Fools' Parade

After doing about four or five straight westerns, James Stewart obviously wanted a change of pace, so he starred in this Depression era film about a man just released from prison and ready to cash a check for $25,000.00. This is the equivalent of 40 years of working in the prison mines as convict labor and apparently never buying anything in the prison commissary. Which is the part I find hard to believe.

Now possibly had this story been set in 1925 in the boom times of the Roaring Twenties, Stewart might have had different ambitions. But he and friends Strother Martin and Kurt Russell just want to open up a general store in some small town and live quietly.

But this is the Thirties a decade of hard times and bank failures. Local banker David Huddleston can't afford to cash Stewart's check or the bank in which he's been dipping in the till will go belly up with his name on the failure. So he goes to whom he usually goes to bail him out of these situations; prison guard George Kennedy and henchmen Mike Kellin and Morgan Paull.

The story is far fetched but Andrew McLaglen put together a really good cast and the film definitely had some colorful characters. Anne Baxter plays the painted prostitute of the river who has a boat for assignations and a young girl played by Katherine Cannon for those who don't like the older model. Her life's ambition is to get into the Daughters of the American Revolution because as she puts she and her family have been serving our country by servicing our soldier's needs since 1776.

George Kennedy's part is also a gem. He's a Sunday school teacher as well as a prison guard and contract killer for hire. We haven't seen a religious hypocrite like him since Robert Mitchum as Reverend Harry Powell in Night of the Hunter. Then again that's no accident since Davis Grubb wrote the novels on which both films are based.

Robert Donner has a key role in the film as the train conductor with a conscience. I can't say more, but the man's conscience is what brings about a righting of all wrongs.

Best scene in the film is James Stewart getting the drop on Morgan Paull during the first confrontation. Paull is a would be country singer who does a little killing on the side, but only if they're atheists. And of course it's Kennedy and Kellin who point out the atheists to do in.

Kennedy is also carrying around one ton of homosexual repression. Note that in his scenes with Paull and with Kurt Russell as he declaims loud and long about how he doesn't like boys. He likes them too well when his religion tells him that's a big no-no.

I remember back in my working days at NYS Crime Victims Board I did a claim for a homicide victim who was a 67 year old letter carrier for U.S. Post Office. He was a man described by the police as someone who just worked all his adult life for the Post Office, never married and raised a family, never took a vacation, just worked and saved. He managed to accumulate over $350,000.00 in his life and the estate was going to go to our claimant who was his 88 year old mother. Sad when you think of it, but letter carriers are a bit better paid than convict labor even granting the differing values of the dollar in those eras. It's why I can't grasp how Stewart saved all that money.

Despite my inability to suspend disbelief Fools' Parade is a colorful film with some fine acting in it and a must for fans of James Stewart like myself.

I've seen some references state that Anne Baxter didn't like her own performance and had the ability to block distribution. Her vanity pretty much assured that the city of Moundsville would lose a rare lifeline to drag itself out of poverty oblivion. It must have been a terrible let-down at the time because you can bet that the townsfolk were tickled pink.

I do not think it is possible to come up with a better version in a remake, but perhaps someone should try that out. I see no chatter to indicate that the distribution will ever be approved.

A new version with current actors might attract a following and create the stimulus to release the original. Want to make a movie? You can rent this town for cheap - it's not changed a lot since the movie except for Walmart and other eyesores on the highway.

I consider this a must-see movie and if you look hard enough around the Internet, you will find copies.

Fools' Parade (also known as Dynamite Man from Glory Jail) is directed by Andrew McLaglen and stars James Stewart, George Kennedy, Kurt Russell, and Strother Martin. It's based on the novel of the same name by Davis Grubb with a screenplay by James Lee Barrett. Harry Stradling Jr. photographs on location in Marshall County, West Virginia and Henry Vars scores the music.

Three men released from prison, one with a cheque for $25,452.32 in his pocket. One crooked bank manager and one vindictive prison captain, both men determined not to let the prisoners cash in that cheque.

Something of an under seen picture due to no home format release as yet, Fools' Parade is a well acted story set around the depression era. It's got a mixture of violence, comedy, adventure and whimsy, while its themes of corruption, new beginnings and moral quandaries are neatly put together as a melodramatic whole. The characterisations are most interesting, not least the three criminals, who having served time for some terrible crimes, are actually the most stand up guys in a town that's full of desperation; where the residents are teetering on the brink of badness.

The cast speaks for itself as regards quality, and they deliver on the promise of their names. While an unrecognisable Anne Baxter also enters the fray late on with a heartfelt and dramatic performance. Special mention for Stradling's photography, which captures the hazy atmosphere of the troubled 30s especially well. A more than involving film that prospective new viewers should try and catch if they get the chance. 7/10

I grew up in Moundsville W.Va. where the movie was filmed and got to watch many of the areas they filmed, i was able to get several signatures from the actors, Jimmy Stewart, Struther Martin and George Kennedy. I never got to meet Kurt Russell. It was a really good movie, not Oscar material, but very enjoyable. The last comment about why the movie never made it to copy, is because (this is what I've heard) Anne Bancroft did not like her portrayal and would never authorized a release in copy. She is now deceased, so i can only hope this will allow copies to be made and distributed. I for one would be the first in line to get it!.

If you've found your way to these comments then know that you've found in me a true fan of this film. I got here in an attempt to find a source for buying this film. Alas, it was not to be! The 1971 movie features great dramatic performances by James Stewart, Strother Martin, George Kennedy and Kurt Russell. It's a pretty fair example of a road movie that features, I believe, West Virginia as a backdrop in the mid 1930's. It's great entertainment, fun, exciting and suspenseful, too.

Hopefully it will be available someday. I believe it could be productively marketed as a rather important DVD release considering the cast and over all quality of the movie.

So it's now 13 months after I've originally posted and the question is, When is this movie going to be released on video/DVD?