Go West (1940)

Director:

Edward Buzzell

Writer:

Irving Brecher (original screenplay)

Release Date:

6 December 1940 (USA)

Genre:

Comedy | Musical | Western

Tagline:

JUMP INTO YOUR BOOTS AND SADDLES...IT'S ROUND-UP TIME IN THE WILD AND WOOLY WEST!

Plot:

The Marx Brothers come to the rescue in the Wild West when a young man, trying to settle an old family feud so he can marry the girl he loves, runs afoul of crooks.

Plot Keywords:

Gold | Deed | Train | Marx Brothers | Self Referential

Cast

Groucho Marx	...	S. Quentin Quale
Chico Marx	...	Joe Panello
Harpo Marx	...	'Rusty' Panello
John Carroll	...	Terry Turner
Diana Lewis	...	Eve Wilson
Walter Woolf King	...	Beecher
Robert Barrat	...	'Red' Baxter
June MacCloy	...	Lulubelle
George Lessey	...	Railroad President
rest of cast listed alphabetically:
Lee Bowman	...	(scenes deleted)

Also Known As:

Marx Brothers Go West (UK)

Runtime:

80 min

Country:

USA

Language:

English

Color:

Black and White

Aspect Ratio:

1.37 : 1

Sound Mix:

Mono (Western Electric Sound System)

Certification:

USA:Approved | Portugal:M/6 | Australia:G | Finland:S | Germany:6 | Sweden:Btl

Filming Locations:

Red Rock Canyon State Park - Highway 14, Cantil, California, USA

Company:

Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer (MGM)

Trivia:

The name of Groucho Marx's character, "S. Quentin Quayle", caused a stir when the film was first released due to the subtle but clear joke: the use of the term "San Quentin quail", which means "jail bait".

Goofs:

Miscellaneous: After Terry rides in to see Eve, we see his horse's rein tighten as an offscreen crew member starts to lead it away.

Quotes:

S. Quentin Quale: You know there's a drunk sitting at the first table who looks exactly like you? And one who looks exactly like me. Dull, isn't it?

Movie Connections:

Featured in The Miracle of Sound (1940)

Soundtrack:

As If I Didn't Know

GO WEST (1940) ***

Patchy but still fairly enjoyable Marx Bros. vehicle. Their unique brand of comedy adapts reasonably well to the Western format though, at the end of the day, a lot more could have been done with this situation; the film suffers in comparison with their 'classic' stuff, but even more so when measured against other comics' brush with the genre – particularly two ambitious Buster Keaton masterworks, OUR HOSPITALITY (1923) and THE GENERAL (1927), and Laurel & Hardy's (more straightforward but) equally delightful and inspired WAY OUT WEST (1937)!

That said, a number of scenes here deliver the goods: the ticket-office sketch at the beginning, the stagecoach ride, the robbery of the safe and, of course, the climactic train 'wreck; on the debit side: the songs in this one are particularly negligible.

My verdict, therefore, is that GO WEST is a worthwhile comedy but a lesser Marx Bros. film.