Go West

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Buy This Item Go West by Image Entertainment  Available from Amazon  $21.99  on 8-6-2008     A fascinating alternative to the manic stunt work and elaborate sight gags that distinguish the films of Buster Keaton. "Go West" (1925, 69 min.) offers a rare and satisfying glimpse of his talent for more expressive comedy: charming moments of intimate humor flavored with rich pathos. Setting traditional ideas of romance and masculinity on their ears, "Go West" is uniquely graceful and characteristically hilarious especially in the film's dynamic finale as hundreds of cows are unleashed upon downtown Los Angeles. Included on this DVD is one of Keaton's most mind-boggling mechanical comedies, "The Scarecrow" (1920, 19 min.), which follows two roommates vying for the affection of a young lady. Also added is "The Paleface" (1921, 20 min.), in which Buster helps a Native American tribe defend their land from greedy developers. Reader Reviews In his memories Luis Buñuel mentions Keaton's films as the surrealist group's favourite comedies: " Go west" is not an exception, and what's more, it inspired a little play to Lorca and a delicious surreal poem to Rafael Alberti. A young man whose precarious economic situation forces him to move permanently decides to go West to make fortune after a brief and discourageous stop in the overpopulated New York. He accidentaly arrives to a ranch in the middle of the desert and try to make a living as cowboy. With a cow named "Brown eyes" as his best friend he'll try everything to avoid that his "lady" be carried to the slaughterhouse. " Go West " is at time the most subversive and lyrical of all Keaton films. In it Keaton satirizes western movies' platitudes and dynamites many topicals of romantic melodrama through the unusual "romance" between the protagonist and his peculiar female partner ( a cow ) and the use of discontextualization techniques. He introduces too one of the most sarcastic and fine satires against the law and order forces and the practice of all kind of authority ( and now we can understand why the group leaded by André Breton adored this movie ): the climactic slapstick scene in which Keaton try to take the cattle through the streets of Los Angeles provoking the panic of the citizens and the hilarious chase with the cops running away of the cattle unable to stop the angry herd and stopped by the water of the firemen ( for Keaton is obvious that the truly menace are the cops ) figure for me as one the most memorable and subversive moments in film history. But under this comic scenes we find a a dark and disaffected satire about human condition: in many ways " Go west " reminds me Werner Herzog's " Stroszek ". As Bruno Stroszek, the character who plays Buster is an uprooted: he moves from a quiet provician town to the convulsed and dishumanized New York to finally try to get his place in a ranch in the middle of the desert where the hard work and climate do people also tough: so, surrounded by this " fauna ", our sensible hero 'll find in a cow his closest allied . For other part, the abstract landscape of the desert and the habitual use of long shots emphasizes the solitude of the character, an exiled in the " promised land " . In short, surreal poetry and subversive humour in this untemporary and beautiful movie. Kino DVD edition of this film also contains two splendid Keaton shorts: " The paleface " (1920), probably the first pro-indian "western" in film history and " The scarecrow " (1920), one of the best Keaton's two-reels comedies with an hilarious chase with Buster disguised as a scarecrow and an unforgettable comic scene in which take part ingenious gadgets the protagonist couple has invented to do most bearable the housework.

Go West Available from Amazon Price: $21.99 Updated on 8-6-2008.

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