Disappointing 1945 film with Loretta Young, Gary Cooper and William Demarest caught up in some very bad writing.A near perfect role for Gary Cooper with his "aw shucks" western language like-attitude. Loretta Young suddenly turns into an Annie Oakley by film's end.The story where Cooper is mistaken as a notorious gunman is cliché as best. Amazing that Cooper and Young, who at first allows the confusion to continue so that the real villain, the usual Dan Duryea, can get away with all that he has done. True to Hollywood standards, Young falls for Cooper. The dialogue and even the shoot out scenes are quite dull.Nothing much going on here.

Melody Jones, a man working in rodeos out west, and his partner, George Fury, ride into a small Western town right after a stage coach has been robbed by a famous bandit, Monte Jarrad's poster has been plastered all over the place. The description about Monte is that he is tall, skinny, and frankly he could just look like Melody Jones!That silly premise gives way to a funny comedy written by Nunnally Johnson, one of the best men in this field in the Hollywood of that era, and directed by Stuart Heisler. It was a vehicle for Gary Cooper, who makes a great Melody Jones, a man that is the opposite of what a hero should be like. This was a light departure for the star, because it didn't show him as a brave and dashing leading man. In fact, his role is that of a goofy fellow who doesn't have a clue as to what bad guys can really be like."Along Came Jones" is a film about mistaken identities that is never serious until the last reel when everything breaks loose. Loretta Young plays Cherry, a woman who knew Monte as a girl and feels protective until she realizes of what he's been up to, and after she falls for the naive Melody. William Demarest is George, Melody's friend. Dan Duryea, a man that made a career out of playing bad guys, giving his usual kind of nastiness to Monte Jarrad.The film is light and entertaining.

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.

The Bob hope/Jane Russell "Paleface" and "Son of Paleface" parodies were obviously based on this film, which made it all the more enjoyable for me. The hapless cowboy mistaken for a killer is not as stupid as the Hope character, of course, who is a "Easterner" dentist. In fact I did not find Melody Jones a "dimwit" at all, just an easy-going cowpoke who gets involved with people out of his element through no fault of his own, and does what he has to do to get himself and his friend out of it. Loretta Young is excellent as the female sharpshooter love interest, and Coop is playing, well, Coop. I recommend watching these three movies consecutively, it makes all of them all the more humorous.