This film is commonly described as a spoof of the tall silent western gunslinger, epitomized by Gary Cooper. But, it's primarily a comedy-drama combo of 3 relationships centered around 'Melody' Jones(Gary Cooper), a timid wandering cowboy who likes to sing while he rides around. First, there is George(Bill Demarest), his wandering companion. They play off each other, rather like Laurel and Hardy, through the whole film, with occasional interludes involving the other 2 key relationships, those with Cherry(Loretta Young) and one Monte Jarrad(Dan Duryea), a notorious outlaw and gunslinger. The latter two are romantically involved, adding further complexity to the developing web of duplicities.. From their facial expressions, it's clear that Melody and Cherry marked each other as special at first sight(at a fair distance). But, until near the end, they act as if this is only a temporary fling, since Cherry supposedly is emotionally tied to Monte and Melody supposedly is heading far south for a cowboy job. Increduously, Melody is assumed by most of the town to be the recently arrived Monty, because his saddle bears the initials MJ. Thus, he is treated by most as if he were a rattlesnake. Initially very perplexed by this attitude, Melody soon comes to revel in his unexplained fearsome celebrity status. He doesn't realize that there is a handsome reward for the capture of Monte and that he will soon be in the line of fire of a variety of firearms. Cherry has plans to use Melody's mistaken identity to advantage in allowing Monte to escape the area. Thus, she saves Melody from being shot as Monte. In the ending, she will also save him from being shot by Monte, having made up her mind which man she wants to be with in the future. A disbelieving Melody gets a surprise demonstration of her crack marksmanship that saved his life(probably,the funniest moment in this film). "I aim at what I hit" quips Cherry, as she stalks off, chagrined that Melody still seems to believe that she still cares more for Monte than him.(Cherry doesn't wear her macho sharpshooting skills on her sleeve, in contrast to Doris Day in 'Calamity Jane' or Ella Raines in 'Tall in the Saddle', which came out the previous year).This film is primarily for fans of Cooper or Loretta, although Bill Demarest also added much to the interest. Loretta and Cooper have great chemistry and she is great to look at. Intentionally or not, otherwise this film has the look of a minimal budget western of the period or '30s. It differs from the later color slapstick western farces starring Bob Hope or Don Knots in that a laconic real western film star is playing a real cowboy, who happens to be unbelievably clumsy and incompetent when it comes to firearms handling. Also, it turns into a more serious western at times, with occasional killings. May be worth a look,and now is inexpensively available on DVD as part of a four Cooper film package

While this film is far from great, I appreciated how at least those who made the film tried to make something different than the usual insipid Western. While I love a well-made Western, I think most Hollywood Westerns of the 30s, 40s and 50s were incredibly formulaic and routine. As a result, I usually avoid them like the plague! So I was very, very happy to stumble upon this film since it is far from typical of the genre.Gary Cooper and his buddy, William Demarest wander into a small town and Cooper is mistaken for a desperado who just robbed the stage coach. Instead of apprehending him, everyone is so afraid and treat him royally! However, Loretta Young quickly comes up and whisks them out of town. She knows that they are not the robbers and gets them out before they accidentally get shot! She knows, by the way, because the REAL robber is her boyfriend! Well, instead of continuing to explain the plot, I'll leave this up to you. Bowever the film is excellent due to very good acting by all the stars. Cooper and Young are wonderful and that's no surprise, and Dan Duryea is a great slimy villain (as usual), but the stand-out performance for me was Demarest. Instead of the usual idiotic supporting character he usually played in the 30s and 40s (especially in Preston Sturgess films), his supporting role was pretty serious and he effectively played a slightly older tough cowboy, so he was effective without being overly comical--I liked that.See this film if you want something different AND has decent production values. While not a great film, it is very entertaining and fun--though not exactly a comedy like the videotape jacket said it was.

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.

This is an entertaining western farce but you'll probably never find yourself laughing out loud, except at the purposely horrible rear projection scenes when they're "riding." Gary Cooper is wonderful at playing a doofus (from what I have read, it wasn't much of a stretch).It is interesting to compare Melody Jones in this movie with the sheriff in "High Noon." The Sheriff is a competent, confident gunman with a preternatural sense of what is right. The Sheriff ultimately saves the town but they didn't ask for it and they certainly didn't deserve it. Melody Jones is a loveable goofball with no gun skills and a confidence which derives from a perfectly nuanced obliviousness to the reality of the violence he faces. Melody figures out the girl is in trouble and for no good reason decides he's going to help her even though she hasn't asked for any help and she's set him up to be hunted down by a revenge (and bounty) hungry posse.In the end, it's the girl who has to save Melody as well as herself. And the girl, Loretta Young is the absolute best reason for watching this movie. She is gorgeous.This movie is also surprisingly violent and the violence is surprisingly graphic. It begins with a deadly robbery and ends with bloody bullet hole in the center of Dan Duryea's forehead."Along Came Jones" is worth watching but not really worth owning.