Le grand Bill

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.

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.

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.

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.