James Stewart and Marlene Dietrich star in the hit Western “Destry Rides Again” in a one-time screening at Brigham Young University’s Harold B. Lee Library auditorium on Friday, Jan. 10, at 7 p.m.
Doors open at 6 p.m. and admission is free, but seating is limited. Children ages 8 and over are welcome. No food or drink is permitted in the auditorium.
The 1939 hit film paired the sultry star of “The Blue Angel” and “The Garden of Allah” with James Stewart, fresh from his performance in Frank Capra’s “Mr. Smith Goes to Washington.”
“Destry Rides Again” has Stewart coming to the town of Bottleneck to be the deputy of his father’s friend, the town’s sheriff. There he meets “Frenchy,” the saloon singer in league with the villainous town boss, “Kent,” played by Brian Donlevy.
“It’s just plain, good entertainment, primed with action and laughs and human sentiment,” wrote Variety. Bosley Crowther, writing in the New York Times, judged Stewart’s performance “a masterstroke of underplaying in a deliberately sardonic vein — the freshest, most offbeat characterization that this popular actor ever played.”
Thursday night’s screening is part of the ongoing BYU Motion Picture Archive Film Series, now in its 15th season, co-sponsored by the L. Tom Perry Special Collections, the Friends of the Harold B. Lee Library and Dennis and Linda Gibson.
For details, contact James D’Arc, curator, BYU Motion Picture Archive, 801-422-6371, james_darc@byu.edu.
Writer: Brett Lee
