Gary Cooper

Loretta Young

William Demarest

Dan Duryea

Frank Sully

Don Costello

Walter Sande

Russell Simpson

Arthur Loft

Willard Robertson

Ray Teal

Lane Chandler

Ernie Adams

Erville Alderson

Silver Tip Baker

Jack Baxley

Hank Bell

Paul E. Burns

Horace B. Carpenter

Tommy Coats

Frank Cordell

Lew Davis

Ralph Dunn

Frank Ellis

Billy Engle

Art Fowler

Clem Fuller

Frank Hagney

Tom Herbert

Herbert Heywood

Bob Kortman

Ralph Littlefield

Emmett Lynn

Cactus Mack

Chris-Pin Martin

Frank McCarroll

John Merton

Douglas Morrow

Charles Morton

Artie Ortego

Lee Phelps

Ed Randolph

Tony Roux

Paul Sutton

Lane Watson

Chalky Williams

Henry Wills

Alan Le May

William Goetz

Nunnally Johnson

Arthur Lange

Stuart Heisler

Thomas Neff

Milton Krasner

Harry Redmond Sr.

Vernon Leftwich

Walter Thompson

Donald Biddle Keyes

James C. Pratt

Charles Maxwell

Ed Ebele

Arthur Schoepp

Hugo Friedhofer

Arthur S. Black Jr.

Ray Binger

Ted Mapes

Harold Schwartz

Raymond Crossett

Harry Davis

Robert Franklyn

Clifford Vaughan

Arthur Johns

John LeRoy

Dorothea Holt

Fred Lau

Evelyn Finley

Paul Weatherwax

Marshall Kester

Wiard B. Ihnen

Julia Heron

Walter Plunkett

Gustaf Norin

Western

Comedy

Along Came Jones

International Pictures (I)

United States of America

Like I told your friend, never turn your back on anything... especially a girl!

Along Came Jones is directed by Stuart Heisler and adapted to screenplay by Nunnally Johnson from the Alan Le May novel The Useless Cowboy. It stars Gary Cooper, Loretta Young, Dan Duryea and William Demarest. Music is by Arthur Lange and cinematography by Milton R. Krasner.

Mild mannered Melody Jones (Cooper) and his friend George Fury (Demarest) wander into the town of Payneville. Because of the saddle on his horse having the initials M J, Jones is mistaken for being wanted outlaw Monte Jarrad (Duryea), something which brings him into conflict with the townsfolk - and Jarrad himself!

Monte Jarrad. Tall and skinny, mean tempered and extra fast with a gun - travels with half-wit uncle called Uncle Roscoe something.

Cooper for the first time enters the realm of producer and delivers a sly spoof of the Western genre that served him so well. Cooper as Jones is happy to laugh at himself, portraying him as an amiable buffoon. Initially it's not easy to accept such a laconic and mighty presence as being such a character, but Cooper quickly draws you in. Cooper is aided by professional turns from Young, Duryea and Demarest, who in turn get a sprightly script of fun dialogue to work from - which in a film of much chatter is crucial to make it work.

Elsewhere, what action scenes are forthcoming are moderately staged and Krasner's black and white photography is gorgeous in print form, but the locales and set designs just sort of sit there waiting to be elevated. The budget restriction in place is annoying, where we should have sweep and out of studio airiness, we instead have cheap tricks and crude back projection, this cast deserves better production value. Plotting is also thin and formulaic, the screenplay and Heisler's direction playing safe and not doing justice to the satirical beats trying to be heard.

It's fun and charming enough to be worth time spent on viewing, and Cooper and co are good company, but it should have been better and had better care afforded it from a technical standpoint. 6/10

English

Deutsch

Along Came Jones - Original Trailer 1945.