Der Vagabund von Texas

It's hard to see Gary Cooper as a singing cowboy, but that's exactly what he is in this film. He plays a cowboy who is mistaken for a bandit (played by Dan Duryea). Cooper is accompanied by his sidekick (William Demarest).

Pretty soon, almost everyone is after them, including the bandit. Loretta Young saves Cooper's hide more than once in this mildly funny and rather slow-moving film.

Loretta Young gives a strong performance as a woman torn between the bandit and the cowboy. Cooper is not really believable as the amiable but clutzy cowpoke.

The plot for this movie is better than average, and I enjoyed the laughs. The worst thing about it is the amount of time spent on horseback. Most of these scenes were obviously filmed indoors and technically were quite funny.

The movie is worth watching for its script and Loretta Young.

Poor Melody Jones, a simple soul, a good cowboy who has never really developed skill with firearms, gets himself mistaken for notorious western badman Monty Jarrad. Same general build, same initials and both are known to hang around with a cantankerous old timer. A recipe for trouble?

For Melody yes, but for the viewer it's a recipe for one of the best comic westerns ever made. Gary Cooper who produced as well as starred in this film, seems to be having a grand old time spoofing all the western heroes that people like he have played for years.

Quite a few stock western types are here. Loretta Young is the killer's girlfriend, a Calamity Jane type who's pretty accurate with a rifle fortunately. William Demarest is the cantankerous old timer sidekick, he could have had a great career portraying those had he stuck to westerns. And Dan Duryea is just fine as the real Monty Jarrad who's coming back to his hometown to get the loot he's stashed there.

Cooper as Melody gets in one fix after another at almost a dizzying pace. His final showdown with Dan Duryea must have influenced John Ford when he made The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Though this is a comedy and Ford's film was deadly serious, the showdown between Cooper and Duryea is quite serious.

I'm also sure that Mel Brooks was influenced by Along Came Jones when he created his classic Blazing Saddles.

Thank you to director Stuart Heisler and writer Nunnally Johnson for creating a fabulously funny film.

Basically, this is an entertaining western that sports a combination of suspense, action, romance and comedy. It also features an interesting cast, with names like Gary Cooper, Loretta Young, William Demarest and Dan Duryea.

Cooper, as "Melody Jones," plays his normal low-key hero role and Demarest provides most of the laughs. Young is attractive and plays an intriguing character and Duyea does what he does best: play the villain. However, the latter has a smaller role than usual.

This is corny in spots, but it was meant to be since this is supposed to be a spoof of westerns. The only thing that didn't come off well was the special-specials, but they weren't much back in the days of this film but they are very dated now.

A nice, lightweight enjoyable satire.

A good premise runs out of ideas and becomes a talkfest, even getting a little mean spirited near the end. Cooper is good as Melody Jones, an amiable but inept cowpoke mistaken for a surly killer named Monte Jarrad played suitably well by one of the greatest movie villains of all-time, Dan Duryea. The first 20 minutes of the story has real promise but this is one of those movies which somehow didn't get developed beyond its first draft. Some good dialogue and a great cast get kind of squandered as the muddled plot thickens. Would have succeeded better with less talk and characters and more gags and action. A miss but worthy of a look. Not Cooper's worst by any means.

Has anyone considered that the cheesy "back projection" in the riding scenes may have been on purpose ? And another thing... could it be that Cooper's melodious "Melody Jones" (who sang his own songs) was a jab at John Wayne's "Singing Sandy" (all dubbed, all the time, and badly too). I liked the inclusion of a top-break revolver, also... there was lots of interesting weaponry back then, not all of it made by Colt. The graphic gore was unusual for a time when the newly departed would either throw their hands up, or clutch their clean shirts, and flop over. Did you notice that when Cherry aimed and fired at Melody's hat, she had such control that the bullet went in the front and STAYED IN THE HAT ! An intelligent side-kick, a powerful woman, and a humorous script. I liked it.