Rating: 
Summary: Another Great Film Produced in 1939
Review: In DESTRY RIDES AGAIN Jimmy Stewart is an easygoing deputy sheriff trying to clean up a corrupt frontier town without much help from his drunken boss. The movie has everything. It has action, suspense, comedy, romance and at least one very memorable song by Marlene Dietrich who plays a dance hall singer. Charles Winninger is the alcoholic sheriff and Brian Donlevy owns the dance hall which spawns most of the trouble in the area.Marlene Dietrich is the sparkle which makes this film far superior to most other westerns and she is the reason it will remain a classic for a long time. A strong supporting cast includes Samuel S. Hines, Jack Carson, Mycha Auer and Allen Jenkins. The movie received no Oscar nominations undoubtedly because of the stiff competition provided by its numerous first-class competitors in 1939 such as GONE WITH THE WIND. George Marshall also directed YOU CAN'T CHEAT AN HONEST MAN starring W.C. Fields in that same year.
Rating:
Summary: Marlene Goes Out West
Review: It's hard to imagine Marlene Dietrich starring in a Western, but oddly enough it works - and it works well. James Stewart stars as Tom Destry, the son of a famous lawman, who is brought into an out of control town to restore law and order. One look at the tall, gangling boy scout has everyone laughing at the folly of it. Among those laughing is tough saloon singer Dietrich, who's opinion of him soon changes. Destry Rides Again mixes comedy with typical Western action, and does so to good effect. Both Stewart and Dietrich are great in tailor-made roles. Dietrich is famous for singing the "Boys in the Backroom" song, and I must confess I don't understand why her singing is so well remembered, other than to politely say that it is certainly unique. Mischa Auer is very funny in a supporting role as one of Stewart's sidekicks, and Dietrich has a well staged and memorable cat fight with Una Merkel that is a highlight of the film. Fans of the stars or the Western genre will want to check this film out, since it is unusual, well made, and a real classic.
Rating: 
Summary: Jimmy Stewart proves he's the man (again)--very funny!
Review: Jimmy Stewart is probably my favorite actor, and he's just hilarious in this movie. The historical value of Marlene Dietrich is uncompelling to me, but she's a good enough actress. Unfortunately, an ending which doesn't suit my sense of thematics keeps this movie from being a 5-star effort, but it's still a quality flick--quite worth your time.
Rating:
Summary: OFFBEAT CASTING=CLASSIC WESTERN.
Review: Most of the peculiar piquancy of this film comes from seeing two unfamiliar figures among all the good old stock types-Marlene Dietrich doing a parody of herself in THE BLUE ANGEL and Jimmy Stewart, a Mr. Smith going to a rough old-time Bret Harte town instead of to Washington. Marlene flounces around with great gusto and sings in that whiskey sublimation of contralto that's more fun than any metropolitan songbird. Stewart is drawly and slow-motioned, and always being bamboozeled, but you know that in the end, he is sure to unleash a streak of cunning and quick action and confound everyone. One of the most unusual pairings in the history of the screen worked like a charm for Dietrich and Stewart. As Frenchy, 38 year-old Dietrich is painted, tough and brazen the role revived Marlene's fading career (the public was tiring of her suffering glamour-puss roles) and it holds up as one her finest moments on film. As Tom Destry, Jr., Steward is polite, shy and awkward and their personalities contrast beautifully. The fight between Frenchy and Lily Belle (Una Merkel) is good fun and there's her classic "See What the Boys in Backroom Will Have" bit - Frenchy's death scene is truly affecting-something which is an attribute to Dietrich's acting ability.
Rating:
Summary: One of the funniest Westerns I've ever seen.
Review: My sides were aching by the end of this picture. No one actor is misused in this movie. Stewart is a mild mannered deputy who is more than meets the eye. Dietrich is the vivacious Frenchy, a woman who practically runs the town; at least the men anyway. What's ironic is Dietrich is German, named Frenchy, and in a Western. Imagine that. Only in a movie like Destrey can one get away with this.
