''Along Came Jones'' is a 1945 American Western comedy film directed by

Stuart Heisler Stuart Heisler (December 5, 1896 – August 21, 1979) was an American film and television director. He was a son of Luther Albert Heisler (1855–1916), a carpenter, and Frances Baldwin Heisler (1857–1935). He worked as a motion picture editor ...

and starring Gary Cooper, Loretta Young, William Demarest, and Dan Duryea. The film was adapted by Nunnally Johnson from the 1944 novel ''Useless Cowboy'' by

Alan Le May Alan Brown Le May (June 3, 1899 – April 27, 1964) was an American novelist and screenplay writer. He is most remembered for two classic Western novels, ''The Searchers'' (1954) and ''The Unforgiven'' (1957).Herzberg, Bob (2008). ''Savages an ...

. It was the only feature film produced by Cooper during his long film career. Much of the film was shot at the

Iverson Movie Ranch Iverson may refer to: Computing * Iverson Award, an ACM honour for APL contributions * Iverson bracket, a mathematical notation * Iverson Notation, the syntactic basis of APL (programming language) Other uses * Iverson Movie Ranch, Chatsworth, Ca ...

in Chatsworth, California. Cooper had previously worked at the movie ranch in '' The Lives of a Bengal Lancer'' (1935) and other productions. Cooper had a Western town built at the movie ranch for ''Along Came Jones''; this Western set was subsequently used in many other productions over the next 20 years and became a fixture in B-Westerns in particular.

Premise

Easygoing Melody Jones ( Gary Cooper) and his friend George Fury ( William Demarest) wander into a town. Jones is mistaken for a wanted bandit named Monte Jarrad ( Dan Duryea), which causes him no end of trouble. Meanwhile, the real Jarrad is hiding out in the home of his girl, Cherry de Longpre ( Loretta Young). At first, she tries to use the newcomer to distract the townsfolk, but as she gets to know Jones, her feelings start to change. The film spoofs many Western film cliches as well as the Western persona that Cooper played in previous films, such as the lead character being unable to shoot straight and partial to singing "silly songs" while riding his horse.

Cast

* Gary Cooper as Melody Jones * Loretta Young as Cherry de Longpre * William Demarest as George Fury * Dan Duryea as Monte Jarrad *

Frank Sully Francis Thomas Sullivan (June 17, 1908 December 17, 1975), known professionally as Frank Sully, was an American film actor. He appeared in over 240 films between 1934 and 1968. Today's audiences know him best as the dumb detective in the ''Bost ...

as Avery de Longpre * Don Costello as Leo Gledhill * Walter Sande as Ira Waggoner * Russell Simpson as Pop de Longpre *

Arthur Loft Arthur Loft (May 25, 1897 – January 1, 1947) was an American film and stage actor. He appeared in more than 220 films between 1932 and 1947. Biography He was born in Denver, Colorado and died in Los Angeles, California. He is interred ...

as Sheriff * Willard Robertson as Luke Packard * Ray Teal as Kriendler * Lane Chandler as Boone * Erville Alderson as Bartender (uncredited) * Hank Bell as Posse Rider (uncredited)

Production

''Along Came Jones'' was produced under the working title ''American Cowboy''. It was Cooper's first Western since '' The Westerner'' in 1940. It was also Cooper's first film as an independent producer under his International Pictures, Inc., with Cinema Artists Corp. co-producing, and the only film in which he both acted and produced. Cooper also selected Young as his co-star. Much of the film was shot at the

in Chatsworth, California, where Cooper built the town of Payneville for the script. This Western set was used in many other productions over the next 20 years. Other outdoor filming locations included Sasabe, Tucson, and

Nogales, Arizona Nogales (English: or , ; ) is a city in Santa Cruz County, Arizona. The population was 20,837 at the 2010 census and estimated 20,103 in 2019. Nogales forms part of the larger Tucson–Nogales combined statistical area, with a total population ...

. A number of exterior scenes were filmed in indoor sound stages backed by giant cycloramas. Scenes of the actors riding horses and exchanging dialogue were filmed with rear-projection screens.

Critical reception

Martin and Porter's DVD guide describes ''Along Came Jones'' as a " ghly watchable comic western," giving it a rating of 4 out of 5 ("Very Good"). '' Variety'' called the film "a better-than-average western" and commended Cooper's and Young's performances. Bosley Crowther writes in his review for '' The New York Times'': "Mr. Cooper is the guy who can play it. His Melody is a most congenial gent—butter-fingered and mentally clumsy, but disarmingly winning withal". A '' Trailers from Hell'' review wrote that the film "is concocted to please the Cooper fans, a mix of comedy, sentiment, romance and a little fancy gunplay". This review calls the film's first act "almost as funny as a Preston Sturges movie", and the first two acts "nearly flawless".

Radio adaptation

''Along Came Jones'' was presented on ''This Is Hollywood'' December 28, 1946. Janet Blair and Joel McCrea starred in the adaptation.

In popular culture

The film's ironic title probably inspired the popular 1959 Coasters song " Along Came Jones" written by

Leiber and Stoller Lyricist Jerome Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011) and composer Michael Stoller (born March 13, 1933) were American songwriting and record producing partners. They found success as the writers of such Crossover music, crossover hit songs ...

; songwriter

Mike Stoller Lyricist Jerome Leiber (April 25, 1933 – August 22, 2011) and composer Michael Stoller (born March 13, 1933) were American songwriting and record producing partners. They found success as the writers of such crossover hit songs as " Hound Dog" ( ...

had studied orchestration under Arthur Lange, the composer of the film's score. In the film Cooper sings the song "I'm a Poor Lonesome Cowboy", which would later become the

signature song A signature (; from la, signare, "to sign") is a Handwriting, handwritten (and often Stylization, stylized) depiction of someone's name, nickname, or even a simple "X" or other mark that a person writes on documents as a proof of identity and ...

of Lucky Luke in the eponymous comics series by René Goscinny and Morris.

References

External links

Along Came Jones at Dan Duryea Central
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Iverson Movie Ranch: History, vintage photos.
{{Stuart Heisler 1945 films Films based on American novels Films based on Western (genre) novels American Western (genre) comedy films Films directed by Stuart Heisler American black-and-white films 1940s Western (genre) comedy films Films with screenplays by Nunnally Johnson Films adapted into radio programs Films scored by Arthur Lange 1945 comedy films RKO Pictures films 1940s English-language films 1940s American films