ThiefHott Too much of everything

Fairaher The film makes a home in your brain and the only cure is to see it again.

Plustown A lot of perfectly good film show their cards early, establish a unique premise and let the audience explore a topic at a leisurely pace, without much in terms of surprise. this film is not one of those films.

Marva It is an exhilarating, distressing, funny and profound film, with one of the more memorable film scores in years,

paulm-53272 Awful remake of a great film.......the film lacks everything that made the original so great........

alexandre michel liberman (tmwest) This is an outstanding Audie Murphy western. Directed by George Marshall who also directed the 1939 version this film manages to be as good with a slightly different, more dramatic style. Audie is an ideal Tom Destry, with a young boy's face and stature, but with self confidence. Mari Blanchard as Brandy has the talent and looks. The film reaches its high point when Murphy is made fun of by the bad guys at the saloon and replies by showing how he can handle guns. The final shootout is excellent with Murphy and Lyle Bettger seeing each other though a mirror. Probably because Audie and George Marshall made many average films, Destry did not get the praise it deserved from the critics.

Elswet Remakes are sometimes necessary. At least Audie Murphy was the perfect casting choice for a continuation of the Destry line. At least this new Destry line is modernized in that he engages the other cast members with a little knowledge of forensics, which came as a (nice) surprise.Lyle Bettger is every bit as devilish as the bad guy of the original work (Brian Donlevy), and will do anything to make a buck and maintain his hold over a small western town. The town drunk is made sheriff after the former sheriff is murdered when he attempts to stop the bad guy from a land-grabbing deal via a bad hand of poker.The new sheriff (again, the town drunk) pulls a surprise on the bad guys by sending for Tom Destry's son as his deputy. When Audie Murphy joins his boss (as little Destry), he comes without benefit of a firearm, and bearing a bird cage and a parasol! However, his mild demeanor does achieve some surprising results, and when he is pushed, the firearms come to bear.Mari Blanchard can't hold a candle to Marlene Dietrich (of the original), but who could? And while Audie Murphy isn't Jimmy Stewart, the final gun battle is a good bit more tense and somber than the original, which I highly enjoyed.This is one of the best of the B western line put out by Audie Murphy, and in my opinion proves that remakes CAN be done well, with the proper casting and direction. I HOPE modern film makers can find that groove.This is one of my favorite old westerns, and rates an 8.7/10 on the B Scale. That's about a 5.4/10 on the A Scale from...the Fiend :.

dougbrode 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!