Fools’ Parade [Dynamite Man from Glory Jail] **½ (1971, James Stewart, George Kennedy, Strother Martin, Anne Baxter, Kurt Russell) – Classic Movie Review 10,901

Fools’ Parade (1971) has a good cast in James Stewart, George Kennedy, Kurt Russell, Strother Martin and Anne Baxter, but it is an uninspiring title for a Western. They changed it in the UK to the awkward Dynamite Man from Glory Jail. 

Producer-director Andrew V McLaglen’s 1971 Fools’ Parade stars James Stewart, George Kennedy, Strother Martin, Anne Baxter, Kurt Russell and David Huddleston. It is a weak title for a Western, which no doubt led to its renaming in the UK to the even worse, much worse, Dynamite Man from Glory Jail.

In 1935 robber Mattie Appleyard (Stewart) is freed from 40 years in jail and wants to find his money in the bank, that’s the $25,000 earned in prison. But the bank’s president Homer Grindstaff (David Huddleston) has made off with it and hires ‘Doc’ Council (Kennedy) to rub out Mattie Appleyard (Stewart) and his prison buddies Johnny Jesus (Russell) and Lee Cottrill (Strother Martin).

This quirky modern Western is a bit of a bumpy ride, especially considering its pedigree from a novel by the author of The Night of the Hunter (Davis Grubb), thanks to an ill-fitting screenplay by James Lee Barrett that gives the impression of being over-hastily written. Certainly the odd re-write would help.

Director McLaglen doesn’t make full use of his good cast or bring out all the tensions that are clearly there in the script. And, in a mainly boys’ movie, Anne Baxter has a rotten, clichéd part as Cleo, the madame of a brothel.

However, Stewart though is absolutely fine in a rock-solid performance in what was his 75th film and one of his last starring parts. Also Kennedy is excellent in an extravagant role as a religious hypocrite Sunday school teacher, prison guard and contract killer for hire, a character recalling the Reverend Harry Powell (Robert Mitchum) in The Night of the Hunter. The rest of the old-time cast is good too, and McLaglen is an efficient action director, and it looks good in Eastmancolor too thanks to director of photography Harry Stradling Jr, who was specialising in Westerns at this time, and to Alfred Sweeney’s art direction.

Also in the cast are William Windom, Mike Kellin, Kathy Cannon, Morgan Paull, Robert Donner, David Huddleston, Richard Carl, Dort Clark, Kitty Jefferson Doepken, Dwight McConnell, Richard Carl, and Arthur Cain.

Producer/ screen-writer James Lee Barrett appears as Sonny Boy.

It was all filmed in Marshall County, West Virginia, mostly in Moundsville, where Davis Grubb was born and bred. They used the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad, especially the Moundsville station (demolished in 1980).

It runs 98 minutes.

It was released on 18 August 1971.

The cast are James Stewart as Mattie Appleyard, George Kennedy as Doc’ Council, Anne Baxter as Cleo, Strother Martin as Lee Cottrill, Kurt Russell as Johnny Jesus, William Windom as Roy K Sizemore, Mike Kellin as Steve Mystic, Katherine Cannon as Chanty, Morgan Paull as Junior Kilfong, Robert Donner as Willis Hubbard, David Huddleston as Homer Grindstaff, James Lee Barrett as Sonny Boy, Dort Clark as Enoch Purdy, Kitty Jefferson Doepken as Clara, Dwight McConnell as Station Master, Richard Carl as Police Chief, and Arthur Cain as Prosecuting Attorney.

© Derek Winnert 2021 Classic Movie Review 10,901

Check out more reviews on http://derekwinnert.com