Out West (1918) User Reviews (14)

Buster and Roscoe play rough

[wmorrow59 · 5/10 · 15 August 2005]

Once they started working together Buster Keaton and Roscoe Arbuckle made their first half-dozen short comedies in New York, from spring through autumn of 1917. Late that year Arbuckle relocated his "Comique" production company to Southern California, and the gang celebrated the move with an elaborate two-reel comedy called Out West, a satire on the hard-bitten variety of Westerns cranked out by William S. Hart and Broncho Billy Anderson in the early days of motion pictures. The result is a distinctly harsh comedy that doesn't hold up as well as most of the other Arbuckle-Keaton Comique collaborations. This is the sort of movie in which our hero spikes a horse's water supply with liquor just for laughs, someone gets shot in the butt in almost every scene, lots of Injuns and Mexicans get killed, and a dozen bottles are smashed over the villain's head without effect, at which point a six-shooter is emptied into him, also without effect.

The comedy in Out West is so violent some of it actually works as parody -- which, after all, is how it was intended. When a cheating gambler is fatally shot, grim-faced saloon proprietor Buster coolly disposes of his body through a convenient trap-door, and this still works as a jab at actual Westerns where violent death is treated as routinely as the ringing of the phone. Next, when the bartender is shot down and Buster instantly puts up a sign reading "Bartender Wanted," it's darkly funny although the joke is starting to wear a bit thin. But the joke is ruined when a gang of sadistic cowboys torment a black man by shooting at his feet to make him dance, and Buster & Roscoe join right in. They only stop when stern Salvation Army lass Alice Lake enters and puts a halt to the rough-housing, saying "Aren't you ashamed?" They are, and they put away their guns, but the mood has soured. (I first saw this comedy at a public screening during a Keaton festival some years ago, and although it had been going over fairly well up to that point this sequence totally killed the laughter for the duration of the running time.)

Even allowing that Out West is a parody, a lot of the material -- and not just the racial humor -- is in surprisingly poor taste for these guys, although fortunately it's a lapse that was not repeated in their subsequent careers. There are some good gags here, even some clever ones, but they're practically lost in the shuffle, weakened in impact by the prevailing callous tone.

Out West is currently available on video and DVD in two releases, from Kino and from Image Entertainment, and it's worth noting that the two versions differ significantly. The Kino print is badly tattered and missing several bits that survive in the Image release, which looks better in general. Also, the two prints have been edited differently, and several dialog titles and a couple of character names differ in the respective versions; this isn't unusual with films from the silent era, which were frequently altered for foreign releases or even to suit local taste in various locales within the U.S. The Image version features jaunty period music well selected for individual sequences, while the Kino release features music by a group called the Alloy Orchestra that I find mostly jarring and inappropriate, to put it politely. Over all I'd say that anyone interested in seeing this film should seek out the Image Entertainment version, but be forewarned that Out West does not show off either Buster Keaton or Roscoe Arbuckle to best advantage.

a bizarre comedy short

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 11 May 2006]

This is a pretty weird parody of Westerns by Fatty Arbuckle and Buster Keaton. Unlike some of their other films together, Keaton actually plays a larger supporting role.

The film is full of bizarre and violent jokes that kind of work but are a bit atypical of what you'd expect from these usually sweet comedians. At one point, a guy is obviously cheating at poker and bystander Keaton shoots the guy about 5 times and then opens a trap door and kicks the body inside and slams down the lid! THAT was certainly unexpected! Later, Fatty displays gunsmanship that would make anyone proud--if we'd have had him in WWII, the war might have only lasted a week! All in all, a strange but funny departure and worth seeing just for its weirdness.

An Important Step for Keaton & Arbuckle, if Not Their Greatest Comedy

[drqshadow-reviews · 6/10 · 8 August 2020]

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.

Much of the Material Works Well

[Snow Leopard · 13 August 2001]

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.

Out West was another funny Arbuckle/Keaton comedy short that was marred a bit by a racist gag

[tavm · 7/10 · 20 July 2009]

This short silent comedy starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle with Buster Keaton and Al St. John in support is a mixed bag as a spoof of westerns. In begins on a train where Arbuckle ingeniously steals some food from three men one of whom was Buster's father, Joseph. After being thrown off and getting chased by Indians (or in today's parlance, Native Americans), Roscoe stumbles into the town saloon where he foils robber St. John's holdup and takes his guns. This is when he and Buster meet and become teaming acquaintances. There are many very funny gags up to this point to where they tickle St. John victoriously but then there's a racist gag involving one Ernie Morrison Sr. (the father of original "Our Gang"s Ernie "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison who would also occasionally appear in Harold Lloyd shorts) that threatens to put things to a halt. Fortunately, there's still some decent laughs after that. Oh, and there's a woman involved as well. So on that note, I'd recommend Out West. P.S. The version I watched was on the Image Entertainment "The Best Arbuckle-Keaton Collection" DVD.

