This film is commonly described as a spoof of the tall silent western gunslinger, epitomized by Gary Cooper. But, it's primarily a comedy-drama combo of 3 relationships centered around 'Melody' Jones(Gary Cooper), a timid wandering cowboy who likes to sing while he rides around. First, there is George(Bill Demarest), his wandering companion. They play off each other, rather like Laurel and Hardy, through the whole film, with occasional interludes involving the other 2 key relationships, those with Cherry(Loretta Young) and one Monte Jarrad(Dan Duryea), a notorious outlaw and gunslinger. The latter two are romantically involved, adding further complexity to the developing web of duplicities.. From their facial expressions, it's clear that Melody and Cherry marked each other as special at first sight(at a fair distance). But, until near the end, they act as if this is only a temporary fling, since Cherry supposedly is emotionally tied to Monte and Melody supposedly is heading far south for a cowboy job. Increduously, Melody is assumed by most of the town to be the recently arrived Monty, because his saddle bears the initials MJ. Thus, he is treated by most as if he were a rattlesnake. Initially very perplexed by this attitude, Melody soon comes to revel in his unexplained fearsome celebrity status. He doesn't realize that there is a handsome reward for the capture of Monte and that he will soon be in the line of fire of a variety of firearms. Cherry has plans to use Melody's mistaken identity to advantage in allowing Monte to escape the area. Thus, she saves Melody from being shot as Monte. In the ending, she will also save him from being shot by Monte, having made up her mind which man she wants to be with in the future. A disbelieving Melody gets a surprise demonstration of her crack marksmanship that saved his life(probably,the funniest moment in this film). "I aim at what I hit" quips Cherry, as she stalks off, chagrined that Melody still seems to believe that she still cares more for Monte than him.(Cherry doesn't wear her macho sharpshooting skills on her sleeve, in contrast to Doris Day in 'Calamity Jane' or Ella Raines in 'Tall in the Saddle', which came out the previous year).This film is primarily for fans of Cooper or Loretta, although Bill Demarest also added much to the interest. Loretta and Cooper have great chemistry and she is great to look at. Intentionally or not, otherwise this film has the look of a minimal budget western of the period or '30s. It differs from the later color slapstick western farces starring Bob Hope or Don Knots in that a laconic real western film star is playing a real cowboy, who happens to be unbelievably clumsy and incompetent when it comes to firearms handling. Also, it turns into a more serious western at times, with occasional killings. May be worth a look,and now is inexpensively available on DVD as part of a four Cooper film package

Has anyone considered that the cheesy "back projection" in the riding scenes may have been on purpose ? And another thing... could it be that Cooper's melodious "Melody Jones" (who sang his own songs) was a jab at John Wayne's "Singing Sandy" (all dubbed, all the time, and badly too). I liked the inclusion of a top-break revolver, also... there was lots of interesting weaponry back then, not all of it made by Colt. The graphic gore was unusual for a time when the newly departed would either throw their hands up, or clutch their clean shirts, and flop over. Did you notice that when Cherry aimed and fired at Melody's hat, she had such control that the bullet went in the front and STAYED IN THE HAT ! An intelligent side-kick, a powerful woman, and a humorous script. I liked it.

Poor Melody Jones, a simple soul, a good cowboy who has never really developed skill with firearms, gets himself mistaken for notorious western badman Monty Jarrad. Same general build, same initials and both are known to hang around with a cantankerous old timer. A recipe for trouble?For Melody yes, but for the viewer it's a recipe for one of the best comic westerns ever made. Gary Cooper who produced as well as starred in this film, seems to be having a grand old time spoofing all the western heroes that people like he have played for years.Quite a few stock western types are here. Loretta Young is the killer's girlfriend, a Calamity Jane type who's pretty accurate with a rifle fortunately. William Demarest is the cantankerous old timer sidekick, he could have had a great career portraying those had he stuck to westerns. And Dan Duryea is just fine as the real Monty Jarrad who's coming back to his hometown to get the loot he's stashed there.Cooper as Melody gets in one fix after another at almost a dizzying pace. His final showdown with Dan Duryea must have influenced John Ford when he made The Man Who Shot Liberty Valance. Though this is a comedy and Ford's film was deadly serious, the showdown between Cooper and Duryea is quite serious.I'm also sure that Mel Brooks was influenced by Along Came Jones when he created his classic Blazing Saddles. Thank you to director Stuart Heisler and writer Nunnally Johnson for creating a fabulously funny film.

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.