An Eastern Westerner (1920) User Reviews (20)

One of Harold's best short comedies

[wmorrow59 · 8/10 · 6 October 2004]

Anyone who wants to know why Harold Lloyd was so popular during the 1920s should take a look at this film: it's one of the most satisfying short comedies he ever made. An Eastern Westerner is consistently clever and amusing, well-paced and packed with gags from the opening scene to the final fade-out. What's more, Harold himself is charming, displaying just the right blend of self-assurance, exuberance and humility. I must confess I find Harold a little hard to take in some of his early comedies -- sometimes he's so aggressive he borders on obnoxiousness -- but here he's an appealing figure throughout, ever more sympathetic as the story rolls along.

An Eastern Westerner offers exactly what the title promises, a displaced dude forced to deal with life in the wild & woolly West. There's a girl (of course) and a bully (ditto), and it all culminates in a chase. Harold follows in the footsteps of Douglas Fairbanks, who played a boyish character in a similar situation in a 1917 feature appropriately titled Wild and Woolly. But although Harold is a fish out of water in this instance he's no bonehead, and it's refreshing to see that, like Doug before him, he quickly adapts to the difficulties he faces, uses his brains, and manages to come out on top. At the same time, he has a sense of humor and isn't arrogant. When his attempts to impress leading lady Mildred Davis backfire and she laughs at him, Harold is big enough to join in and laugh at himself, and we like him for it. This likability wasn't always present in Lloyd's earlier films, where gags were all-important and his behavior was sometimes callous. In An Eastern Westerner Harold has graduated from clown to hero.

Beyond its value as a laugh-provoker this movie should also be of interest to fans of early Westerns, for the filmmakers evidently took care with production details to a degree that is surprising in a two-reel comedy. This really looks like a Western! The town of Piute Pass (where, we're told, "it's considered bad form to shoot the same man twice in the same day") is as dusty and rough-looking as the town of Hell's Hinges, and the bully of Piute Pass could appear in a William S. Hart epic without having to change costume. Sequences in the saloon involving fighting, card-playing and dancing could be excerpted and passed off as clips from serious Westerns of the era. While these production details are gratifying, this engaging comedy is already well worth seeing as a fine example of what made Harold Lloyd a top star.

very good Lloyd short

[planktonrules · 7/10 · 26 April 2006]

Harold plays a spoiled rich young man who would rather party than act proper. Fed up with his lazy ways, Harold's parents send him west--hoping to make a real man out of him.

While this is far from a great short picture, it is a very good one featuring Harold Lloyd. The only short-comings are the slightly slow pace at the beginning--though the film certainly picks up speed towards the end. This is when Harold has a show down with the town bully--as well as his KKK-like gang! All this starts because he meets a woman in distress in the cow town--her father is being held prisoner by this bully until she agrees to marry this jerk. Lloyd, being a silent comedy star, is obligated to help with pretty predictable results. However, the stunt-work is excellent and the pace is fast and furious. Overall, it's a middle of the road Lloyd (and that still makes it excellent) comedy that is sure to please.

Harold is at it again-East Meets West for Laughs

[DKosty123 · 8/10 · 24 January 2006]

I found all the sequences in this film to be very funny. It is one of the earlier examples of the chase sequences Harold was developing that would really come into an art form last in GIRL SHY & SPEEDY. It is fine fun, & has some examples of gags LLoyd did not use in later films that are pretty funny. Nice thing is the pacing, which is not quite as frantic as earlier BUMPING INTO Broadway even though the films are about the same length. In a way, this reminds me some of BILLY BLAZES, ESQ. in the western sequences, but the ones in this film show an improvement over the Tom Mix parody of 1919. Some of the sequences in this are laugh out loud funny. If you get a chance to, enjoy this one.

Fun Out West With Harold Lloyd

[CitizenCaine · 6/10 · 9 March 2009]

Harold is a pampered dandy who is sent out west by his parents who feel he's not maturing as a young man. Slow-moving at first, the film picks up quickly when the action moves out west. Out west, he meets Mildred Davis (Harold Lloyd's future wife in real life) whose father is being held by the local toughs. Eventually Harold saves the day and gets the girl and in so doing, he unleashes a plethora of sight gags that are unique, inventive, and absolutely hilarious at times. Lloyd makes use of his smarts in character, as typified in the card playing scene, as well as his athletic prowess which rivaled both that of Chaplin and Keaton. The chase and evasion scenes with the gang on horseback has to be seen to be believed. Harold pulls out all the stops to avoid capture. It's a delightful entertainment, but it's certainly not one of Lloyd's very best. **1/2 of 4 stars.

Unrefined, But Pretty Amusing

[Snow Leopard · 29 October 2001]

For all that it's unrefined much of the time, this short Harold Lloyd comedy is funny and entertaining. After a slightly slow start, it has some very good material and some entertaining scenes. It also gives Lloyd a chance to perform the kinds of material that played to his strengths and that pleased his audiences.

