Romancefest 2011: Destry Rides Again

Here's a nice treat -- a Western during Romancefest. This one wasn't on the AFI list, I got it off my backup list, and to be honest, for most of the running time it's not clear that this movie is much of a romance. But, there is one key moment at the end of the film between stars James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich that settles the matter.

Stewart's Destry is called to town when the previous sheriff disappears under mysterious circumstances and the town drunk (lovable Charles Winninger) is cynically appointed his replacement by the dirty mayor (tobacco chewing Samuel S. Hinds) and the local crime boss (slimy Brian Donlevy). Winninger's drunk served under Destry's father in his glory days and expects Stewart to ride into down and blow the bad guys' heads off.

DESTRY RIDES AGAIN is a pretty standard Western, mostly great for the efficient and simple way it tells its story. The film also gets a lot of mileage out of Stewart as the hero, Destry, who is not your usual Western protagonist. Destry's the son of a gun-blazing sherriff hero, but he doesn't believe in guns and prefers to solve problems by sticking strictly to the law, using parables and his own diplomatic actions to set an example for the corrupt town of Bottle Neck.

The heart of the story lies with Marelen Dietrich, who plays a show girl in the local saloon. At first she's happy to help the local criminals rip off the (very few) honest citizens of Bottle Neck, but eventually Destry starts to get under her skin and she has a little bit of a change of ways. The movie doesn't hit you over the head with Dietrich's characters' motivations, which is probably what makes her final act in the film so powerful. Her change is subtle and not blatantly telegraphed -- there are no redundant scenes or useless dialogue here. Dietrich is tough enough to be believable as a bitter, cynical, street-wise floozy, and this only makes her change of heart that much more interesting. But, she's glamorous enough to still look good, even when she's all tarted up like a tacky saloon girl -- especially when, after a vicious cat fight with another woman in town, Stewart dumps a bucket of water on her to calm her down. Dripping and furious, Dietrich never looked better.

Not only does the movie have a great ensemble of main characters, mentioned above and rounded out by Billy Gilbert as a Russian immigrant struggling to fit in with the Western town and impress his strict wife (Mischa Auer) -- it also makes great use of extras and crowd scenes. The hedonistic, corrupt element of the town is portrayed in wide shots of the cavernous town saloon, where hundreds of cowboys and cowgirls drink, dance, sing and break stuff. It's such heedless abandon, it almost reaches satirical heights. When Dietrich points a gun at Destry, 100 extras hit the deck in unison. When the mayor appoints the drunk as the new sheriff, 100 extras crack up and slap their knees. Even the final battle is more than a man-t0-man showdown -- half the men in town hole up in the saloon, the other half attacks from outside. Then, inspired by Dietrich, all the womenfolk march into the middle of the war brandishing rolling pins and rakes. It's like the movie has two audiences -- the one in the theater, and the one on the screen.

So, leading by example, Stewart's Destry inspires Dietrich's "bad girl" to turn good. He does so not with big, important speeches but with quiet, humble and even funny examples. It's not so much that he saves her or that she saves herself -- it's more that she embraces the realization that there's more than one way to do a thing, and realizes she's stronger than most and has the power to choose.