With the lyrics "Let's start the evening with a bang!", this film gets off to a lively start with Mari Blanchard kicking up her heels, and I might say, all the rest of her leggy assets as well. It's interesting how she transforms her character from a conniving saloon moll to an almost decent citizen by the end of the story. I was curious how the near romantic triangle between Brandy, Destry and Martha Phillips (Lori Nelson) would play out, but villain Decker's (Lyle Bettger) bullet took care of that. It would have been interesting to see who Destry might have picked if Brandy made it to the end of the picture.
I've always been a little on the fence about Audie Murphy as an actor. He's almost always a bit too laid back and laconic in his delivery, and when cast as a villain or anti-hero ("No Name On The Bullet", "Gunsmoke"), his baby face good looks generally don't fit the role. His portrayal here might be one of the better situations he found himself in, he shows up as the unassuming green horn and grows into the deputy role over a series of confrontations with Decker's henchmen. It was neat to see how ballistic science was worked into the story as well, but I wondered why Decker or the honorable mayor (Edgar Buchanan) simply didn't throw the bullets away when they had the chance.
The other curious thing about the picture was the cat-fight scene between Blanchard's character and that of Mary Wickes playing the doctor's wife. It got pretty scrappy, but it would have made more sense for Destry's romantic rivals to go at it. Oh well, maybe the next remake. Speaking of which, I haven't seen the original yet with Jimmy Stewart and Marlene Deitrich, but other reviewers on this board are pointing me in that direction.
All in all, not a bad little Western, certainly entertaining enough with all the musical numbers thrown in. It could have used a little more Alan Hale as long as he was on hand to begin with. A lot of other familiar faces, if not names on hand as well. But one thing that kept me scratching my head - 'Promiscuous shootin'?
I've always been a little on the fence about Audie Murphy as an actor. He's almost always a bit too laid back and laconic in his delivery, and when cast as a villain or anti-hero ("No Name On The Bullet", "Gunsmoke"), his baby face good looks generally don't fit the role. His portrayal here might be one of the better situations he found himself in, he shows up as the unassuming green horn and grows into the deputy role over a series of confrontations with Decker's henchmen. It was neat to see how ballistic science was worked into the story as well, but I wondered why Decker or the honorable mayor (Edgar Buchanan) simply didn't throw the bullets away when they had the chance.
The other curious thing about the picture was the cat-fight scene between Blanchard's character and that of Mary Wickes playing the doctor's wife. It got pretty scrappy, but it would have made more sense for Destry's romantic rivals to go at it. Oh well, maybe the next remake. Speaking of which, I haven't seen the original yet with Jimmy Stewart and Marlene Deitrich, but other reviewers on this board are pointing me in that direction.
All in all, not a bad little Western, certainly entertaining enough with all the musical numbers thrown in. It could have used a little more Alan Hale as long as he was on hand to begin with. A lot of other familiar faces, if not names on hand as well. But one thing that kept me scratching my head - 'Promiscuous shootin'?