Along Came Jones
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Movie Reviews of Along Came Jones
Movie Review: Cooper Spoofs His Western Image
Summary: 4 Stars
Everybody mistakes a fumble-fingered, song-warbling, saddle tramp for a dastardly desperado in director Stuart Heisler's satirical horse opera "Along Came Jones," toplining "Virginian" star Gary Cooper as the eponymous protagonist, Loretta Young as his sharp-shooting love interest, and Dan Duryea as the notorious bandit. "Jesse James" scenarist Nunnally Johnson derived this send-up of sagebrushers from "The Searchers" author Alan Le May's novel, and "Along Came Jones" was Cooper's first and only independent production. This easy-going, sentimental oater features several low-key but heartfelt performances, especially from Cooper as the incompetent cowpoke who couldn't hit the side of a barn with his six-shooter even if he threw it at it. William Demarest plays his comical sidekick who has more sense than the hero.
The production values of this modest Independent Pictures production reflect the restrictions imposed by the government on Hollywood during World War II. No movie could boast more than $5-thousand dollars worth of new production materials. Consequently, everything appears just as plain and generic as you can imagine. Nobody has more than a couple of costume changes, and the performers often act in front of back projected landscapes when they hit the trail. This is one of those westerns where you never see a train, the U.S. Calvary, a nation of war whooping Native Americans, or scenic Monument Valley landscapes. In other words, white Anglo-Saxon American Protestants swap bullets with each other over the course of its unhurried 90 minutes. Nevertheless, Cooper's amiable performance and Heisler's restrained helming make "Along Came Jones" a pleasure to watch. Interesting, "Along Came Jones" anticipated John Ford's last great western "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance." Loretta Young does for Cooper in "Along Came Jones" what John Wayne did for James Stewart in "The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance."
"Along Came Jones" opens with a one-of-its-kind stagecoach hold-up. Monty Jarrad (Dan Duryea of "Ball of Fire") waits in ambush with his Winchester rifle as a six-horse stagecoach trundles along the river road and shoots the coach tongue that holds the horses in harness. The coachman loses control of the vehicle and its rear wheel smashes into the rocks at the side of the trail. Monty wounds the guard, armed with a Winchester instead of a shotgun, and the guy plunges off the swiftly moving vehicle and falls into a tree. The Wells Fargo coach careens to a halt into the side of the mountain, and Monty rides up to it, snatches the money bag from the driver, Ira Waggoner (Walter Sand), and hightails it off down the trail. The guard recovers himself sufficiently to hit the fleeing outlaw and Monty drops his rifle on the road. In a close-up, we can see his name etched onto the long gun: Monty Jarrad. The next shot shows a lawman posting a $1-thousand dollar reward dodger for Jarrad.
Song warbling Melody Jones (Gary Cooper of "Sergeant York") and his sidekick George Fury (William Demarest of "All Through the Night") are riding along when they spot the town of Payneville in the distance (bogus looking back projection again) and Melody realizes that they took a wrong turn at the fork in the road some 400 to 500 miles back. George shakes his head. "Well, it don't surprise me none, I can you tell you that a cowhand that goes in for breaking horses by the times he's your size, he's been hit in the seat of the pants so many times he ain't got any brains anymore--just a kind of yellow oatmeal in his head."
Our heroes mosey into Payneville and the First Chance Saloon barkeeper notices the initials MJ on Melody's chaps and assumes Melody is Monty Jarrad. Melody spots pretty looking Cherry de Longpre (Loretta Young of "Ladies Courageous") prancing down the board. He follows her while George enters a saloon. George doesn't understand why everybody refers to him as Uncle Roscoe. Meanwhile, Melody eavesdrops on Ira who observes how "very nice" Cherry walks, and Melody slugs him. Before Ira can pull his six-gun, another citizen points to the chaps on Melody's horse with the initials MJ. Everybody thinks Melody is actually Monty. Melody has never commanded such respect from anybody. All the time this is happening, Melody has no clue why the citizenry are treating him with such latitude. George is infuriated his reception in the saloon. He hates being called Uncle Roscoe, Monty's sidekick. When he rejoins Melody, he complains about the town. Melody explains how to cast a big shadow. "You got to look like you're somebody and act like you're somebody, like you can take care of yourself no matter what happens, and then pretty soon you're somebody."