Out West review

[JoeytheBrit · 7/10 · 20 April 2020]

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.

Watch this for the cigarette roll!

[silent-12 · 10/10 · 2 December 1999]

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!

Weak Western Parody

[thinbeach · 4/10 · 24 September 2016]

It's somewhat surprising that Arbuckle and Keaton didn't make more parodies - their style of humour is well suited to it - although we only see snippets of that potential in this two reeler. Fatty, booted off a train, ends up in a small desert town amidst high cliffs. Various bad guys attempt to take the town saloon by gunfight, but Fatty and sidekick Buster are the unlikely heroes turning them away. The early train sequence, including Fatty being chased atop the moving train, is a highlight, and worth watching for those 4 minutes alone, but after that it is forgettable. While somewhat humorous to see a tough villain thwarted by tickling, and a gunfight where no one is harmed by bullet wounds, it is mostly pretty weak.

Roscoe Arbuckle and Buster Keaton deal with Al St. John, as Wild Bill Hiccup.

[weezeralfalfa · 8/10 · 23 August 2018]

I'm glad that pratfalls are deemphasized in this Arbuckle/Keaton comedy short from 1918. Hey, this is its 100 year birthday year! Instead of the too frequent pratfalls in some of their films, more emphasis is placed on imaginative gags, and largely ineffective pistol shooting, which seldom kills, and never maims, it's victims. In part, this is supposed to be a parody of William S.. Hart straight westerns. Roscoe begins as an apparent stowaway on a train heading for the Wild West, finding refuge in the water tank for the locomotive, of all places. He is nearly drowned when water is added to the tank. Eventually , he emerges and sees 3 men about to eat, sitting at a table in the caboose, reading the paper. While they are so distracted, he rigs up a string with a hook, and lowers it to their table, where various food items are lifted up to him, and including a tea pot. The men catch on, and shoot him in the rear end, which covers the hole. A chase ensues, and eventually, Roscoe is forced to leave the train, wandering over a seemingly waterless desert. Eventually, he finds a waterhole, and while leaning over to drink, is shot several times in the butt with arrows by several Indians. Poor Butt! But he easily extracts them and runs toward a small settlement where there is the Last Chance Saloon, run by dapper Bill Bullhorn(Buster Keaton, complete with tails and tall hat). .....When Roscoe enters, the saloon has been overtaken by Wild Bill's gang. But, Roscoe goes right to work, stealing 2 pistols, and shooting up the place, as the outlaws were doing. The only casualty is the bartender, who is rolled into a space under a trapdoor. Thus, Roscoe is elected to take his place. When Wild Bill turns his back on the bar counter, Roscoe begins beaning him with full liquor battles, to no avail. He then unloads a 6 shooter into Bill's back, again without effect. Finally, it's discovered that Bill is exquisitely sensitive to tickling, and this is how they subdue him.....An African American(AA) shows up and is made to 'dance' by shooting at his feet. Evidently, it was felt that seeing an AA thus tormented would be funnier to many than seeing a Caucasian so tormented. Of course, such a sentiment is no longer acceptable.......The remainder of the film is mostly devoted to trying to retrieve Alice, who has been kidnapped by Wild Bill. There is an initial gun fight between the Sheriff's posse and the townsmen, that I don't understand. Finally, Roscoe and Keaton get through to chase Bill, with Alice. I'll let you see how she is rescued. Available at YouTube and in several DVD sets.

One of the best Arbuckle shorts with Keaton

[motta80-2 · 9/10 · 29 October 2008]

Out West marks a distinct departure for Arbuckle as a director in that compared to what had come before it had a much stronger, more thought out and developed style and story. It has more genuinely clever and funny ideas than the preceding shorts with Al St John and Buster Keaton put together - the high concept of the western theme clearly releasing the creative genius that Fatty could display.

Keaton and St John also have stronger parts than their usual nameless knockabout side characters that had come before. Visually the sepia rounded-corner 19th century photograph look of it is a stylish stylistic directorial choice from Arbuckle, showing the talent he could display (and would again) rather than simply allowing the action to be the film. You feel the story here from the outset. Excellent.

Arbuckle's First Comique Film In The West

[springfieldrental · 8/10 · 14 August 2021]

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."

