Along Came Jones (1945)

Best movie of this year hands down!

An Exercise In Nonsense

A bit overrated, but still an amazing film

If you're interested in the topic at hand, you should just watch it and judge yourself because the reviews have gone very biased by people that didn't even watch it and just hate (or love) the creator. I liked it, it was well written, narrated, and directed and it was about a topic that interests me.

Laid-back cowboy Melody Jones (Gary Cooper) rides into town with his partner George Fury (William Demarest). The men are surprised by how everybody seems to be especially nice to Melody, almost as if they're afraid of him. After being saved from a shot in the back by a woman named Cherry (Loretta Young), Melody finds out the townspeople think he is a notorious outlaw named Monte Jarrad (Dan Duryea) and that was the reason for their deference. Melody quickly falls in love with the pretty Cherry but he doesn't know that she is actually Monte Jarrad's girlfriend and has him hid out on her farm.Delightfully pleasant western satire with a terrific cast. Cooper doesn't always get the respect he deserves as an actor but movies like this remind you of how talented he was. Loretta Young is great as well. It was interesting to see a movie made in 1945 where the hero had to be saved by a woman and that was treated as OK. Dan Duryea makes for a great villain, as he always did. But the man who steals the show is the great William Demarest. Every line that comes out of his mouth is better just for him having said it. This actor was a highlight of many a Preston Sturges film and here he plays his comedic sidekick role just right. He never overplays it or hams it up. Check this one out if you get the chance. A fun, likable western with lots of comedy and some romance too.

Right off the bat, you have to accept that Gary Cooper and Dan Duryea look alike, which of course they don't, but supposedly almost everyone in the film who knows the bad guy (Duryea) hasn't seen him in several years, and they mistake Cooper for him. I might have given the film a rating of 8 or even 9, had it not been for that. But, okay, get past that, and you have an entertaining and very different western...and I say that as a person who has grown so tired of westerns. But this plot is very different than most any western you've seen before, and it will hold your attention. Cooper and Loretta Young are very engaging in this film...downright delightful. But I kept thinking what a wonderful character actor William Demarest was; I've often underrated his versatility. The other notable thing about this film is the quality of the cinematography. Stunning -- or as they sometimes say -- glorious in black and white. However, the few scenes where they are filming with a backdrop screen sort of ruin that effect...the one aspect that was done on the cheap. I highly recommend this film if you like westerns, or Gary Cooper, or Loretta Young, or William Demarest, or quirky plots. Hey, I guess you can't go wrong here!

Melody Jones, a man working in rodeos out west, and his partner, George Fury, ride into a small Western town right after a stage coach has been robbed by a famous bandit, Monte Jarrad's poster has been plastered all over the place. The description about Monte is that he is tall, skinny, and frankly he could just look like Melody Jones!That silly premise gives way to a funny comedy written by Nunnally Johnson, one of the best men in this field in the Hollywood of that era, and directed by Stuart Heisler. It was a vehicle for Gary Cooper, who makes a great Melody Jones, a man that is the opposite of what a hero should be like. This was a light departure for the star, because it didn't show him as a brave and dashing leading man. In fact, his role is that of a goofy fellow who doesn't have a clue as to what bad guys can really be like."Along Came Jones" is a film about mistaken identities that is never serious until the last reel when everything breaks loose. Loretta Young plays Cherry, a woman who knew Monte as a girl and feels protective until she realizes of what he's been up to, and after she falls for the naive Melody. William Demarest is George, Melody's friend. Dan Duryea, a man that made a career out of playing bad guys, giving his usual kind of nastiness to Monte Jarrad.The film is light and entertaining.

Despite being noted as star Gary Cooper's sole producer credit, ALONG CAME JONES disappointingly proves little more than a middling (if not unenjoyable) Western; similarly, rather than give it the expected stature, the much-touted contribution of renowned scriptwriter Nunnally Johnson merely explains the film's talky nature. Besides, his tortuous plot results in generally woolly characterization – while listless pacing makes the whole feel much longer than its standard 90-minute duration! Anyway, the narrative sees cowhand Cooper being mistaken for outlaw-in-hiding Dan Duryea (not only for sporting an equivalent build and initials, but also in being flanked by a 'hare-brained' partner i.e. William Demarest); unbeknownst to him, this scenario is actually encouraged by the bandit's girlfriend (Loretta Young). The hero, however, is not as dumb and gullible as he looks: incidentally, I had reservations about Cooper playing this type of character in THE WESTERNER (1940) but, in the context of a comedy (the film is really an early spoof of the genre), it becomes an accepted convention. The first half, in fact, works quite well on this front – especially the star's would-be mean posturing and Demarest's reaction at being compared to "Uncle Roscoe Something"; the more typical action associated with the genre does come into play eventually…though still given a spin by having Young finally contrive to save Cooper, an awkward gunman, from the ruthless Duryea's bullets (during an earlier confrontation, the hero had exchanged quips – and clothing – with the villain) in a surprisingly bloody showdown a' la the 2 Howards' (Hawks and Hughes) THE OUTLAW (1943)!