Le grand Bill

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.

After robbing a stagecoach, the gunman Monte Jarrad (Dan Duryea) is wounded and hunted with a one thousand-dollar reward. Meanwhile, the clumsy cowboy Melody Jones (Gary Cooper) and his old partner George Fury (William Demaresi) ride through the wrong road and reach Payneville. When the locals see the initials MJ on Melody's saddle and his appearance, he is mistaken by the dangerous criminal. Melody believes that the respectful behavior is because he is an unsmiling man. Melody is saved from a shot by Cherry de Longpre (Loretta Young), who is Monte's girlfriend, and they head to her ranch where the hideout of the wounded Monte is. Cherry plots a plan sending Melody with Monte's saddle to the North to lure the posse while Monte heads to South. But the naive cowboy is in love with Cherry and decides to return to the ranch instead against the will of his friend George.

"Along Came Jones" is an entertaining satire of western movie. The naive story is silly in many moments, but the sweet Loretta Young is wonderful, showing a magnificent chemistry with the hilarious Gary Cooper. Dan Duryea is the perfect villain in this enjoyable amusement. My vote is six.

Title (Brazil): "Pistoleiro do Destino" ("Gunman of the Destiny")

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.

Gary Cooper, along with very few others in Hollywood (at the time this movie was made, 1945) had the ability of so many facial and physical nuances of comic dimensions as Coop did. Being old enough to have seen this movie on it's original release (and I did) you might say, this was an early satire of what characters of the old west were really like. The cast was very well selected for the time, and very well performed. Also, the fact that Coop himself produced, and as America was definitely needing a belly laugh, I felt this to be an excellent vehicle for all involved and a welcome film of comedic entertainment. Concerning the poorly made studio riding sequences, how else to get the point across on a limited budget. Thanks for listening.

I liked it a lot. A movie that didn't get the recognition it deserves. Typical Gary Cooper, terse and insightful in the fashion of the times. I will never forget the song he sang that goes on and on. I was a kid when I saw this and memorized about 20 verses of "Old Joe Clark" back then. Loretta played a good part and her role should be emulated by the fairer gender today. Dan Durey played his usual tough guy role, but did a credible job. I would like to see it come out again or perhaps a remake, however, I don't know anyone in Hollywood that can imitate Cooper. Just for grins this was the movie we watched in Denver when we were inducted in the Army. Black and white is a medium that should live forever.