Destry (film)
Destry is a 1954 American Western film starring Audie Murphy, Mari Blanchard, Lyle Bettger and Thomas Mitchell.
| Destry | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Directed by | George Marshall |
| Produced by | Stanley Rubin |
| Written by | Max Brand (novel Destry Rides Again) |
| Screenplay by | Edmund H. North D.D. Beauchamp |
| Story by | Felix Jackson |
| Starring | Audie Murphy Mari Blanchard Lyle Bettger Thomas Mitchell |
| Music by | Henry Mancini Frank Skinner Herman Stein |
| Cinematography | George Robinson |
| Edited by | Ted J. Kent |
| Color process | Technicolor |
Production company | Universal Pictures |
| Distributed by | Universal Pictures |
Release date |
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Running time | 95 minutes |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
| Box office | $1.5 million (US)[1] |
This, the third film version of Max Brand's Destry Rides Again, is closer to the 1939 Marlene Dietrich and James Stewart film version than it is to either the Brand original novel or the original 1932 film. Indeed, Halliwell's Film Guide calls it an "almost scene-for-scene remake."[2] George Marshall directed both later versions.
Plot
The sheriff (Trevor Bardette) of a small western town dies of a 'heart attack' (actually shot in the back) and the crooked mayor, The Honorable Hiram J. Sellers (Edgar Buchanan), and leading crook Phil Decker (Lyle Bettger) appoint the town drunk, Reginald T. "Rags" Barnaby (Thomas Mitchell), as the new sheriff, believing that he will be easily controlled by them. Rags, however, announces he is giving up drinking and refuses to accept Decker as his new deputy, telling them that he has someone else in mind: Tom Destry.
Destry (Audie Murphy) arrives on the stagecoach with great fanfare, but Rags is disappointed to find out that he is a very young man who refuses to carry a gun. Destry prefers friendly persuasion and use of the law, over violence. Destry finds out that the previous sheriff may not have died of a heart attack as had been claimed. He suspects that the sheriff was murdered while trying to resolve a land dispute, and he sets about finding out how the sheriff actually died. He tricks Decker's men into passing their guns to him in the bar and empties all bullets with some impressive sharp-shooting onto a wall-mounted game. He then retrieves the bullets for analysis.
Eventually it becomes clear that Decker killed the sheriff in order to further his plans to obtain all the land necessary to control and exploit the transit of cattle over those properties. The sheriff (Barnaby) is killed in the jail and suspects are missing. Decker sets up an ambush in the saloon for Destry. During a gun battle in the saloon, Brandy is killed trying to block Decker's fire, but Decker is killed too. Destry restores law and order to the town.
Cast
- Audie Murphy as Tom Destry
- Mari Blanchard as Brandy
- Lyle Bettger as Decker
- Thomas Mitchell as Rags Barnaby
- Edgar Buchanan as Mayor Sellers
- Lori Nelson as Martha Phillips
- Wallace Ford as Doc Curtis
- Mary Wickes as Bessie Mae Curtis
- Alan Hale, Jr as Jack Larson
- George Wallace as Curly
- Richard Reeves as Mac
- Walter Baldwin as Henry Skinner
- Lee Aaker as Eil Skinner
- Anthony Lawrence as Professor (as Mitchell Lawrence)
- Frank Richards as Dummy
- Trevor Bardette as Sheriff Bailey
- Ralph Peters as Bartender
- John Doucette as Coward
References
- 'The Top Box-Office Hits of 1955', Variety Weekly, January 25, 1956
- John Walker, ed. (1994). Halliwells Film Guide 10th edition. Harper Collins. p. 288. ISBN 0-00-638389-0.
External links
- Destry at IMDb
- Destry at the TCM Movie Database
- Destry at Audie Murphy Memorial Site