*Spoilers*
November 1, 1925—the day Go West was released. Strictly speaking, probably a mid-range Buster Keaton feature (I mean, anything rankable has a mid-range by definition, right?), but it’s tons of fun. Brown Eyes is a topnotch leading lady, and there are some terrific bits here. These are my favorites!
Train Barrels
“Buster vs. object(s) vs. gravity” is a time-honored gag format, and this one is great! While riding the rails, Friendless gets on the wrong side of some stacks of barrels. I love how he flails like he’s drowning in a ball pit, we get some perfectly-timed wrestling with one barrel then another, and the coup de grâce comes at the end of the sequence: just after Friendless climbs inside one of the barrels for safekeeping, that’s when the door to the train car slides open and the barrels begin rolling out.
Milking the Cow
Probably my biggest laughs of the whole movie come from this scene, which is so simple but so hilarious. Tasked with milking a cow, Friendless sets the milk bucket beneath the cow, takes a seat in front of her…and waits. His alternating patience and confusion cracks me up every damn time. I adore the way he picks up the bucket and shows it to her, just in case she missed it, and it kills me that he gets up and sets the stool behind her in case she wants to sit down. Buster could do such amazing things with his stunts and his machines, but he could also mine absolute gold out of doing so little.
Branding Brown Eyes
Classic Buster Keaton problem-solving! By this point, Friendless has bonded with Brown Eyes the cow, and he’s troubled by the rough, violent sight of the cattle being branded. So when he’s told to do the same to her, he takes her aside and carefully shaves the branding symbol onto her flank. The whole scene is a delight, but the little touches make it sing even more, like when he uses some of her milk to mix up the shaving cream.
Los Angeles Cattle Rustling
It might be unfair to look at something so all encompassing, since Friendless trying to herd the cattle from downtown LA to the stockyards is the entire third act of the film. But I’d have a hard time picking out one or more individual bits from the sequence, so we’re putting it all together. Anything involving Friendless trying to rustle cattle out of a store is super fun, and I love the gag of all the people fleeing out of the Turkish bathhouse.
Red Devil Toreador
And of course, we have the clincher! Having already learned that waving red material attracts the cattle, Friendless rents a red devil costume, intending to lead the cattle calmly to the stockyards but accidentally kicking off a stampede. I just love it any time someone is following/tailing/chasing Buster and he moves from a loping walk to a fast walk to a nervous trot to a full-pelt run—he always does it magnificently, and it’s so silly that the someones chasing him this time are a herd of cattle!
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