Out West

In the Old West, drifter Fatty teams up with saloon owner Buster Keaton to rid the town of Wild Bill Hiccup (Al St. John). Enjoyable romp filled with inventive gags which sees both Arbuckle and Keaton on top form as they lampoon what were already Western cliches.

Leaving NYC behind for the first time in their partnership, Arbuckle and Keaton turn a satirical eye to the wild west. Out here, amongst the dusty plains and ramshackle abodes, Fatty plays a penniless, train-hopping drifter who's chased into Buster's rowdy cowboy saloon. Taking a job as the barkeep (after a timely disposal of the bullet-riddled previous employee), Arbuckle quickly acclimates to the environment and encourages further chaos in an already out-of-control situation. Keaton doesn't seem to mind, so long as the bodies don't stack so high as to impede his liquor sales.

The change in scenery serves this duo well, inspiring a rush of fresh ideas and cinematic creativity. They're experimenting again, with a greater tendency to explore new locations. Where, in the past, they'd typically pick a room and sit in it, Out West sees them stealing lunch aboard a moving locomotive, exchanging fire with dim-witted outlaws on the street, raiding a kidnapper's home in search of a fair damsel and pouring alcohol into an over-served horse at the bar. Clearly, the horizon is expanding for this pair; they're testing their limits, beginning to appreciate the nuances and advantages of working on-screen, rather than on-stage. Maybe not their best collaboration so far, but it constantly hints at greater things to come.

The year 1918 became a very lucrative year for director/writer/actor comedian Roscoe Arbuckle. Receiving the rare opportunity to operate his own production studio under a major motion picture company's umbrella, Arbuckle, by his proven popularity, was able to renegotiate his contract with Paramount Pictures to one of the highest financial pacts in Hollywood at the time. He signed for three million dollars to make 18 two-reelers within three years, putting his salary in the stratosphere with the likes of Charlie Chaplin and Mary Pickford.

In late 1917, he transferred his Comique production team from New York City to California for better weather and a more diverse typography. He utilized the new environment to great use in his first film on the West Coast in January 1918's "Out West." Arbuckle constructed an entire Old Western town to serve as a backdrop to his and his surrounding cast's antics. He plays the town saloon's bartender while Buster Keaton is its sheriff and Al St. John serves as the bad guy, Wild Bill Hiccup.

"Out West's" story was composed by Keaton's future wife, Natalie Talmadge, who used every Western movie cliche to poke fun at the genre. From a train chase to a gang of mischievous baddies disturbing the town, "Out West" contains every element that made Westerns so popular for movie goers.

Criticism has been heaped on "Out West" for one particular insensitive scene where the only purpose is to introduce heroine Alice Lake, a Salvation Army worker, who stands up to the saloon's bullies against a defenseless African American. Otherwise, comedies on the Old West don't get any funnier than this movie and is on par with Mel Brooks "Blazing Saddles."

The best part of the whole short--Roscoe's routine: the famous one-handed cigarette roll, striking the match on the train, then leaping into the caboose as the train speeds by--in less time than it takes to read this. Worth the price of admission alone!

Much of the material in "Out West" works well, at least as long as you understand its intent. It combines some of the usual Arbuckle/Keaton slapstick with a satirical look at some of the conventions of the Western genre of its time, and it has a decent variety of scenes and settings.

The story starts off with some amusing antics by Arbuckle on a train, and then goes on from there as he meets up with the other characters. Keaton gets some good moments, and Arbuckle regular Al St. John has a funny role as a villainous gun-slinger.

They take some chances with some of the material, and it's easy to see how today's audiences could misinterpret it. There are a couple of morbid gags that work pretty well, but there are a couple of other things are just not at all funny now, even given that they were parodying the Westerns of the time.

Overall, it has some good moments that most fans of Arbuckle and Keaton would enjoy, but there are other parts of it that even their fans will probably find somewhat uncomfortable.