Go West Young Man

This movie was shown on Australian TV in the mid-'60s and never been seen here since. True, this is not an out-and-out romp like Mae's earlier films but it does have a more subtle comic line about a movie star in small-town America. The scene where Mae is lying down in the hay is surprisingly explicit: she reaches out her arms to Randolph Scott and says: "I love it." She was actually talking about the country life or something but in the context it was pretty strong stuff for 1935. I'm sure this is the movie where she is chauffeur-driven in a fantastic Rolls-Royce town car with "rattan"-work around the rear of the car, rather like Norma Desmond's in Sunset Boulevard. The car would be worth a fortune today. Also featured was the wonderful Elizabeth Patterson as the cynical granny of the house, a characterisation she made her own, and reprised it as late as 1957 in Pal Joey. It's a bit more subtle than Mae's earlier films but it has a certain maturity and a low-key humour as a gentle poke at country folks. The young Randolph Scott is quite a hunk in this too. I quite enjoyed it.

This was another great 1930s film, but since I really like most 30s films, this one was great in a bit of a different way from others, and even other Mae West films. Mae plays an actress who's starring in a romantic thriller at the beginning of this film. Watching it includes young pretty fan (Isabel Jewel) of Mae's film character. Mae gets on stage live after the film. Can hardly imagine it now, how back then there was usually a live show right after the feature. And how audiences would stay seated enjoying the show next. Very few people today would have the patience to stay for a show immediately following a film. And how half the audiences back then usually had a few tears of joy at the end of a film, then everyone clapped. Just another of so many examples how people are so different today in every way.

Mae, after the show, wants to meet a man she's very interested in. Even though this film is post code, she still has a few sorta raunchy lines like "a thrill a day keeps the chill away". Other lines seem a little cleaned up from her lines in her pre code films like in "I'm no angel" and "Goin to town".

As Mae is getting ready for her date, her agent, Waren William tries very hard to stop her, but Mae doesn't listen. On her date, Waren pulls on sneaky act on her. He invites a truckload of press and news crew to horn in on the date. Mae's reaction is very amusing. That's another thing I love about Mae is that she never gets really angry or bent out of shape, she just gets even and seems to have a lot of fun doing so. Mae then wants to travel across country to meet a certain someone. On route, her Rolls Royce breaks down, and her driver gets a couple of locals just ahead of them to hook up to the Royce and pull it down the little country road. A quirky little scene there how the guys pulling the car shout out about a film star being in the Royce, and the passerbyers each making amusing comments back while Mae's rolling her eyes. Then they get to the quaint little country boarding house. There are Elizabeth Patterson as the slightly elderly owner, Gladys as a sweet young romantic, and Isabel Jewel, the star struck fan from the theater. Isabel is ecstatic by Mae being there. Gladys and Elizabeth try to make Mae feel very welcome. Mae doesn't want to stay there at first, until she sees strong Randolph Scott lifting the side of a car. The two of them hit it off, take a country walk together while getting more acquainted, and a nice moment of budding romance while Mae lays back into a haystack. I'll stop there. Get the film. Its hard to find a lot of old 30s and 40s films in stores now, but you can order them on a Amazon.com like I did. Or you can wait until they show it on TCM.

This seems a slightly different Mae West picture in that Ms. West pretends to be someone else while hiding her true personality until the right man for her comes along. Also, the females in the cast have more of a scene-stealing status than before especially when the scenes are on Elizabeth Patterson and Isabel Jewell. Because this was made after the Production Code was put into full effect, there aren't too many of those risqué lines one would associate with Ms. West but when she's around Randolph Scott, well, just hear her talk then! The plot, such as it is, has her as a movie star forced to spend some time at a farm after her car breaks down, but really, it's just an excuse for some shenanigans among the cast. No great shakes, but Go West Young Man provides some good amusement for your viewing pleasure.

If you want to know who inspired Lady Gaga and Madonna, just look at Mae West. She stars and wrote the screenplay for this film vehicle of hers. She knew how to market herself in her career. In this film, she played Mavis Arden, a celebrity on her way to Los Angeles where she gets stranded in a small town in middle America. I believe it was Gettysburg. Anyway, she acts rude and offensive when her car breaks down in the small town but she comes back with an apology. Mae West characters are never really vicious or obnoxious. In this film, she is surrounded by great supporting cast of characters. While this film is about her, she doesn't forget the other characters and the storyline about her falling in love with a country aspiring inventor and mechanic. The film may have some issues with storyline and script but it's satisfactory with a surprising ending.

Go West Young Man is based on a successful Broadway play, Personal Appearance which had a 501 performance run in the 1934-1935 season and made a star of Gladys George. What did Gladys do, but play a Mae West type actress stranded between Scranton and Harrisburg on a personal appearance tour.

Of course since Paramount bought the screen right and they had Mae West, why not use the real deal in the lead. So Gladys George got her screen stardom in other roles and Mae West played Marvis Arden, a film star very much like Mae West.

Mae's got a contract that says she can't marry, but being Mae she's got a healthy sexual appetite and who knows where that might lead. That's the job of Warren William, press agent assigned by her studio. He busts up all of her potential romances, but he's also got an ulterior motive.

In fact he does a very hilarious job in pouring cold water on a romance between her and a rather fatuous politician played by Lyle Talbot. But Mae gets herself stranded out in the Pennsylvania countryside and takes a real liking to young farmhand Randolph Scott.

Randy is the only weakness in the cast. I just couldn't quite accept him as the naive young farm boy. He's just played too many tough western types for me to ever buy that.

Still this is Mae West's show and she carries it off with a style that only she can employ. No ersatz Maes for the movie going public.