revived the career of Marlene Dietrich--the glamorous German actress and singer--after the disastrous failure of the over-budget 1937 British historical drama, “Knight Without Armor.”  In her career Dietrich was nominated for only one Academy Award in 1930 for “Morocco,” her first American film--before she had even learned to speak English!   She became an American citizen in 1939 and did USO tours on the front lines of World War II.  She spent much of her later career as a recording artist and singer who appeared on stages throughout the world.  In 1999 the American Film Institute (AFI) named her the 9^th most legendary American actress of all time.

            Finally, we must acknowledge that for much of it’s comedy “Destry” relies on ethnic- and gender-based stereotypes, such as an effeminate foreigner in the character of Boris Callaghan (Mischa Auer), a henpecked Russian immigrant.  Then there is a ferocious, prolonged “cat fight” scene between Frenchy and Boris’s irate wife (Una Merkel)--after Boris has lost his pants to Frenchy in a card game.  As well Frenchy’s maid typifies the a stereotypical black Southerner, of the day.  And during a fight scene three Chinese immigrants are betting frantically, as they speak rapidly in Chinese, befuddling the bartender trying to take their bets.

            It would be hard to expect much better from a 1930s Western/comedy, but we would be remiss to just ignore the prejudices of our past.  --Ladd  

Thanks for Dinner, Mom! 

Theme – Western grub

            I looked up my recipes on www.cowboygrub.com.  We cooked steaks with a rub over coals; corn roasted corn in their husks; and did a “dump” cake with peaches in the Dutch oven.  The girls had never really cooked over the open flames before so it was fun to see their reactions, and we committed to do more of it.  The items prepared in the kitchen were garlic/cheese drop biscuits and the piece de resistance, the “Fart and Dart Beans.” –Stacy

Steaks (with a rub)

Fire-roasted corn

“Fart and Dart Beans”

Garlic and cheese drop biscuits

Henry Weinhard’s Orange Cream Soda (since 1856)

Peach dump cake

Enjoy the Movie!