Fools' Parade

Interesting story set in Great Depression with tension , intrigue , some violence but also amusement and too many moments to be taken seriously . Glory, W.Va., 1935. It wasn't exactly a parade . It wasn't a time for celebration. It was a time to run for your life. When a trio ( Stewart ,Strother Martin , Kurt Russell ) of ex-inmates led by Mattie Appleyard (James Stewart) is released from jail , they hope to open a general store . Homer Grindstaff ( David Huddleston) is a big named banker in Glory and Doc Council (George Kennedy) is a prison guard and they team up to scheme to kill Appleyard and his ex-convict friends who were trying to open up a general store in Stone Coal, West Virginia and then to take the money . After the three ex-cons boarded a passenger train( the locomotive used in this movie is none other than Southern Railway 4501 ) headed for Stone Coal , Council join forces with an assortment of bad guys , Steve Mystic (Mike Kellin) and Junior Kilfong (Morgan Paull) to stop the train before it reaches its destination and kill all three convicts . After an unsuccessful attempt, Junior Kilfong fires one shot from his double barrelled shotgun into Roy K. Sizemore (William Windom) knocking him to the ground. Later on , the trio escapes and goes to a brothel-ship where they find a Madam ( Anne Baxter) and a young girl (Katherine Cannon) .

This entertaining film about three ex-cons stalked by their former warden contains action , melodramatic events , thrills , some violence but also humor , though clichés run through-out . Comic relief for amusing moments developed among main characters and especially on the relationship between James Stewart and Strother Martin . Another great James Stewart acting as a good ex-convict who puts explosives on his body , hence the alternative name of the film "Dynamite Man from Glory Jail" . Very good support cast with special mention to George Kennedy as an extremely villain and Anne Baxter as an old prostitute . Colorful cinematography by Harry Stradling Jr , Victor MacLagen's usual , and was filmed in Moundsville, West Virginia, which was the hometown of Davis Grubbs, author of the novel titled "Fools' Parade" .

The motion picture sometimes receives an excessive melodramatic treatment and being well realized by Andrew V McLagen, son of great actor Victor McLagen . He's a a known Ford's disciple . Andrew holds the distinction of directing the most episodes of "Gunsmoke" . Furthermore , he holds the honor of filmmaking the most episodes of ¨Have gun , Will travel" (1957). And is one of the few directors to have directed both Clint Eastwood and John Wayne . He's a Western expert (McLintock, Shenandoah, Bandolero, Chisum, Cahill, Way west) and warlike specialist , such as proved in several films ( Return to Kwai, Wild Geese , Dirtdozen: the next mission, Sea wolves, Breakthrough ) . Rating : Nice 6,5 . The picture will appeal to James Stewart fans , an old master in the art of conjuring sympathy out of nothing . Worthwhile watching .

Fools' Parade (also known as Dynamite Man from Glory Jail) is directed by Andrew McLaglen and stars James Stewart, George Kennedy, Kurt Russell, and Strother Martin. It's based on the novel of the same name by Davis Grubb with a screenplay by James Lee Barrett. Harry Stradling Jr. photographs on location in Marshall County, West Virginia and Henry Vars scores the music.

Three men released from prison, one with a cheque for $25,452.32 in his pocket. One crooked bank manager and one vindictive prison captain, both men determined not to let the prisoners cash in that cheque.

Something of an under seen picture due to no home format release as yet, Fools' Parade is a well acted story set around the depression era. It's got a mixture of violence, comedy, adventure and whimsy, while its themes of corruption, new beginnings and moral quandaries are neatly put together as a melodramatic whole. The characterisations are most interesting, not least the three criminals, who having served time for some terrible crimes, are actually the most stand up guys in a town that's full of desperation; where the residents are teetering on the brink of badness.

The cast speaks for itself as regards quality, and they deliver on the promise of their names. While an unrecognisable Anne Baxter also enters the fray late on with a heartfelt and dramatic performance. Special mention for Stradling's photography, which captures the hazy atmosphere of the troubled 30s especially well. A more than involving film that prospective new viewers should try and catch if they get the chance. 7/10

When James Stewart, Strother Martin, and Kurt Russell are released from prison, they decide to go straight. Jimmy has been in prison for forty years, and for his time, he's received $25,000. He and his two friends are planning on opening up a grocery store and enjoying a legitimate life. But George Kennedy, the crooked prison guard who never liked Jimmy, wants that money for himself. He and his cronies follow the three ex-cons as they travel by train to cash the check in the bank that issued it.

