Go West, Young Lady

During the 1940s, Columbia Pictures made a ton of westerns...most of them B-movies lasting about an hour and featuring a variety of mostly small-time actors. However, occasionally they made a western that was just a bit better...and "Go West, Young Lady" is one of these. While it's about the length of many Bs, it has a better cast than usual. While Glenn Ford was not yet a top-tier actor, having him and many familiar faces in the film (Penny Singleton, Ann Miller, Charlie Ruggles and Allen Jenkins) give it a more sophisticated look than a B....making this sort of like a B+ picture!

The star of the picture is Penny Singleton. She was a veteran of Bs...and in the middle of her Blondie and Dagwood series when she made this western. But she's certainly no typical western woman (at least the movie versions), as when bad guys strike, she's quick to shoot back and isn't the least bit a cowering lady! Glenn Ford is the male lead...but with such a dynamic lady starring in this one he's easily overshadowed!

As for the plot, apart from Singleton's wild (and sometimes ditsy) character, it's pretty standard stuff. Some masked gunman named Killer Pete is terrorizing a town...killing sheriff after sheriff. His ultimate goal isn't robbery but to force folks to want to leave town...so he can then buy them out and become the big boss man...a very familiar western cliche.

Watchable and a bit better than usual for the genre.

A pleasant, diverting, fast-paced, unpretentious musical Western. Shown frequently on commercial TV in the late '50s and '60s, it seems to have disappeared.

Will someone at Columbia Pictures please stop promoting their 2001 mega-budget stinkers and instead preserve and re-release their past glorious unsung treasures (such as "Go West, Young Lady") and make them available on cable-TV and videotape.

This "B"-unit film is an unalloyed delight. A precursor of such later films as "Calamity Jane" & "7 Brides for 7 Brothers". Penny Singleton is adorably ditzy as the heroine, Glenn Ford honed his comic skills as "the tenderfoot" and sparkling Ann Miller as the tart-tongued saloon-singer steals the show. The Sammy Cahn score is a treat, and Annie's tip-tapping with Allen Jenkins singing "I Wish That I could Be a Singing Cowboy" is one of the many highlights of this unique lark of a film.

Good, rousing, old-fashioned fun--packed into a tight 70 minutes!

PENNY SINGLETON gets top billing in this diverting little programmer made at the height of her fame as "Blondie". This film, directed by the same man who did that series, has Singleton in her "Blondie" mode, as a prim and proper but ditsy blonde who acquits herself well when Indians are shooting at the carriage she's riding in during the opening scene.

She's so prim and proper that she refuses to even engage in conversation with the man sitting opposite her in the coach--GLENN FORD--on his way to the town of Headstone to become its new sheriff.

Ford has one of his rare comedy roles and plays it to the hilt. He's continually getting in the way of Singleton's pie-throwing finesse or taking a crack on the head with a pan, accidentally of course.

ALLEN JENKINS, as a cowardly interim sheriff, ANN MILLER, as a dance hall gal, and CHARLIE RUGGLES, as Singleton's uncle, all give fresh and funny performances. Miller is especially good in a couple of her dance routines, including a sing-and-dance number with Jenkins that comes as a delightful surprise.

Very enjoyable romp, it seems to borrow a lot of its material from other similar westerns. It features at least a half a dozen unpretentious musical numbers that make for easy listening.

Summing up: One of Columbia's better programmers.

This is not a comment- rather, I would like to point out a goof: When Penny Singleton and Ann Miller are having their cat fight towards the end of the movie (incidentally, one of the all-time great cat fights) it really looks like those girls are belting each other), Ann Miller's blouse buttons and unbuttons during the scrimmaging.

But, as long as I am here... This was a truly enjoyable western. Glen Ford is actually funny in this movie, and the relationship between him and Penny Singleton is very well developed and quite touching, in an amusingly innocent sort of way (inotherwords, exactly the opposite of most movies today). The rise of the townswomen to thwart the evildoers plans is also very well done.

This is a rare western comedy that actually delivers some jocular moments. I've seen it three times, and enjoyed it all three times. And, if it comes on the Westerns Channel again when my boy is home from school or doesn't have practice or a game, We'll watch it together.

It's just a fun movie. period.

Western town under the thumb of a masked bandit sends for a new sheriff, who arrives by coach along with the saloon owner's niece from back East--a young lady of proper breeding who is also quite handy with a pistol. Fresh, rather laid-back comedy-western with music interludes has perhaps too much story exposition at the beginning, yet director Frank R. Strayer keeps a spirited pace and covers nicely with help from a colorful cast. The original songs by Saul Chaplin and Sammy Cahn are terrific, as are the musical performances by The Foursome and Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys. Ann Miller (playing a shady chanteuse named Lola) sings too, and taps up a storm; her catfight scene with Penny Singleton is a definite highlight. The character actors here (including Allen Jenkins, who also gets to warble and dance to a ditty) are so strong that young Glenn Ford almost gets lost in the crowd. Very modest, but very pleasant tale that ambles along agreeably without lapsing into silliness. **1/2 from ****