Great comedy, but beware the racism

[gbill-74877 · 8/10 · 29 March 2023]

Like the title says, Roscoe Arbuckle and Buster Keaton are out west for this one, and the gun-slinging frontier provides ample fodder for comedy. The 21 minute two-reeler is well-paced and I enjoyed all of it, with the exception of some unfortunate bits of racism, so be forewarned going in. Perhaps that's fair advice to many a film from this era, as you never know when you're going to see a jarring reminder of attitudes during the nadir of race relations. The story itself relies on a lot of Western cliches but the gags were inventive, and it was interesting to learn that the scenario was the idea of Natalie Talmadge, Buster's first wife.

It certainly starts strong with the hijinx on the train, with Arbuckle in hobo mode in the water tender car, then atop it fishing for his meals from the breakfast table of unsuspecting people below. He shows grace and some of the daring common to the period, strolling on top of it while it's moving, getting kicked off (literally, including once in the face), doing a one-handed cigarette roll and calmly lighting a match on a car whizzing by, then reaching out casually to re-board the caboose.

Meanwhile, Buster plays saloon owner Bill Bullhorn, whose "firewater cures all known ills." He pours a shot and then holds the glass up to each eye before taking a swing from the bottle, then returns the original shot back in the bottle. It's pretty cool to see him standing at the bar in a top hat, looking ornery and pulling out a pistol when he sees a guy cheating at poker. Naturally, he pours a little hooch on his weapon too. After shooting the guy in the back, he examines the cards and observes to the other player that he "would've lost anyway" before opening a cellar door in the floor and rolling the corpse into it. It's dark but funny, and I love seeing this other side to his screen persona.

So far so good, right? Well, the first sign of trouble is in a trio of Native Americans coming across Arbuckle bending over at a watering hole in a desert. Remarking that they should kill him so that they will have "plenty food for winter," they send a volley of arrows into his backside. The reference to cannibalism is of course meant as a joke, but plays on the stereotype of Natives being savages, and is regrettable.

Enter Al St. John, in the role of Wild Bill Hiccup (lol), leading a group of bandits to hold up the saloon. "Hands up," he says, and even the clock face goes from 5:35 to 1:55. There are many nice little bits in this scene, including a patron taking advantage of Buster's drink in his outstretched hand to gulp it down, Buster reacting to the bartender getting shot by promptly turning over a sign saying "Bartender Wanted," and Arbuckle bursting in and shooting wildly in every direction. When Buster hires Arbuckle for the job, it's amusing how he doesn't want to relinquish the sign, since job turnover and rolling people in the cellar is clearly a common occurrence.

Unfortunately, that's when the next bit of racism comes in. A scared black man, hands waving, is made to "dance" as a white guy shoots rounds at the floor in front of him. He opens the trapdoor in the attempt to flee, but is frightened of the corpse in there, and is then surrounded by white people firing at him, only to be saved by a salvation army worker (Alice Lake). The stereotype of a black man's timidity and the cruelty of white people played as comedy are both sickening, and very unfortunate to see.

If you can get past that, there are many other bits which work, like St. John pushing Buster's cigar all the way into his mouth during a confrontation, Arbuckle breaking no less than 19 bottles over St. John's head, drenching Alice Lake in the process, and when not even bullets work, turning to the bandit's "Achilles heel," tickling him mercilessly with Buster. There's a drunk horse prancing out of the saloon, a house being rolled off a cliff, and some pretty nice cinematography in the long shots of the three men running atop a train, the shot from above looking down on the town, and Arbuckle running on top of the bluff. Great stuff, if we could only erase the racism.

Keaton and Arbuckle

[Michael_Elliott · 10 March 2008]

Out West (1918)

*** (out of 4)

Spoof of the western genre has Fatty Arbuckle landing in a small town being over run by thugs. Buster Keaton plays the timid sheriff. There are minor laughs throughout the film but it really works due to its wonderful charm and the fact that the spoofs work for westerns even made within the past few decades. There's some off colored racial humor, which might insult some.

Oh Doctor (1917)

** 1/2 (out of 4)

Dr. Fatty gets in trouble when a woman he flirts with turns out to be a thief with his wife's jewelry on her mind. The best aspect is Buster Keaton playing Fatty's son and being constantly abused by daddy.

His Wedding Night (1917)

** (out of 4)

Fatty once again has to fight for the woman he wants to marry. Going through these films in order I've noticed that each one basically has the same storyline and always has a food fight. This is getting a tad bit boring but Buster Keaton has a small role and brings some laughs.