Way Out West (1930)
** 1/2 (out of 4)
How much entertainment you get out of this Western spoof is certainly going to depend on your tolerance level of star William Haines. In the film he plays Windy, a carnival con man who rips off a bunch of cowboys who plan on killing him when they find out but instead they take him back to the ranch and put him to work. Of course, Windy causes one problem after another but before long the beautiful owner (Leila Hyams) begins to fall in love with him while her brother and the other cowboys continue to see him as a threat. The more pictures I see from Haines the more I realize that everyone of them are pretty much the same with just the settings changed. As you'd expect, Haines plays a fast-talking, sexist, at times mean-spirited clown who is so out of it that you honestly can't look at him as a human. This is the type of character that Haines would play throughout his career and if you can put up with the style of comedy then you have to admit that he's pretty good at it. I wouldn't say I'm a die-hard fan of Haines but I always find it somewhat amusing how far he's willing to go to try and capture a laugh. At times it's in terms of some sort of physical slapstick while at other times it's just him being downright obnoxious and rude. Of course, I think we'd all ask how any beautiful woman would fall for his type of character but it happened in each one of these MGM features. I was really impressed with the supporting cast as well. Hyams is extremely fun to watch as the sexy ranch owner and she manges to have quite a bit of chemistry with Hyams. Cliff Edwards and Francis X. Bushman, Jr. both have nice supporting parts as does Polly Moran. At just 70-minutes the film has a pretty good pace from start to finish as well as some nice laughs along the way. There's even a nice fist-fight at the end of the movie to cap everything off. WAY OUT WEST certainly isn't a classic but for fans of Haines they should enjoy it.
** 1/2 (out of 4)
How much entertainment you get out of this Western spoof is certainly going to depend on your tolerance level of star William Haines. In the film he plays Windy, a carnival con man who rips off a bunch of cowboys who plan on killing him when they find out but instead they take him back to the ranch and put him to work. Of course, Windy causes one problem after another but before long the beautiful owner (Leila Hyams) begins to fall in love with him while her brother and the other cowboys continue to see him as a threat. The more pictures I see from Haines the more I realize that everyone of them are pretty much the same with just the settings changed. As you'd expect, Haines plays a fast-talking, sexist, at times mean-spirited clown who is so out of it that you honestly can't look at him as a human. This is the type of character that Haines would play throughout his career and if you can put up with the style of comedy then you have to admit that he's pretty good at it. I wouldn't say I'm a die-hard fan of Haines but I always find it somewhat amusing how far he's willing to go to try and capture a laugh. At times it's in terms of some sort of physical slapstick while at other times it's just him being downright obnoxious and rude. Of course, I think we'd all ask how any beautiful woman would fall for his type of character but it happened in each one of these MGM features. I was really impressed with the supporting cast as well. Hyams is extremely fun to watch as the sexy ranch owner and she manges to have quite a bit of chemistry with Hyams. Cliff Edwards and Francis X. Bushman, Jr. both have nice supporting parts as does Polly Moran. At just 70-minutes the film has a pretty good pace from start to finish as well as some nice laughs along the way. There's even a nice fist-fight at the end of the movie to cap everything off. WAY OUT WEST certainly isn't a classic but for fans of Haines they should enjoy it.