Go West Young Man

Mae West (Mavis) plays a character very much like herself. When the film begins, lots of men are watching her in a movie--much like wolves looking at a plate of pork chops! After the movie ends, Mavis makes an appearance in the theater and talks about how the image on the screen is not the real her--that she is, at heart, a simple country girl! Of course this is a lot of hooey thought up by studio man, Morgan (Warren William). In fact, he was assigned to follow her like a guard to keep her from begin her real self! And, in desperation, Morgan arranges for Mavis to go live on a farm and stay out of the sites of reporters. Of course, however, Mavis can't be too good and almost immediately notices hunky Bud (Randolph Scott). It's a frustrating job of vamping, however, as Bud is mostly interested in mechanical things and is oblivious to her wiles. Where it goes from there, you'll just need to see for yourself.

Like most of West's films, I had a hard time accepting the notion that she's THE sexiest woman alive. But I appreciate how in "Go West Young Man" for once someone ISN'T immediately smitten with her and it makes the film a lot more watchable--especially since West didn't even begin appearing in movies until she was 40. Being a very sexual 43 year-old isn't a bad role for her in this film instead of being universally adored by men (which, to put it bluntly, made no sense--especially when she continued in this role into her 80s!!). While not as good as her wonderful role in "She Done Him Wrong", it is one of her better performances and the film is worth seeing. Rather slight but quite enjoyable.

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 a delightful screwball comedy featuring an unlikely but happily cast trio of Mae West, Warren William, and Randolph Scott. Mae is a glamorous movie star, the idol of millions, stranded in a hick boarding house when her limo breaks down in the sticks. She passes time by putting her fleshy moves on the handsome mechanic, played by Scott, who in 1936 was still very young looking and not yet principally identified as a western star. But the hayseed mechanic is more interested in tinkering with electronic inventions than in either the sultry Mae or his forlorn fiancé (Margaret Perry), while Mae's manipulative and protective press agent William and the fiancé's old maid aunt (Elizabeth Patterson) do all in their considerable conniving powers to put the romance on the skids. They get a lot of help from a herd of wacky local yokels, all ga-ga over glamor queen and all harboring their own ridiculous dreams of getting into the movies.

While Screwball comedy is a genre of elusive definition, Go West, Young Man embodies most of the common elements -- romance all out of whack, a collection of goofy but likable characters, frenetic, sometimes slap-stick action, class satire, and witty, fast-delivery dialog -- all breaking off in unexpected directions, like the baseball pitch the genre is named after. This movie also features a couple of other devices often seen in other screw-ballers -- the hoity-toity dame stranded in the boonies, and the cops being called, usually by mistake, and coming in like gangbusters. Henry Hathaway, a director better known for his outdoor action pictures, brings it all together with style and good humor.

The Mae West phenomenon seems to be rather poorly understood by the modern generation. They just can't fathom how so much fuss could have been made over a plump, middle-aged dame with no class except for low class, and not even very pretty, except in an incredibly cheap way (which, unfortunately, appeals enormously to most of us guys). How could all those men throw themselves at her feet? Well, that's pretty funny. So is sex in general. And that was her whole point! She was a grotesque parody of the sex goddess. Mae wrote most of her own material including the screen play for Go West, Young Man. She satirized everyone, playboys, politicians, country bumpkins, and most of all herself! She does it better than ever in Go West, Young Man, but in this movie it is even funnier than most of her others, because the satire is more gentle. The rubes are made to seem ridiculously funny, yet also very human and likable. And Mae, herself, gets the sharpest barbs. If for no other reason, this movie is worth watching for the hilarious scene of the sullen, portly sex goddess sauntering toward the boarding house steps escorted by a throng of adoring hayseeds and their pigs! That, as with many of the other gags, gives me a chuckle again every time I think of it. Which is the true test of whether a comedy is funny!

Code or no code, Go West, Young Man is still a Mae West movie, but it manages to be good, (almost) clean fun. Top notch Old Hollywood entertainment.