Along Came Jones includes enough of the uproar that Hollywood has always associated with sleepy Western towns to keep the customers reasonably diverted.

Hamstrung by its mechanical plot devices.

Smooth, entertaining Western comedy about a cowpoke mistaken for a gunslinger

Like I told your friend, never turn your back on anything... especially a girl! Along Came Jones is directed by Stuart Heisler and adapted to screenplay by Nunnally Johnson from the Alan Le May novel The Useless Cowboy. It stars Gary Cooper, Loretta Young, Dan Duryea and William Demarest. Music is by Arthur Lange and cinematography by Milton R. Krasner. Mild mannered Melody Jones (Cooper) and his friend George Fury (Demarest) wander into the town of Payneville. Because of the saddle on his horse having the initials M J, Jones is mistaken for being wanted outlaw Monte Jarrad (Duryea), something which brings him into conflict with the townsfolk - and Jarrad himself! Monte Jarrad. Tall and skinny, mean tempered and extra fast with a gun - travels with half-wit uncle called Uncle Roscoe something. Cooper for the first time enters the realm of producer and delivers a sly spoof of the Western genre that served him so well. Cooper as Jones is happy to laugh at himself, portraying him as an amiable buffoon. Initially it's not easy to accept such a laconic and mighty presence as being such a character, but Cooper quickly draws you in. Cooper is aided by professional turns from Young, Duryea and Demarest, who in turn get a sprightly script of fun dialogue to work from - which in a film of much chatter is crucial to make it work. Elsewhere, what action scenes are forthcoming are mode…