Way Out West

The story of William Haines and his fall from Hollywood stardom is pretty well known. Popular in the silent era where his smart aleck all American type of character did well, Haines did not survive the transition to sound well even before the gay scandal decked his career for good. Way Out West is an example of this.

In Way Out West Haines is a carnival barker who rooks some cowboys out of their dough with a crooked wheel. The cowboys almost hang him, but instead are persuaded to take him back to the ranch and let him work out the $200.00 or so that cheated them out of. Of course being a city slicker he does not take to ranch life with the usual gags that follow. They are the best part of Way Out West.

But for the life of me I can't see why ranch owner Leila Hyams falls for Haines, especially when she has good old reliable Ralph Bushman around with whom she has a lot more in common. The film made little sense to me in that vein.

Charles Middleton is Hyams righteous brother and Cliff Edwards plays a sidekick role and even sings a forgettable ballad. Way Out West turned out to be the direction down for the career of William Haines.

In Arizona, wisecracking carnival showman William Haines (as Windy) uses leggy women to lure local cowboys into his boudoir, where he wins over $200 from them with a rigged roulette wheel. Mr. Haines wants to use the money to go to Chicago and sell life insurance, but loses it to pick-pocket Vera Marshe (as "La Belle Rosa"). When the men discover they've been had, they attempt to lynch Haines then make him work off the money on a ranch. Roughed up but retaining his good humor, Haines falls head-over-heels for pretty ranch owner Leila Hyams (as Molly Rankin). But rowdy Ralph Bushman (as Steve), son of silent legend Francis X. Bushman, wants Ms. Hyams too. Ukulele playing singer Cliff Edwards (as Trilby) and comedienne Polly Moran (as Pansy) lend support. "Way Out West" was a noticeably uneven entry from the superstar, appearing careless at times.

**** Way Out West (8/2/30) Fred Niblo ~ William Haines, Leila Hyams, Cliff Edwards, Polly Moran

Although he's all but forgotten now, in 1930, Hollywood's first full year of talkie films, William Haines was king of the box office. His movies - he starred in three of them - made more money than those of any other male star. WAY OUT WEST is one of those films.

Haines plays a carnival shyster who cheats some cowboys out of their money with a crooked roulette wheel. They retaliate by kidnapping him, taking him back to their ranch and forcing him to work off the debt.

There are some of the usual silly-billy antics you expect from a Bill Haines film. But there are also lapses into very serious areas as well. The look on Haines' bleeding face after he's been roughed-up by a big cowboy, without a word spoken, speaks volumes.

Also appearing are Leila Hyams, one of MGM's pretty starlets of the early 1930's; Francis X. Bushman, Jr.; the ubiquitous Polly Moran; and little Cliff Edwards, who gets to play his ukulele & sing.

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.

Carnival barker Windy (William Haines) cheats a group of cowboys with a rigged roulette wheel. Instead of hanging him, the boys decide to force him to work off the stolen money. He falls for ranch owner Molly Rankin (Leila Hyams).

I really like him as a scheming con-man in a carnival side show. I wouldn't mind a whole movie with that. Once he gets on the ranch, I like him a lot less. In fact, I don't think I like him at all. His flirting with Molly comes off as lies and deceits. I don't really care about the romancing and the movie falls flat. There is an undercurrent of something more which only backs up why the romance doesn't work.