Marx Brothers - Go West

The movies from the Marx Bros. are just like my old Bowie's vinyls, or my Oscar Wilde's books: they're always there, and always will be. They're just like those old friends that will never let you down.

"Go West" has each and everyone of the essential ingredients of the movies from Groucho and co. : hilarious dialogs, crazy situations, Harpo's hooliganism, the music... everything goes as quick as a flash. So, if some youngster thinks that this movie hasn't anything to offer because it was made 65 years ago, thats belongs to the Pleistocenic... OK, I won't waste my time explaining why the Marx Brothers are bigger than life. I'd rather watch "Duck Soup" or "A Night At The Opera" one more time, and let the party begin once again...

*My rate: 8/10

Go West is a solid effort, with its share of funny jokes. There's a good song, which isn't common in the Marx Brothers films, and both the piano and harp numbers are good. The movie slows down big time nearer the end, although some of the train sequence is surreal, especially when it runs into a house. 7/10.

S. Quentin Quale (Groucho Marx) is a con-man heading west. He encounters seemingly bumbling brothers Joseph (Chico Marx) and Rusty Panello (Harpo Marx) in a train station and ends up losing his money to them. The brothers meet old miner Dan Wilson who hasn't found gold for 40 years on his property, Dead Man's Gulch. They lend him $10 and get the property as collateral. Meanwhile, Terry Turner arranges the sale of the property to the railroad for $50k. The Turners and Wilsons are rivals. Terry hopes to ease the rivalry with the sale and marry Dan's granddaughter Eve Wilson. Saloon owner Red Baxter receives a telegram to get the property. The boys write an IOU on the back of the deed to pay for beer at Red's saloon.

This is full of the Marx brothers antics. Chico plays the piano. Groucho is the heel. Harpo doesn't talk and finds an usual harp with the Indians. This comes after a string of iconic Marx brothers comedy hits. These things come in cycles and the guys may be wearing out their welcome. They haven't changed their verbal gags and there are still songs. The last act is all action on a train and that's plenty of fun. For Marx fans, this should still hit the spot.

'Go West' was the first movie from the Marx Brothers that I saw. Because I saw this one before their great movies like 'Duck Soup' I was able to appreciate this one completely. I don't want to call the movie great but since everything was new to me I had a very good time.

Groucho Marx is S. Quentin Quale and Chico and Harpo are the brothers Joe and Rusty Panello. The two brothers and Quale are heading west to find fortune. The movie starts with a very funny sequence where the two brothers steal some money from Quale. After this the movie has some slow sequences without very big laughs, especially when the brothers and Quale are not yet working together. There is a nice scene with Chico playing the piano in a great and very funny way that gives the movie some spirit again. Everything leads up to the scenes on a train and I have to say that once they are on the thing every gag is good for a laugh. May be some of the events are inspired by Buster Keaton's 'The General' but they're funny anyway.

Why the brothers and Quale have to work together, what the story is, is not really important. The story is just there to prepare a new joke. Because most of them work I think this is a very nice movie with a great start and finish and may be a part that is a little too slow in the middle. The Marx Brothers have a great talent for comedy and they do show that here, although we know they can do better.

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.