When the sheriff of Restful decides to investigate a crooked card game, he’s shot in the back by one of Phil Decker’s henchmen.
Decker (Lyle Bettger) and Mayor Hiram J. Sellers then appoint the town drunk, “Rags” Barnaby (Thomas Mitchell) as the new sheriff of the town of Restful.
“Rags” sobers up and decides to take this job seriously. And that means sending for the son of the best lawman he ever knew.
But he sure has second thoughts when Tom Destry (Audie Murphy) shows up carrying a bird cage and a parasol and pronouncing that he doesn’t wear a gun.
Turns out Destry does things his way, not his dad’s. That means asking lots of questions about the death of the former sheriff, who succumbed to a heart attack, not a bullet wound, according to the official line.
Those questions get Decker and his allies real nervous real fast.
Mari Blanchard plays Brandy, Decker’s gal; she sings and dances in his saloon, but also takes a quick liking to Destry.
Lori Nelson is Martha Phillips, the pretty girl from back East, whose bird cage and parasol Destry was caught wearing.
Her uncle, Henry Skinner, has been swindled out of his ranch by Decker’s shenanigans.
Audie Murphy as Tom Destry, summoned to bring law and order to a town called Restful in Destry (1954)
Mari Blanchard as Brandy, contemplating a trip designed to get Destry out of harm’s way in Destry (1954)
Review:
Audie Murphy isn’t James Stewart and Mari Blanchard is Marlene Dietrich, but this is an enjoyable remake of 1939’s “Destry Rides Again,” by the very same director.
The highlights, of course, include the barroom catfight between saloon girl Brandy and doctor’s wife Bessie Mae over a hat the good doc lost in a poker game. Brandy has a rabbit foot that also comes in handy.
It benefits from a strong supporting cast, including Thomas Mitchell and Edgar Buchanan in key roles. And Bettger always makes for a slick villain.
Child actor Lee Aaker plays the younger brother of Lori Nelson’s character, a young boy who takes a liking to Destry. He was best known for his role in the hit 1950s TV series “The Adventures of Rin Tin Tin.”
Lyle Bettger as Decker, a crooked town boss having trouble keeping Restful’s new lawman from asking the wrong questions in Destry (1954)
Thomas Mitchell as Rags, the reformed drunk turned sheriff who summons Tom Destry to town in Destry (1954)
Directed by:
George Marshall
Cast:
Audie Murphy … Tom Destry
Mari Blanchard … Brandy
Lyle Bettger … Phil Decker
Thomas Mitchell … “Rags” Barnaby
Edgar Buchanan … Mayor Sellers
Lori Nelson …Martha Phillips
Wallace Ford … Doc Curtis
Mary Wickes … Bessie Mae Curtis
Alan Hale Jr. … Jack Larson
George Wallace … Curly Adams
Walter Baldwin … Henry Skinner
Lee Aaker … Eli Skinner
Runtime: 95 min.
Songs:
“Bang! Bang!”
“If You Can-Can”
“Empty Arms”
Walter Baldwin as Henry Skinner, facing hard times after losing his ranch in a poker game with Decker in Destry (1954)
Lori Nelson as Martha Phillips, niece of Henry Skinner, upset with the way Tom Destry is enforcing the law in Destry (1954)
Memorable lines:
Decker, holding the deed to a ranch just won in a crooked card gam: “That does it. We got a solid strip of land clear across the valley now.”
Henchman: “Now that you got it, what are you going to do with it?”
Decker: “Fence it off. Charge 4 bits for every steer that’s driven across.”
Henchman: “With all the Texas cattle coming through, that ought to run quite a bit of dough.”
Decker: “Hundred and fifty, two hundred thousand a year.”
Brandy to Decker: “I know what it is I like about you. You’re so good at arithmetic.”
Bessie Mae, charging into the saloon and spotting Brandy wearing her new hat: “Give me that hat?”
Brandy: “Get out of here.”
Bessie Mae: “Not until I get my hat. I sent all the way to St. Louis for that.”
Brandy: “It’s mine now. Your husband lost it to me.”
Bessie Mae: “Lost it? You cheated him out of it, you hussy. You’re always cheating him.”
Brandy: “He’d rather be cheated by me than married to you.”
Edgar Buchanan as Mayor Sellers, painting portraits of pretty women and in cahoots with Decker in Destry (1954)
Wallace Ford as Doc Curtis, wondering if he can get in trouble for lying about a sheriff’s death in Destry (1954)
Rags: “Look, I told everybody they were going to see a real ring-tailed, fire-eating gunfighter. Like your father. What happens? You get off the stage carrying a bird cage. And a parasol.”
Destry: “You know, I don’t hold too much for first impressions. The way I figure it, the last impression is important.”
Destry: “Seems like Bessie Mae is upset about something.”
Doc: “That’s her normal condition.”
Destry, as Brandy leans against a post outside the saloon where she sings: “Aren’t you afraid you’ll catch cold?”
Brandy: “I needed some fresh air.”
Destry: “You ought to get plenty of it in that outfit.”
Alan Hale Jr. as Jack Larson (right) arguing with Tom Destry over the fee he’s being asked to pay to drive cattle across Decker’s newly acquired land in Destry (1954)
Lyle Bettger as Decker and Mari Blanchard as Brandy, about to cheat Henry Skinner out of his ranch in Destry (1954)
George Wallace as Curly, getting his six-gun checked by Destry (Audie Murphy) while Mac (Richard Reeves) looks on in Destry (1954)
Trevor Bardette as Sheriff Joseph Bailey, the man whose death Tom Destry investigates, much to Decker’s dismay, in Destry (1954)
Mary Wickes as Bessie Mae Curtis and Mari Blanchard as Brandy, about to get into a catfight over a woman’s hat in Destry (1954)
Audie Murphy as Tom Destry, showing he’s quite adept at using a gun while Decker (Lyle Bettger) looks on in Destry (1954)
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