Destry Rides Again (1932) User Reviews

Mixed Bag!

[bsmith5552 · 7/10 · 12 February 2020]

This version of " Destry Rides Again" is not to be confused with the 1939 James Stewart/Marlene Dietrich version of the same name or the 1954 Audie Murphy "Destry". This one marked Tom Mix return to the screen after a three year absence and was his first sound feature. In this feature Tom Mix plays the father of the James Stewart and Audie Murphy characters and packs his two guns.

Tom hadn't lost any of his showmanship and could still do the "hard ridin" sequences with the best of them and handle the fight scenes with his usual aplomb.

Tom Destry is in a partnership with Brent (Earle Foxe) in a stage line. He foils a holdup unknowingly perpetrated by his partner. Brent feels that Destry will spoil his plans and plans to implicate him in an attempted murder. In a scuffle with one of Brent's men, the man is shot and when the men are shown as being unarmed, Destry is charged with attempted murder.He is convicted and sentenced to prison swearing that he will come back on the four so called witnesses when he is released. Destry's girl Sally Dangerfield (Claudia Dell) stands by him and believes in his innocence.

As luck would have it, Destry is granted a pardon and returns feigning a raspy cough and a peace loving attitude. This is of course, a ruse to draw out the four witnesses out of hiding. Destry draws the four into the saloon and turns on them fighting with all in attempt to learn who framed him. Meanwhile Brent, who also has eyes for Sally conspires with Sheriff Wendell (Stanley Fields) to stop Destry.

When Destry corners the sheriff at the Dangerfield ranch, the sheriff is shot from ambush just as he is about to reveal the name of the man who framed him. Later, Tom tracks down the four "witnesses". One is killed in a gunfight with Tom. Another is forced to reveal that Brent was the villain. Tom goes to town and confronts Brent and...........................................................

Even though Mix was getting along in years, he proved that he could still handle the action scenes. This was the first os a series of films released during the 1932-33 season after which he retired except for a 1935 serial.

Tony "The Wonder Horse" was along for the ride performing a few ticks for the children in the opening sequence. And unheard of for a "B" western hero, Mix gets to kiss the girl a couple of times too.

This is a prequel, not the version we've seen in the other versions.

[mark.waltz · 5/10 · 18 April 2020]

Don't expect Frenchie or a cat fight with the upstanding woman in town or a shy, Retiring version of the character that James Stewart and various other actors played later on. This is the story of that Destrys father. It's silence star Tom Mix as Pop Destry, and I guess we're supposed to assume that his girlfriend Claudia Dell, will eventually be that Destry's mother. Like the three films that I've seen based upon that legend (one called "Frenchie" with Shelley Winters didn't include Destry and was seen from her point of view as she aidsvin corruption clean up), this was made at Universal studios, and is a similar story of mix as sheriff destery trying to clean up the corruption in the town and ending up in jail for a crime he did not commit. In a sense, it is closer to "High Noon" because Destry's return to town is intended to put the real criminals behind bars.

This is not an A film, rather creaky and cheap looking but giving Mix enough stunts to pull on his beloved horse Tony who, upon seeing Mix on the caboose of the train coming back to town, furiously rides towards him. At only 61 minutes, this is very easy to get through, although the prince I watched clocked in at 52 minutes. Zasu Pitts only has a cameo, amusing in her brief scene as a temperance leader who gives her typical "oh dear" response when she finds out that the man she's talking to is a bartender. It's satisfactory for the type of film that it is, but a lot of sequences, there is barely any sound other than Tony's hooves clomping through the prairie. This is probably one of the only times that a film title would be utilized for a movie that actually seemed to be a follow-up rather than a remake of the previous film.

Tom Mix did indeed wear six-guns in Destry Rides Again.

[bigdave11243 · 8 August 2005]

In the Tom Mix version of Destry Rides Again, he does indeed wear his six-guns,a pair of them, and in fact uses them quite frequently. While he also engages in some hard riding and fisticuffs and refrains from shooting to do harm to his enemies, he does use his weapons to hold and intimidate them. At one point he even fires at a hogtied and disarmed villain to persuade him to confess.

I'm not sure how the previous viewer concluded that Mix's Destry wore no guns, something which might fit the James Stewart and Audie Murphy versions more accurately. Even the Mix version bears little resemblance to the original pulp-magazine creation of Harrison (or "Harry") Destry in Max Brand's serial "Twelve Peers." (The title was changed for book publication to the now famous Destry Rides Again -- "again" being somewhat misleading, as there was no prior story about Destry.) As in most of Mix's films, his character was named Tom, with various surnames, and "Tom" was carried over to all the later incarnations of the character. Action sequences were specifically designed to showcase Mix's personality and his skills in riding, shooting, and fighting; in keeping with his public image,in several scenes in Tom is gentle and charming when dealing with young children, as he was in public appearances; some of this is likewise perpetuated in the later film versions. In fact, in the original serial, Harry Destry is a hero in the eyes of at least one impressionable youngster.

(Some prints of this movie bear the title Justice Rides Again, a change made following, and presumably to avoid confusion with, the Stewart-Dietrich version of the book. The musical stage version starred Andy Griffith, and John Gavin starred in the television series.