Out West (1918)
Much of the Material Works Well
13 August 2001
Much of the material in "Out West" works well, at least as long as you understand its intent. It combines some of the usual Arbuckle/Keaton slapstick with a satirical look at some of the conventions of the Western genre of its time, and it has a decent variety of scenes and settings.

The story starts off with some amusing antics by Arbuckle on a train, and then goes on from there as he meets up with the other characters. Keaton gets some good moments, and Arbuckle regular Al St. John has a funny role as a villainous gun-slinger.

They take some chances with some of the material, and it's easy to see how today's audiences could misinterpret it. There are a couple of morbid gags that work pretty well, but there are a couple of other things are just not at all funny now, even given that they were parodying the Westerns of the time.

Overall, it has some good moments that most fans of Arbuckle and Keaton would enjoy, but there are other parts of it that even their fans will probably find somewhat uncomfortable.
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