One Paragraph Movie Review: Destry Rides Again

One hundred and second film: Destry Rides Again, a comedy Western from 1939 starring Marlene Dietrich — who I’m surprised to learn is a very bad singer — and James Stewart — who I’m surprised to learn is, despite his unexpected facial similarity to Hugh Grant, a very tall and pragmatic drink of water. This is a bloody marvellous film that Mel Brooks clearly based nine tenths of Blazing Saddles on, and is itself based on the premise that law and order can be kept more effectively in a corrupt town by using brains over guns, a very peculiar stance for an American movie indeed. Also — and I feel this bears repeating — Marlene Dietrich is a very bad singer. Three and three quarter lost poker game trousers out of five.