I
really like this one, a fun slapstick western with some terrific gags. It has its definite imperfections, but
overall, it’s one of my favorites of the Fatty Arbuckle shorts.
Fatty,
a drifter, rides the rails into a rough ‘n’ tumble town in the Wild West. He gets a job at the local saloon, run by
Buster, and the booze-slinging makes it a bit awkward when he falls in love
with a temperance advocate (Alice Lake.)
However, ideological difference don’t matter much when outlaw Al St.
John moseys in. He runs off with Alice,
and it’s up to Fatty and Buster to save her.
Just
great fun. The plot is pretty slapdash,
particularly in the last act, but the comedy keeps the short moving along
well. Things get off to an excellent
start with a series of fine train gags.
(Now, I don’t want to go straight to the “I bet Buster made up this gag”
well every time I come across something especially funny in a Fatty Arbuckle
short, but come on – intricate circular gags on a train just scream
Buster. I would need pretty empirical
evidence before I could entertain the possibility that anyone else came up with
that sequence.) There’s also lots of
laughs involving a trap door, and a drunk horse whose performance has to be
seen to be believed. Seriously, not even
the fashionista horse from The Blacksmith
is as good as this one.
On the
not-so-good side, I’m perplexed at the film’s apparent understanding of
dangerous weapons. Whereas people are
merely threatened by guns and knives in The Rough House, multiple characters – Fatty included – get shot by both
bullets and arrows in this short, to little ill effect. I get the sense that the general rule is
thought to be, “If you’re shot in the butt, it doesn’t count.” I know these shorts are big on cartoon gags,
but that’s just silly. More unfortunate
are the unpleasant moments of racial humor.
There’s a short sequence where Fatty is being pursued by Native
Americans who evidently want to eat(!) him, and Alice Lake’s character is
introduced rescuing a Black man that the saloon folk are repeatedly shooting at
to amuse themselves. The setup itself is
of course horrible, and it’s an additional dose of unsettling to see him
falling at the feet of his White Savior, big glycerine tears of gratitude
streaming down his face. Not cool.
But
then there’s Buster. Pretty much the
fully-established Stone Face we know and love, running a Wild West saloon with
the panache that only Buster can pull off.
So many great gags around his character.
I like that he uses his liquor as a cure-all, he deploys that trap door
like nobody’s business, and he clings to a light fixture. It’s great to see him slightly concerned but
basically unruffled in the face of obvious danger. I don’t even know how this worked with the
deadpan, but nobody gave reaction
shots like Buster. He’s stoic, clever,
athletic, and makes no bones about confronting people much bigger than he is –
what more could you want?
Warnings
Slapstick
violence (including gunplay,) drinking, and some distasteful racial humor.
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