The first part shows Lloyd as a lackadaisical young man whose family sends him out west to live with his uncle. The early sequences are a bit routine, but they have some good gags in them. Things really get moving once Lloyd arrives in the west, has to adjust to western ways, and then has to contend with the town bully (Noah Young, in a role well suited to him).

The story contains some good gags, and it builds up to a manic chase scene that has some very good moments. It's not as polished as Lloyd's later features, but it's pretty amusing.

simple physical comedy

[SnoopyStyle · 7/10 · 10 August 2018]

Harold Lloyd plays an aimless New York playboy. He's supposed to be studying at the YMCA but instead, he's dancing at the nightclubs. In frustration, his father sends him to his uncle's ranch in the wild, wild west. In the town of Piute Pass, he is taken with a local gal. Her father is being held prisoner by local thug "Tiger Lip" Tompkins. Tompkins owns half the town and leads the Masked Angels.

This early Hal Roach short has his best act Lloyd doing his every man. It's not quite a nice innocent guy but he's plenty likeable. The plot is simple. It's a weak easterner trying to make it in the tough old west. There are some simple action stunt sequences. It has good slapstick fun. It is a short which limits any complexity. This is a simple physical comedy.

An Eastern Westerner (Hal Roach, 1920) ***

[Bunuel1976 · 7/10 · 18 December 2006]

As can be deduced from its title, this short puts Harold Lloyd into a favorite environment with star comedians; still its opening moments largely take place inside a club, where rich-kid Lloyd falls foul of the proprietor because of his over-energetic dancing!

Sent out West by his disapproving family, he meets and falls for poor girl Mildred Davis - who is coveted by the tyrannical town boss, for whom she's forced to work; the latter is a truly hissable villain, a bully whom even the townsfolk would like to get rid of (as evidenced by the number of attempts made on his life throughout) but who literally holds the town in the palm of his hand (demonstrated in a wonderful optical effect) with the aid of a KKK-type gang!

Lloyd, of course, summons enough courage to protect the girl and with a good deal of ingenuity is able to teach the villain a lesson, and finally to flee the town with his new-found lover in tow. Ultimately, though certainly funny and enjoyable, this isn't up to the level of an equivalent Keaton short or the films Chaplin made for the Mutual company.

Lloyd defeats an army of hooded vigilantes to win his girl

[weezeralfalfa · 7/10 · 5 October 2018]

Every film comedian worth his or her salt has done a film sited in the Wild West. This is Harold Lloyd's version, in a silent comedy short. Like Mickey Rooney, in the talkie "Girl Crazy", Lloyd's parents decide to send him out where a man is a man, to get him away from the NYC night life. He's supposed to be headquartered at his uncle's ranch, but we never see either his uncle nor his ranch, as Lloyd gets stuck in the rough and tumble town of Piute Pass.. About the same time, a pretty ingenue in the form of Mildred Davis arrives with her sick father, in a covered wagon. It's love at first sight. But, the regional bully: Tiger lips Thompson(Noah Young) also takes an immediate interest in her, and locks her father up in a room until she submits to some love making with him. Lloyd knows she hates Tiger and his rough ways. Thus, Lloyd succeeds in stealing the key to the father's room and tricks Tiger into letting him go. He also tricks Tiger into being locked up in that room himself, until one of his associates produces another key. Tiger calls for vigilante action against Lloyd , with his Masked Angels, who wear white hoods. A horde of them show up and begin chasing Lloyd, who miraculously tricks them into defeat, one by one. I won't describe the various tricks he does. That's for you to see. This is the most interesting part of the film. The ending is a surprise, I won't reveal. ........I forgot to mention some of Lloyd's high jinx in NYC. I'll just say I'm sorry for that small pooch that he accidentally stepped on in the dark. ......See it at YouTube.

Decent LLoyd

[gavin6942 · 6/10 · 20 June 2013]

Blase eastern boy (Harold Lloyd) is shipped off to a ranch in the "wild west" by his father.

This film has the distinction of being made shortly after the bomb incident, resulting in Lloyd hiding his hand and using the prosthetic glove. Personally, I feel like the accident did not really take away from his talent at all. And knowing that his masterpiece ("Safety Last") was made with only eight fingers only reinforces the idea that this handicap did nothing to stop him.

I call this "decent" because I would rank the short among his lower work, though even his lower work is better than the average film out there.

Cutting Them Off At Piute Pass

[bkoganbing · 8/10 · 9 March 2009]

A great example of the comedy of Harold Lloyd is to be found in this short subject, An Eastern Westerner. After getting in trouble once too often, Harold's dad sends him out west where men are men and Harold will profit by their example.

Unlike most tenderfeet our west films, Harold never drops his eastern garb and stays true to himself. Of course immediately upon arriving in Piute Pass he makes an enemy of the town boss, Noah Young, a silent screen villain in the best Snidely Whiplash tradition. As is stated in the title, he owns half the town and bullies the rest with his hired men.

