This remake of Destry Rides Again (which in itself was a remake) normally gets short shrift by critics, and certainly Audie Murphy and Mari Blanchard are no James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich, but it's still an enjoyable 90 minutes.
The basic story has hardly been changed so that's good, it's in colour, the support cast impresses (including Thomas Mitchell, Lyle Bettger and Alan Hale Jnr) and I am fond of Murphy. He's not bad casting: a cherub-cheeked kid who looked like the boy next door but actually was a secret killer. He's not in Stewart's league as an actor (he doesn't have the voice, confidence or charm) but he works on his own level, and it's one of his best performances.
He's certainly more effective than Mari Blanchard, who does her best, is quite sexy and has black hair (so she must be a tramp), but isn't a star. You wish Universal had stumped up the cash for someone with more of a name to play against Murphy - Maureen O'Hara or someone like that. For some reason Joe Butterfly is considered Audie Murphy's only comedy, when this is clearly one too - I guess it's because it was a Western as well.
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