Fool's Parade features a really fun role for James Stewart. He wore a prosthetic glass eye during the production (which was so uncomfortable he could only wear it for twenty minutes at a time) and got to play a bit of a villain. In my favorite scene, he straps himself with dozens of dynamite sticks and threatens to blow up the bank if they don't cash the check. He's a scoundrel, but for the right reasons. He really does want to open up a grocery store. George Kennedy is the real villain in the film, even though he's usually such a likable fellow. I'd recommend this oddball comedy if you want to see Jimmy in a different type of role. Keep an eye out for an unrecognizable Anne Baxter. I didn't know it was her until the end credits!

I've seen some references state that Anne Baxter didn't like her own performance and had the ability to block distribution. Her vanity pretty much assured that the city of Moundsville would lose a rare lifeline to drag itself out of poverty oblivion. It must have been a terrible let-down at the time because you can bet that the townsfolk were tickled pink.

I do not think it is possible to come up with a better version in a remake, but perhaps someone should try that out. I see no chatter to indicate that the distribution will ever be approved.

A new version with current actors might attract a following and create the stimulus to release the original. Want to make a movie? You can rent this town for cheap - it's not changed a lot since the movie except for Walmart and other eyesores on the highway.

I consider this a must-see movie and if you look hard enough around the Internet, you will find copies.

After doing about four or five straight westerns, James Stewart obviously wanted a change of pace, so he starred in this Depression era film about a man just released from prison and ready to cash a check for $25,000.00. This is the equivalent of 40 years of working in the prison mines as convict labor and apparently never buying anything in the prison commissary. Which is the part I find hard to believe.

Now possibly had this story been set in 1925 in the boom times of the Roaring Twenties, Stewart might have had different ambitions. But he and friends Strother Martin and Kurt Russell just want to open up a general store in some small town and live quietly.

But this is the Thirties a decade of hard times and bank failures. Local banker David Huddleston can't afford to cash Stewart's check or the bank in which he's been dipping in the till will go belly up with his name on the failure. So he goes to whom he usually goes to bail him out of these situations; prison guard George Kennedy and henchmen Mike Kellin and Morgan Paull.

The story is far fetched but Andrew McLaglen put together a really good cast and the film definitely had some colorful characters. Anne Baxter plays the painted prostitute of the river who has a boat for assignations and a young girl played by Katherine Cannon for those who don't like the older model. Her life's ambition is to get into the Daughters of the American Revolution because as she puts she and her family have been serving our country by servicing our soldier's needs since 1776.

George Kennedy's part is also a gem. He's a Sunday school teacher as well as a prison guard and contract killer for hire. We haven't seen a religious hypocrite like him since Robert Mitchum as Reverend Harry Powell in Night of the Hunter. Then again that's no accident since Davis Grubb wrote the novels on which both films are based.

Robert Donner has a key role in the film as the train conductor with a conscience. I can't say more, but the man's conscience is what brings about a righting of all wrongs.

Best scene in the film is James Stewart getting the drop on Morgan Paull during the first confrontation. Paull is a would be country singer who does a little killing on the side, but only if they're atheists. And of course it's Kennedy and Kellin who point out the atheists to do in.

Kennedy is also carrying around one ton of homosexual repression. Note that in his scenes with Paull and with Kurt Russell as he declaims loud and long about how he doesn't like boys. He likes them too well when his religion tells him that's a big no-no.

I remember back in my working days at NYS Crime Victims Board I did a claim for a homicide victim who was a 67 year old letter carrier for U.S. Post Office. He was a man described by the police as someone who just worked all his adult life for the Post Office, never married and raised a family, never took a vacation, just worked and saved. He managed to accumulate over $350,000.00 in his life and the estate was going to go to our claimant who was his 88 year old mother. Sad when you think of it, but letter carriers are a bit better paid than convict labor even granting the differing values of the dollar in those eras. It's why I can't grasp how Stewart saved all that money.

Despite my inability to suspend disbelief Fools' Parade is a colorful film with some fine acting in it and a must for fans of James Stewart like myself.