Rating:
Summary: a most remarkable western
Review: terrific and fun. hollywood at its best. jimmy stewart hitting his stride in his prime, which means there is nobody better. dietrich emerges from her stilted but interesting period under von sternberg. she's funny, sexy, dynamic and a great musical performer. to me she makes garbo look like a zombie. plenty of super supporting actors too, including an incredibly funny performance by boris, the wanna-be cowboy and unappreciated second husband of the boarding house owner. also the incredibly slimy villian brian donlevy. and a riot by the women of the town. all things considered, pretty much the perfect movie.
Rating:
Summary: destry dietrich rides again!
Review: This movie brought Marlene Dietrich back in a big way in 1939, and it's easy to see why. James Stewart was the nominal star of this movie, but Dietrich is the main attraction. Her cat fight with Una Merckle is the most famous cat fight in film history, and forever altered how the public would view Dietrich. As a strict western, it fails, as a comedy, it passes, but as film entertainment, it has few equals. With equal parts seriousness and fun, the film triumphs. James Stewart is fine as the mild sheriff who doesn't believe in guns brought in to clean up the lawless town of Bottleneck. Dietrich is Frenchy, the gun moll who rules the roost at the local saloon. They strike sparks from the beginning, playing off each other perfectly. The supporting players are well-cast, and the whole production is well-made. This film is well worth watching again and again.
Rating:
Summary: The boys in the backroom would probably like having Marlene!
Review: Well, with a name like "Frenchy," what would you expect? Throwing things, dancing on the bar, throwing more things, and singing is what Frenchy is all about. This movie is famous as Marlene's comeback, and also as the movie in which Marlene lost a little bit of glamour. The big moment comes when Destry literally soaks Frenchy and Lilybelle with water. Lilybelle takes it like a pro, and leaves screaming without her skirt (Frenchy ripped it off.) Frenchy takes it like a woman afflicted with PMS and goes off the deep end, throwing things (bottles, chairs, glasses, a guitar, etc.) and finally falling on the floor. She even rides Destry piggyback, beating him over the head! There's nothing like a good western, and this is one of the best!
Rating:
Summary: Jimmy Takes Bottleneck
Review: Western fans will enjoy this more than that year of release might indicate, but justplainmovie enthusiasts will dig DESTRY more than anyone. Throughout the latter 30s, Universal was making tentative steps toward competing with the Big Five's stable of A-pictures by essentially dressing up a series of surefire B-properties (such as SEVEN SINNERS, ARABIAN NIGHTS & THE SPOILERS) with deeper 'name' casts & costlier productions than had been their norm. It worked: late-30s/early-40s Universals were generally briskly paced, flavorfully acted, unpretentious entertainment - DESTRY was the first and one of the best, and it gave the studio the huge hit they'd been desperate for. Though most often cited for his brooding 50s work with Mann & Hitchcock, the young, darkhaired James Stewart - intense, soulful & sans his famous stammer - was already a great instinctive actor whose bone-deep rapport with audiences had catapulted him out of Metro's male-ingenue doghouse the year before. His Tom Destry is not a Boys' Life one-dimensional hero but a nicely shaded performance that communicates both the character's decency and his core of strength perfectly. His presence dominates the film, despite the powerhouse cast surrounding him (Dietrich, Winninger, Donlevy, Allen Jenkins, Mischa Auer & the lovely and underrated Una Merkel). Though the picture's purely moonshine (by '39, the milquetoast-with-a-steel-spine plot was wheezing already), its pleasures lie not in the exposition but the exuberant execution. DESTRY RIDES AGAIN plays like a movie made by people convinced they were going to live forever, and I don't know if you can pay a simple genre entertainment higher praise than that.
Rating:
Summary: More than brilliant!!!
Review: With 2 entertaining couples (Dietrich-Stewart & Merkel-Auer), 2 excellent actors (Donlevy & Winninger), a very good supporting cast, all directed by one of the best (George Marshall) with a perfect mix of seriousness and fun with (more than) a touch of self-derision, my only wonder is how could anyone (including Marshall) think they could get a remake to be worthwhile, and how come it does not rank in the top 10 of the genre: 7 years before 'My Darling Clementine', it showed much more invention and acting???
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