I was going through my annual James Stewart run, when I rewatched one of my favorite western movies of all time. Destry Rides Again, directed by George Marshall).
It's about a small town run by crooks, corruption, and a hooker with a heart of gold. The newly appointed "sheriff" is the town drunkard, given the role so that the bad guys can continue to run roughshod. However, he ends up hiring a pacifist deputy with an aversion to firearms due to their namesake, the legendary Destry.
It's truly one of my favorites. But what really made me re-evaluate it, was rewatching the 1952 film High Noon with Gary Cooper. Considered one of, if not the, first mainstream movies to "deconstruct" the western, it was labeled "down right Un-American" by John Wayne due to it's plot regarding a town that refused to help the hero. And yet Destry Rides Again, which was arguably worse, came out 13 years earlier.
A wonderful movie which may be overlooked due to Jimmy Stewart's other films at the time. I implore everyone to watch it.
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