Destry (film)

Destry
Directed by	George Marshall
Produced by	Stanley Rubin
Written by	Max Brand (novel Destry Rides Again) Felix Jackson (story)
Starring	Mari Blanchard Audie Murphy Lyle Bettger Thomas Mitchell Lori Nelson Edgar Buchanan
Cinematography	George Robinson
Editing by	Ted J. Kent
Distributed by	Universal International Pictures
Release date(s)	December 1, 1954 (U.S.)
Running time	95 min.
Country	United States
Language	English

Destry is a 1954 western starring Mari Blanchard, Audie Murphy, and Thomas Mitchell. The third and (as of 1998) final film version of Max Brand's Destry Rides Again, this 1954 version is closer to the 1939 Marlene Dietrich and James Stewart film version than it is to the Brand original. Indeed Halliwells film guide states "Almost scene-for-scene remake ...".^[1] George Marshall directed both versions.

Plot

The sheriff of a small town is shot and the crooked mayor, The Honorable Hiram J. Sellers (Edgar Buchanan), and leading crook, Phil Decker (Lyle Bettger), appoint a drunk, Reginald T. "Rags" Barnaby (Thomas Mitchell), to take the position hoping that he will be easily controlled by them. Rags announces he is to give up the drink and turns down Decker as deputy telling them he has someone else in mind, Tom Destry.

Destry (Audie Murphy) arrives on the stagecoach with great fanfare but Rags is disappointed to find out that he is a very young man and refuses to carry a gun. Destry finds out that the previous sheriff may not have died of a heart attack, as the town rumour states, while trying to resolve a land dispute over a ranch and sets about finding out how he died. This starts his quest to discover who murdered the previous town sheriff and this quest rolls together the various characters including Rags, the mayor, Decker, saloon girl Brandy (Mari Blanchard), and a young woman, Martha Phillips (Lori Nelson), who lives near town whom Destry met while riding the stagecoach into town.

The plot basically follows the same premise as the James Stewart version made years earlier.

Cast

As appearing in screen credits (main roles identified)

Actor	Role
Mari Blanchard	Brandy, the saloon singer
Audie Murphy	Tom Destry, Jr., the new deputy
Lyle Bettger	Phil Decker, mob boss
Thomas Mitchell	Reginald T. 'Rags' Barnaby’, new sheriff
Lori Nelson	Martha Phillips
Alan Hale, Jr.	Jack Larson
Wallace Ford	Doc Curtis
Mary Wickes	Bessie Mae Curtis
George Wallace	Curly Adams
Edgar Buchanan	The Honorable Hiram J. Sellers, Mayor
Mitchell Lawrence	The Professor

References

1. ^ John Walker, ed (1994). Halliwells Film Guide 10th edition. Harper Collins. p. 288. ISBN 0006383890. 

External links

• Destry at the Internet Movie Database
• Destry (film) at the TCM Movie Database