Go West Young Man

Moviecut—Go West Young Man

source: Go West Young Man

A subdued Mae West plays against type to good effect as a spoiled actress dallying with hunky amateur engineer Randolph Scott when she's briefly stranded in his backwoods town. Warren Williams also scores as the long-suffering studio man tasked with ensuring she sticks to the term in her contract that states she mustn't wed for five years.

In a plot reminiscent of 1933's Bombshell, Mae plays an ill-tempered conceited Hollywood diva hounded by scandal thanks to her sneaky press agent. West and Warren Williams are severely miscast and the show looks like it's going to be a major stink bomb until a fine ensemble of character actors steal the movie (and all the laughs) away from the principals. Isabel Jewell and Elizabeth Patterson are a delight as always and it is the inimitable Nicodemus Stewart whose well-crafted antics and delivery provide the only inspired humor to be found here. The staff of the rural boarding house have real chemistry and their scenes have that breezy spontaneity viewers found so comforting in the 30s. Although the dialogue is credited to West, she doesn't sprinkle much wit about her. Her character is sullen and irritable with no redeeming qualities. Even her gowns seem a little frumpy (that time of the month, Mae?). Warren Williams actually looks ill. His hair is a fright. He gives this comedy a manly effort and almost succeeds, but just can't muster the wise-guy mischievousness of a Lee Tracy. Neither he nor West are helped by the editing of their scenes which often look like several bad takes cobbled together.

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.

Just like Jean Harlow did prior to the code in throwing a bit of Mae into her persona, Mae West returned the honors and did the same thing once the code bit her routine in the censorship bustle. A bit thinner and less wide in the hips, Ms. West resembles Harlow a bit, both through their alto voices, obvious attraction to the opposite sex, if not the obsession with it. West tones down to "Ooh's" and "Aah's" a bit and the drag queen like buck teeth are gone as well here. She's Marvis Arden, supposedly the biggest star in pictures, who escapes to the country for some rest, and finds romance with a mechanic (Randolph Scott) much to the chagrin of her press agent (Warren William). The country folk have mixed feelings of a "glamorous" movie star in the midst, some of them equally as eccentric as show folk. The plot thickens when a misunderstanding has West believed to have been kidnapped with subtle humorous results. Post-code wasn't kind to Mae West, her personality too big to be reciting dialog with the blood cut out of it. She has good moments, and Randolph Scott is appropriately cast as the man she desires. Such great character actors as Elizabeth Patterson, Etienne Girardot and Alice Brady have some very funny moments (Patterson in particular when she apes Ms. West). Nicodemus Stewart, the black actor playing the farm handyman, adds a rare effeminate quality to his character, one rarely seen after the code, and especially one (if ever) seen in a black characterization. This is made all the more noticeable since his physical appearance appears to be masculine, while his demeanor is unmistakeably feminine. While this doesn't come close to being Ms. West's signature film, it is still solid entertainment, and a rare opportunity to see a film version of a now forgotten play ("Personal Appearance") which was a major hit on Broadway several years before. Strange as it seems, that play when it came out seemed a perfect vehicle for the pre-code Mae, but from what I've researched on the play, the sexual innuendos in the original script were definitely removed. Two strong leading men, amusing character performers and some very amusing lines, however, make this a film worth viewing for more than just Mae's many fans.

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.

This being a diluted Mae West vehicle (following the introduction of the Production Code in 1934, she was forced to tone down her trademark racy material), it cannot help but be much less sparkling than her earlier vehicles but, even so, it is not a bad film in itself. However, I must say that Henry Hathaway (renowned, then as now, more for his prowess at action sequences than for his comedy timing) is an odd choice for director, especially since he had just made the one-of-a-kind romantic fantasy PETER IBBETSON the previous year! The thing starts promisingly enough with an ingenious opening sequence in which the events of a film being shown in a movie-house are intercut with the audience swooning over its leading lady (guess who?); the typically witty repartee (as usual, the work of Mae West herself) ensues when, through the efforts of her scheming manager Warren William, the movie star is stranded in the country and has to rest at a household full of simple film-struck folk. Predictably, West falls for the only handsome man around - a small-time inventor played by a rather stolid Randolph Scott – who has himself sets his sights on revolutionizing talking pictures…and West is only too willing to place her Hollywood connections – and more – at his service! Among the other inhabitants of the household are Isabel Jewell – imitating Marlene Dietrich in THE BLUE ANGEL (1930) and, as a riposte to which, West utters some unflattering remark about the German siren; in fact, unusually for a West film, the other females in the cast (which includes Alice Brady and Elizabeth Patterson) are given rather meaty roles. Among the other guests is bad-tempered professor Etienne Girardot (who was so memorable in Howard Hawks’ TWENTIETH CENTURY [1934]), whom West also manages to win over with false promises of a Hollywood career; the cringe-inducing negro stereotype Nicodemus as would-be comic relief is regrettable, however.

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.

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.