Destry (1954)

Redundant and unnecessary.

Good , But It Is Overrated By Some

Captivating movie !

It’s sentimental, ridiculously long and only occasionally funny

Awful remake of a great film.......the film lacks everything that made the original so great........

The tale is so entertaining, so appealing in its values, that it's easy to overlook the fact that it's a remake of a 1939 movie starring Jimmy Stewart and Marlene Dietrich.Apparent wimp, Murphy, is hired as deputy sheriff to clean up the rough-and-tumble and thoroughly corrupt town of Restless, which he does, although not without the deaths of a few friendlies.Murphy was short and retained his boyish good looks and modest demeanor for fifteen years or so after he returned from the war. In drafting him into the movies, of course, the intent was to exploit his heroism, but he established his own kind of draw. The exploitation reached its depths with his autobiographical "To Hell and Back," that was filled with clichés. (The ghost-written book was better.) He could be found mostly in B Westerns. Did he make any movies that were better than average? Well, his "average" was never that bad, but "The Red Badge of Courage" was good, thanks both to Murphy's performance and John Huston's direction. Maybe it was the only time anyone asked Murphy to act.He's supported here by an able cast. I keep getting the whore in this movie, Marie Blanchard, mixed up with Marie Windsor because they both were cast in such similar roles. I have to keep reminding myself that Marie Windsor was a move convincing actress and that she looked a little like Ileana Douglas.Lyle Bettger was a reliable villain and not much more, but he had the role down pat. His features were bland but expressive. When around someone he was conning, he had the most winning smile. When he was serious about skullduggery, the smirk faded into a furrowed frown. And that voice, sounding a little like a long and articulated burp, was full of sinusoidal intonations. The only problem is that he was so obviously a sneak. He never made "lead" or even "best friend." Nobody would ever believe a friendly word he said.I kind of get a kick out of this movie when it's on, even though it's not quite up to the original. It's what I think of as a "latent status" movie. The anthropologist Ralph Linton pointed out that while we are acting in one status, we have others in store for use when they're necessary. All of us have dozens of roles tucked away in our repertoire but we only activate one at a time. We don't act around our boss the way we act at home. In a latent status movie the hero has some hidden past, often a set of skills, that he doesn't want others to know about, and doesn't want to use. Sometimes, as here, he's the fastest gun around. Often he's a doctor, as in "The Fugitive." Jason Bourne turns out to be a skilled assassin. In "Sullivan's Travels" the hero who acts like a tramp doesn't want to reveal that he's a millionaire. I suppose until recently movies about gays in their closets fit the format. Latent status movies are usually fun because the latent status always involves the exercise of some previously masked power, sometimes violent. There are no latent status movies about bus boys or accountants.That's probably all a bit off topic but the voices tell me to do it.

World War II hero Audie Murphy assumes the role that western icon Tom Mix created in the 1932 black & white version of Universal Studios' "Destry Rides Again" and that James Stewart recreated later for director George Marshall in the black & white 1939 remake "Destry Rides Again" as an easy-going lawman that prefers to ask questions first and sling lead second in the Technicolored rehash retitled "Destroy," ostensibly based on Max Brand's novel "Twelve Peers." There is a mite more irony in the casting of Murphy as a deputy sheriff who guzzles milk rather than liquor and shuns shooting irons than either Mix or Stewart. Basically, Murphy earned more medals during World War II on the battlefield for killing German soldiers as a U.S. Army infantryman than anybody else. Murphy squares off in this flavorful comic remake with actor Lyle Bettger, the epitome of 1950s' western villainy who went on to lock horns with the likes of Burt Lancaster in "Gunfight at the O.K. Corral" (1957) and Clayton Moore in "The Lone Ranger." Bettger fares even better as the smiling but slimy varmint that mustached Brian Donlevy played in "Destry Rides Again." The same cannot be said for raven-haired beauty Mari Blanchard who cannot hold a candle to the volatile Marlene Dietrich from the 1939 version. Interestingly, Donlevy's owl hoot went by the handle of Kent, while Bettger was named Decker, and Dietrich was called Frenchy whereas Blanchard was named Brandy.As the infamous Phil Decker, Bettger establishes is villainous credentials early on when he swindles a rough-hewn homesteader, Henry Skinner (Walter Baldwin, the original Floyd the Barber on "The Andy Griffith Show") out of the deed to his ranch in a rigged poker game. Decker does this with the help of saloon siren Brandy who splashes steamy hold coffee on Skinner so he is distracted long enough to have his ace-in-the-hole card switched for a lesser card. When the outraged Skinner tries to reclaim his IOU from Decker, Sheriff Joe Bailey (Trevor Bardette) intervenes. However, Bailey gets gunned down for his noble efforts when he turns his back on Decker's henchmen. Once the sheriff is dead and cold, the Honorable Hiram J. Sellers, Mayor (Edgar Buchanan of "Texas") follows Decker's wishes and swears in the town drunk Rags (Oscar winner Tomas Mitchell of "Stagecoach") as the new sheriff. Determined to clean up the crooked town of Restless, Rags recruits the son of legendary lawman, Tom Destry (Audie Murphy) to help him. Rags expects Destry to behave like the pistol packing image of his father, but Tom disappoints him when he arrives in town with no guns. Surprises galore ensue once Tom pins on the badge and appears to be aiding and abetting the greedy Decker.Although he never displayed a broad range of diverse roles as an actor, Audie Murphy acquits himself more than adequately with a personable performance. Director George Marshall doesn't let the momentum lag in this cheerful, upbeat oater for a minute. The finale in the saloon with Murphy swapping lead with multiple villains maintains the best western tradition in this clean-cut, freshly laundered 1950s sage-brusher. Lori Nelson as the good girl plays second fiddle to Blanchard's bad girl in this formula western, but she manages to rope the hero into her amorous embrace by fadeout. Alan Hale, Jr., who made a name for himself on CBS as the Skipper in "Gilligan's Island" lends solid support as a trigger-happy cattleman. "Destry" gives remakes a good reputation.

fNo sooner had the big budget To Hell and Back been released than everyone began to wonder if Audie Murphy, who played himself in that autobiographical flick about his WWII experiences, might be on the way out of B westerns and into major movies. It was, after all, one of the most successful films in Universal Studios history to that point in time. No such thing, though - later that same year, Murphy was back in a better-than-average remake of the classic Destry Rides Again - this time, with the title shortened to the character's name, doubtless because that was in vogue at the time: Shane (Alan Ladd), Hondo (John Wayne), Jubal (Glenn Ford), etc. While this film may never come close to the heights of the earlier A movie starring James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich, it sure rates far and above the average oater of that time. Murphy is actually far more close to the descriptions of Tom Destry in the original novel than was Stewart, and while Mari Blanchard isn't Marlene Dietrich (who was?), she is pretty terrific as the exotic saloon girl whose cynical attitude melts whenever she's around the likable young marshal. Murphy's self-effacing style may not have been acting precisely, but when one critic dubbed him a half-pint Gary Cooper, he got it right in everything except the intended insult. Murphy was, and still remains on celluloid, one of the greatest of all B movie cowboy heroes. The little boy who idolizes him is played by Lee Aaker, who that same year became "Corporal Rusty" on Rin Tin Tin. Lori Nelson, a gorgeous blonde then under contract at Universal, is the 'nice' girl. Uninspired but solid, this is as fine a representation of the era's B westerns as you could ask for - and the perfect film for anyone out there who hasn't seen one of them and is looking for a good place to start. Nice color photography, too!