Cheap Go West, Young Man (Video) (Henry Hathaway) Price

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Customer Reviews of Go West, Young Man

Goodness Has a Lot to Do With It
This enjoyable comedy has always been one of my favorite Mae West pictures although it does not enjoy the fame or reputation of I'M NO ANGEL or SHE DONE HIM WRONG or even MY LITTLE CHICKADEE. The movie was based on a naughty hit play called PERSONAL APPEARANCE that starred Gladys George as a blonde movie queen with multiple men who finds herself stranded among her fans in the middle of the country. Sounds like a terrific springboard for a Mae West picture but the movie was made after the censor boards clamped down and cut nearly all of the racy dialogue which may well have been Mae Westisms in the first place!! Yet the movie has a lot to offer fans of classic movies, especially for it's glimpse into how movie-mad the American public was in the 1930's. Mae is delightful and her seduction of Randolph Scott is one of her more potent cinema encounters. The film also gives lie to the legend of West being so jealous of other women she never let other actresses shine in her films - the picture is loaded with excellent character actresses who have many scenes with Ms. West and Elizabeth Patterson even has some wonderful lines in scenes with La Mae and a delicious barb at Mae's expense: "In my day, women with hair that color didn't go out in the daytime!" Mae West even shares many scenes with another blonde - delightfully dingy little Isabel Jewell who at one point even does an impression of Mae's Paramount rival Marlene Dietrich in a scene with Mae talking about how much she loves movies! Mae even is unafraid to appear unsympathetic, at times acting quite bossy and self-centered as a spoiled movie diva. This is a really enjoyable if unusually conventional 1930's comedy film for a Mae West picture which is all the more reason it may find a greater audience than many Mae West romps.

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WINNER, Most Enigmatic Title
That's because this movie has absolutely nothing to do with the west--it's set in PA. Except that there's some talk that big movie actress Mae West will take local rube grease monkey Randolph Scott back to Hollywood with her. Or--duh--maybe it's a play on her last name? Down to basics: Mae is this big movie star whose contract stipulates that she cannot marry for the next five yearrs. Her public relations man Warren William is there to make the contract stick, and so promptly dispatches any guy he thinks Mae will look twice at. Car trouble lands the two in a Pennsylvanian hick town filled with her hayseed fans, further complications when Mae takes a shine to local yokel Randy Scott. That's about it. Takes too long to get to the much better and rather satisfying wrap-up. Be that as it mae, Ms. West is always fun to watch with all her purring and undulations. Warren William is the comic relief this time round (oh, he's so much better as a scoundrel, as in "Skyscraper Souls" or "Employees' Entrance"--what a waste of talent); here he shows a little of that whatever it was that was so disturbing in great quantity in the gadawful "Satan Met a Lady". "Go West, Young Man" was okay for one viewing, but I don't advise a revisitation.

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Tamed
After the failure of "Klondike Annie," Mae West tried something different: an adaptation of someone else's material. "Personal Appearance" was a stage play about a big star stuck in a small town, and in the early scenes of the film, she is fairly funny as she plays the star as vain, ignorant, and self-obsessed. This brief bit of satire is promising, but the film soon becomes the usual West vehicle, with various slickers and studs after the irresistable heroine. This is the rare West film with a strong supporting cast, and it passes fairly pleasantly, but the censors were at their strongest -- and Mae without double entendres isn't really Mae.