TV Cream

Films: G is for...

Go West

Impoverished fourth MGM Marx outing, with a plot nicked wholesale off Laurel and Hardy’s Way Out West and a sad air of contractual obligation hanging over the whole thing. Good bits – the opening three-way banter with Harpo and Chico doing Groucho out of his baggage and endless ten dollar bills, and the final dismantling steam train sequence, harried by silent movie bores for having a similar premise to the one in Buster Keaton’s The General, but carried out with, to be frank, more wit, sprightliness and downright good fun than that overrated cold fish ever managed. So there. In between, a lot of boring bartender banter, wild west heavies having the rug pulled out from under them very drearily, and an attempt to replicate A Night at the Opera’s crowded stateroom scene in a stagecoach which comes to nothing.

3 Comments

3 Comments

  1. Sidney Balmoral James

    April 18, 2021 at 10:50 pm

    My God, ‘overrated cold fish’! Buster Keaton – the sublime genius of silent comedy. I’m all for a bit of healthy iconoclasm, but this is taking things too far. But then, I suspect the TV Cream taste is more for Freddie Frinton.

    • THX 1139

      April 19, 2021 at 9:55 am

      I don’t remember Buster dismantling the train in The General, either. The most common complaint about it is that he’s really on the wrong side of history in fighting for the South, but it was based on a true story. Personally, I love the Marxes and Keaton, but even they aren’t going to please everyone.

  2. Richardpd

    January 16, 2024 at 10:35 pm

    I’ve got a lot of respect for most of the old school comedy acts, but quite a few were stiffed by the studios or had other issues & ended up having to do sub-par work.

    The later films by the Marx Brothers were mostly made to help Chico out of his gambling debts, who didn’t have any sensible investments or other work to fall back on.

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

To Top