Eventually, Cherry saves Melody from getting ambushed in town and they ride out to her ranch. The real Monty Jarrad isn't so sure about Cherry's plan to make everybody believe that Melody is him. She explains that she has fixed them up so that the posse will be riding south after Melody while Monty can ride north. In the course of events, Cherry changes her mind about mean-spirited Monty, to the extent that she helps Melody out of several tight scrapes. She leads him to the shack where Monty has stashed the stolen loot and they find themselves up to their necks in one tight spot after another. Heisler keeps the action moving along fast enough so that this hokum never stalls out. "Along Came Jones" turned out to be a genuine crowd pleaser. Everybody who made it seems like they were have a ball. Nunnally Johnson provides some choice lines for everybody and the final shoot-out is a blast. There are enough twists and turns to make "Along Came Jones" more than just an ordinary western.
Unfortunately, the release print of "Along Came Jones" looks as rugged in spots as the frontier where the action occurs. However, this MGM/UA DVD does provide the trailer.
Movie Review: Mistaken identity
Summary: 4 Stars
In this comic Western, Melody Jones (Gary Cooper) and his crusty sidekick George Fury (William Demarest) happen into the Southwestern town of Payneville and into the tangle of their lives. Melody, it seems, bears a superficial resemblance to an infamous son of the region, one Monte Jarrod (Dan Duryea), who not only killed two members of a powerful local family some years earlier (preciptating his abrupt departure from the locality), but has recently returned and held up a stagecoach for some $40,000. Between the outraged Cotton family, the sheriff and his posse, the Fargo agent trying to recover the stolen money, various amateur bounty hunters looking to cash in on the bounty offered for Monte, and Monte's boyhood sweetheart, Cherry deLongpre (Loretta Young), who inexplicably makes up her mind to get Melody out of town before someone shoots him in the back, Payneville and its environs are not a healthy place for the two partners to be. That Melody is as inept with a gun as anyone you'd care to meet, and Monte is both vicious and ruthless, doesn't help. But Melody discovers that he doesn't like to be used and manipulated, and in the process he finds out some important things about himself and Cherry.
Cooper spoofs his "strong-and-silent" archetype with unexpected skill (it might be worth keeping in mind that he played in several "drawing-room" or "screwball" comedies during his glory days in the 1930's), although the extensive use of back-projection and sound-stage "exteriors" is distracting. Demarest provides excellent comic relief, Duryea is at his usual psychotic best, and there's a good bit of steadily-increasing tension too. This is one of my favorite light Westerns and one I was delighted to find on DVD.
Movie Review: Entertraining Western Spoof
Summary: 4 Stars
Basically, this is an entertaining western that sports a combination of suspense, action, romance and comedy. It also features an interesting cast, with names like Gary Cooper, Loretta Young, William Demarest and Dan Duryea.
Cooper, as "Melody Jones," plays his normal low-key hero role and Demarest provides most of the laughs. Young is attractive and plays an intriguing character and Duyea does what he does best: play the villain. However, the latter has a smaller role than usual.
This is corny in spots, but it was meant to be since this is supposed to be a spoof of westerns. The only thing that didn't come off well was the special-effects, but they weren't much back in the days of this film, anyway.
A nice, lightweight enjoyable satire.
Movie Review: Along Came Jones
Summary: 4 Stars
This is a comedy/western produced by Gary Cooper. It's a case of mistaken identity in which Jones (Gary Cooper) is mistaken for a notorious outlaw &, coincidentally, they have the same initials. Jones revels in the notoriety for a short time which leads to some comical situations. The problem: Jones is inept at gun-play. The movie is a good one but not a classic. Dan Duryea
is excellent in a supporting role as the outlaw Jones is mistaken for. It is a fun movie & most will enjoy it because "Coop" is a joy to watch.
Movie Review: Mr. Deeds Goes to the Wild West
Summary: 3 Stars
Overall, this is an entertaining movie though it moves slowly. It's not a great film, but definitely worth seeing and a bit of a curiousity in the sense that the hero (Cooper) can't shoot a gun, bumbles around falling over himself and is ultimately rescued by a woman, Loretta Young. Not standard fare for 1945. In many ways, it's Mr. Deeds placed into a western. Cooper as Melody Jones seems a slow-witted innocent but is much smarter than he appears.The downside is the DVD. While not a horrible copy, it certainly isn't good. It appears as if no effort has been made to restore the film. In fact, you're left with the impression they grabbed whatever copy was handy. Some scenes are so dark you can't make out any detail beyond silouettes and many scenes are scratched or otherwise blemished. And of course, nothing to speak of in terms of features. It's a good price but it would be nice if MGM treated their films with a bit more respect.
It's worth seeing however and, if you like Gary Cooper as I do, worth having. Also, if you like westerns this is a nice one to have because it is such a strange duck (as a western).