The Fort Stockton Film Society will host its last film of the summer with a showing of the 1939 film “Destry Rides Again” on Friday, Aug. 5 at 7 p.m. Doors open at 6:30 p.m. The screening is another date night, with free popcorn and free admission, courtesy of Pecos County Feed and Supply. There will also be a classic Warner Brothers cartoon shown just before the main feature.

“Destry Rides Again” stars James Stewart in his first western as a lawman without a gun who comes to clean up the town of Bottleneck. Upon his arrival, he meets the alluring saloon singer Frenchy, played by Marlene Dietrich.

“Destry Rides Again” was one of the films that made 1939 Hollywood’s Greatest Year. In that single year, “The Wizard of Oz,” “Stagecoach,” and “Gone With the Wind” also came out.

The film is a new take on the western because Stewart tries to bring law and order by using the law not a gun to tame the town of Bottleneck, and remove its corrupt leadership. It also was one of the first westerns where the female character has a strong presence instead of staying in the background.

Billed as a comedy on its release, the film was selected for preservation in the U.S. National Film Registry by the Library of Congress as being “culturally, historically, or aesthetically significant.”

Donations are gladly accepted. “Destry Rides Again” will screen at the Nelson Street Theatre, 102 South Nelson Street in downtown Fort Stockton.

For more information, visit fortstocktonfilmsociety.org.