Tom Destry (
James Stewart),
son of a legendary frontier peacekeeper, doesn't believe in gunplay.
Thus he becomes the object of widespread ridicule when he rides into the
wide-open town of Bottleneck, the personal fiefdom of the crooked Kent (
Brian Donlevy). His detractors laugh even louder when Destry signs on as deputy to drunken sheriff Wash Dimsdale (
Charles Winninger).
But the laughter subsides when Destry casually proves himself a crack
shot, despite his abhorrence of firearms. Later, when saloon chanteuse
Frenchy (
Marlene Dietrich),
Kent's gal, takes umbrage at Destry's indifferent reaction to her
charms, she vows to make a fool of the new deputy. A huge moneymaker,
Destry Rides Again served as a spectacular comeback for Marlene Dietrich, who two years earlier had been written off as "box office poison."
