Go West Young Man

GO WEST YOUNG MAN is a good but yes, toned down comedy from Mae's pre-code days, but still fun to watch and not a waste of time at all.

Mae plays a movie star who stars in romantic drama and Warren William is her press agent who dreams up schemes to keep her from getting married, because her contract says that she cannot get married until 5 years. While they are on their way to Harrisburg Mae's custom-made car stuffed full of cold cream and shampoo breaks down. So, she is stuck in a rural colonial cottage boarding house with yummy Randolph Scott, twittering Alice Brady, and her biggest (and ditziest) fan Isabel Jewell.

While Mae West's acting and dialog was made tamer for the talkies, so was wonderful, handsome, cynical Warren William's, who was one of Warner Bros. top stars in the pre-code era. Warren William used to play ruthless bosses and all out cads, and while his role here is good and he gets to do some sleazy arguing and engineer some tricks on Mae West, GWYM was indeed a big step down for him. It was all because of that awful Satan MET A LADY (1934) which greatly hurt his career. Not to mention the awakening of the film censors by the Legion of Decency.

Elizabeth Patterson gives a great performance as the spunky Aunt Kate, and Isabel Jewell does a wonderful job as energetic, imaginative, movie-crazy Gladys. She does a funny imitation of Marlene Dietrich.

Oh yeah, and Randolph Scott was a total hunk with his "large and sinewy" muscles.

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.

GO WEST YOUNG MAN (Paramount, 1936) directed by Henry Hathaway, with full screenplay credit by Mae West, with Warren William and Randolph Scott as co-stars, returns the "come up and see me sometime" gal in her first full-fledge comedy since I'M NO ANGEL (1933). No villains, no accidental killings nor murder victims, no jealous ex- lovers out for revenge, just the good clean humorous fun but minus those suggestive one-liners for which West is famous. While the given title and the support by cowboy actor, Randolph Scott, might pass itself off as a western, GO WEST YOUNG MAN, is actually a contemporary comedy based on a recent Broadway play, PERSONAL APPEARANCE, that starred Gladys George. Being featured in a movie from a play originated by another is indication as to why West seems miscast in a role that might have been far better suited on screen by its originator. While West might physically act in the manner of Gladys George on some occasions, she does build up her character to suit the traditional Mae West style. Unlike her previous screen efforts giving her a some men to choose from, this time she copes with three (Warren William, Randolph Scott and Lyle Talbot), but only gets to ride off with just one, and only one.

Overlooking this somewhat misleading title for now (which could easily be confused with her 1935 fringe western, "Goin' to Town", the opening credits presenting its casting names and staff in italic lettering, and night club-style underscoring indicating a lavish scale musical, the story opens with crowds gathering in a movie theater attending the premiere of DRIFTING LADY, starring Mavis Arden (Mae West) of Superfine Pictures Inc. The initial ten minutes devotes itself to a movie within a movie, starting with Xavier Cugat and his orchestra conducting as Mavis sings "On a Typical Tropical Night," to follow with her romancing one man, betraying another, Rico (Jack LaRue), a married man whom she abandons for a third (G.P. Huntley Jr.). (This plot alone is much interesting than the actual story itself). As DRIFTING LADY comes to a climatic finish, Mavis Arden, in person, on a movie promotion, steps out on stage making her speech to her avid fans that the character on screen is not real Mavis. Before going on another tour, Mavis attempts on meeting privately with Francis X. Harrigan (Lyle Talbot), a congressman, at the Palace Roof. In order to keep her single and unavailable to men, Morgan (Warren William), her press agent, arranges for Mavis and Harrigan's evening together to be disrupted by reporters. Harrigan later arranges to meet with Mavis in Harrisburg where he intends on proposing to her. Thanks to Morgan, Mavis never makes it her destination. Her limousine breaks down, leaving the movie star, her French maid (Alice Ardell), and chauffeur (John Indrisano) stranded on the road in the middle of nowhere. Eventually ending up at The Haven, an old boarding house managed by Addie Struthers (Alice Brady), Mavis and staff become her temporary boarders. Demanding Morgan for arrangements to leave as soon as possible, Mavis changes her manner after taking notice on Bud Norton (Randolph Scott), a handsome young mechanic outside her window lifting a car on his shoulders, leaving Morgan with further schemes on breaking up that relationship entirely.

While the scenario to GO WEST YOUNG MAN has the makings of a hilarious mad-cap comedy, the finished product comes off a bit weak at times. On the whole, it's really not bad in spite the fact that it could have been better, and funnier. With an impressive cast of familiar faces, it's interesting to note that, for a Mae West comedy, it consists of more female co-stars (Brady, Elizabeth Patterson, Isabel Jewell, and Margaret Perry, the latter playing Scott's fiancée) than actors fighting for her affection. With Warren William playing a scheming press agent ("just a mouse studying to be a rat") his presence, along with Lyle Talbot and Jack LaRue, give GO WEST YOUNG MAN more of a Warner Brothers appeal, considering how these actors were under contract for that studio. Character types Maynard Holmes and Nicodemis Stewart fill in the cast, along with Etienne Girardot as the complaining boarder not wanting his eggs cooked sunny side up because, "They're looking at me!"

Regardless of some brighter moments, instrumental underscoring and faster pacing might have helped this 81 minute comedy along. Other songs were reportedly written for this production, particularly "Go West Young Man," which was underscored during the opening credits, but West gets to sing one other tune, "I Was Saying to the Moon," while with Randolph Scott. Although the production code has cleaned up Mae West's screen character, her Mavis still has her eye for the opposite sex, in this case, Bud (Randolph Scott. With this being Scott's only performance opposite West, his presence offers something to the plot but no great demands. They do share one sort-of love scene together while West lies in a pile of hay in a barn telling the young man how all this reminds her about her first movie, "The Farmer's Daughter."

GO WEST YOUNG MAN, along with other Mae West Paramount titles of the 1930s, were distributed to video cassette from MCA/ Universal in 1992-93 to commemorate the centennial of her birth. Sadly these Mae West videos have been discontinued, and the movie itself was last shown on a cable channel of Chicago's very own WGN around 1987, and hasn't been seen anywhere since. In spite that GO WEST YOUNG MAN has been labeled as one of Mae West's more quieter comedies, with a fine supporting cast such as this, it should still be enjoyable viewing. And what does the title have to do with the story? We'll never know. (***)

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.

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.