Dan Duryea, Gary Cooper, Loretta Young, William Demarest

Along Came Jones is one of the most oddball artifacts from Hollywood's golden age. Gary Cooper (who doubled as producer) plays Melody Jones, a "common ordinary useless bronc-stomper" who moseys...( read more  read more... ) into the town of Payneville--or is it Painful?--just after legendary bad ass Monte Jarrad has held up the stagecoach. The townsfolk eyeball the "MJ" on Melody's stirrup, leap to hysterically wrong conclusions, and start giving him a wide berth--in some cases, the better to lie in ambush for "Jarrad" while planning how to spend the bounty money. Now, as it happens--and as his crusty sidekick George (the insuperably irreverent William Demarest) keeps reminding him--Melody can barely get his gun out of the holster without blowing his own kneecap off. All that stands between him and extinction is the quick-thinking intervention of a local maiden, one Cherry de Longpre (Loretta Young). Melody, of course, promptly becomes hogtied with love, not suspecting Cherry's the childhood sweetheart of the real Monte Jarrad (Dan Duryea)....

Stylistically the film is a wild mix, with director Stuart Heisler paying close attention to down-the-gun-barrel point of view in several scenes, yet also sitting still for floaty back-projection photography so egregious that it may bring on motion sickness. Still, Nunnally Johnson's script is droll; Cooper clearly relished the chance to poke fun at his strong-silent stereotype; and he and Preston Sturges stalwart Demarest establish a sardonic comic rapport. --Richard T. Jameson

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50% liked it

1,959 ratings

Unrated, 90 min.

Directed by: Stuart Heisler

Release Date: July 19, 1945

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DVD Release Date: September 4, 2001

Stats: 38 reviews

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Flixster Reviews (38)


  • August 2, 2009
    This western is surprisingly good. Light, amusing and very entertaining. The stars are great, particularly Gary Cooper, Loretta Young and in a supporting role, William Demarest. Dan Duryea is fine as well. Good writing.
  • March 21, 2008
    I did not really like this movie.
  • November 2, 2007
    Classified as a classic = Interested.
  • August 21, 2007
    i would like to see this one..
  • July 16, 2007
    Yes, it was oddball.
  • January 1, 2007
    I liked this film. Must try and get it on DVD. Cooper is a very watchable actor and does well with light comedy, I think, even if it's not what he's most well known for.
  • December 10, 2006
    didnt like this one.........
  • December 3, 2006
    I would like to see this, i think...
  • September 26, 2006
    I like Cooper as confident and skilled, but he's good at innocent humor too. He cannot handle a gun in this film. It's so funny, but so painful!

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