Go West

Go West
December 6, 1940
MGM
Comedy, Western, Musical
VHS
C+

Edward Buzzell directed, and Irving Brecher wrote, At the Circus as well, so it's not surprising that this is equally good, and equally bad.  You could almost skip the first half, or at least fast-forward from Harpo and Chico swindling Groucho up to the safe-cracking scene.  Then stay tuned through the surprisingly charming "Riding the Range" song with the male romantic lead, Groucho, and Chico.  But avoid the "red Indian" scene, which is not only racist but tedious.  (Harpo's "loom" harp might be worth slowing down for.)  Get up to the big chase scene, between a train and a buggy, and you're good till the end.  (Buster Keaton again gave uncredited support, and this climax is clearly his idea rather than Brecher's.)  The Marxes' other C+s so far-- The Cocoanuts, A Day at the Races, and At the Circus-- don't divide up so neatly.  (For instance, there are scenes in Cocoanuts that are kind of boring and then have a good moment or two.)  The best unintentionally funny moments are the "I hate you more" romantic scene (some of which seems to be delivered by a horse) and Lulubelle's deep singing voice.  Set in 1870, the film has tons of anachronisms, of varying degrees of amusement, the sneakiest being Groucho's name, S. Quentin Quale.  ("San Quentin quail" meant jailbait.)  However, no one in the audience will be as amused as the two villains, who spend a great deal of time chortling over their schemes, without even having good villain laughs.

One of the villains, Walter Woolf King, was Lassparri in A Night at the Opera.  Heroine Diana Lewis was the debutante in Andy Hardy Meets Debutante, which featured George Lessey.  Lew Harvey would shortly be in Citizen Kane.  James Dime would go on to Road to Morocco, Harry Wilson to Some Like It Hot, and Iris Adrian to Freaky Friday.