He's even got sweet and innocent Mildred Davis who eventually became Mrs. Harold Lloyd in real life under his thumb. He's going to marry her and she is agreeing because Young is holding her father prisoner.

All that changes with Harold on the scene. He maybe an eastern dude, but street smarts are street smarts on a western or eastern street. I think you can figure where this is going.

An Eastern Westerner is a great example of Harold Lloyd's everyman character who rises to the occasion in all of his films.

Lloyd Out West

[JoeytheBrit · 6/10 · 18 December 2009]

I suppose of the silent comedians Harold Lloyd is my second favourite after Buster Keaton (For me, Chaplin's tramp was too mean-spirited early on to ever be likable, and Chaplin himself never comes across as a particularly likable person). In this two-reel comedy Lloyd plays a frivolous playboy type who is sent out west (and back in time, apparently) when his old man finally tires of his errant ways. Out west, young Harold comes up against all manner of ne'er-do-wells, including the bullying saloon owner who has locked up the father of the young girl Harold has taken a shine to and won't let him out until she, well, lets him in (if you know what I mean).

I wonder whether Lloyd was trying to incorporate an element of Keaton's athleticism into his role here. He certainly displays some impressive acrobatics as he tries to elude capture by a band of cut-throats wearing blankets over their heads. This finale is the film's high point, although the level of humour is quite high throughout – and the trick with rolling cigarettes one-handed and producing a lighted match from a cardsharp's waistcoat pocket will probably have you laughing.

A Few Minutes Out West With Mr. Lloyd

[Ron Oliver · 10/10 · 16 August 2003]

A Hal Roach HAROLD LLOYD Short Subject.

Harold becomes AN EASTERN WESTERNER when his wealthy father banishes him from Broadway to Piute Patch.

Harold displays his remarkable athletic ability in this funny little film made shortly after he lost half of his right hand in a freak accident. Although his special glove (made by Sam Goldwyn's family) is visible at times, you would never know he was handicapped in any way. Whether trying to sneak into a New York nightclub, or escape from the dangerous Masked Angels out West, Harold is never less than hilarious.

Mildred Davis, Harold's future wife, plays the sweet Girl of the West; Noah Young is the nasty outlaw.

Robert Israel has composed an excellent film score which perfectly complements Harold's antics on the screen.

First Where Lloyd's Hair Stands On End

[springfieldrental · 7/10 · 8 October 2021]

Beside the clock-hanging image, today's viewers are familiar with Lloyd's trademark picture of his hair standing up on end in the middle of sticky situations, similar to that of young director David Lynch. One of his first films with the hair spiking upwards was seen in May 1920's "An Eastern Westerner." The hair shot, introduced here, was always a close-up with Lloyd looking straight into camera in utter shock.

Lloyd plays his familiar 'Boy' character as a hedonistic son of a wealthy family who's sent out West to his uncle's ranch to tamp down his bad habits. He runs into the nearby town's villainous enforcer, who has his heart set on Mildred Davis. Lloyd gets in the way and is chased by the town enforcers Masked Angles, a posse resembling the KKK with hooded heads.

In a thrilling final sequence D. W. Griffith would envy, the comedian single-handedly evades the chasing horsemen, repeatedly slithering through and over the members of the Masked Angels. Lloyd's stunts are especially unbelievable considering this was one of the first movies he operated basically with one hand.

Forgettable Lloyd western

[Horst_In_Translation · 4/10 · 28 August 2016]

"An Eastern Westerner" is a 24-minute black-and-white short film from 1920, so it will soon have its 100th anniversary. The names Hal Roach, Harold Lloyd, Mildred Davis and Noah Young will tell you immediately that this is a black-and-white silent film if the production year hasn't already. Of course, it is an American movie and except Young (who wasn't much older) all the protagonists I mentioned earlier were still under the age of 30, but very successful already in their respective fields, despite the age. Western films were apparently very popular already at this point (shortly after World War I) and this movie here has several western scenes and components in terms of costumes and sets for example. But the story is not really that good. I do believe that silent film superstar Lloyd had decent comedic talent, but nothing really made a difference in his purely comedic films. He was at his best when he could bring in some emotion and manage to evoke strong feelings of joy or sadness in his audience. This component is missing here entirely I must say. That's why I give it a thumbs down, even if it is among Lloyd's most known short films. Not recommended.

Harold Goes West

[evanston_dad · 8/10 · 18 August 2006]

This charming Harold Lloyd comedy short finds city boy Harold being sent by stern parents to the wild west to work on his uncle's ranch. He never makes it to the ranch -- instead, he gets into all sorts of comedic hijinks in a frontier town, becomes the target of a killer mob of bullies, and wins the hand of a sweet country charmer, all in about 15 minutes! As usual, the visual gags come fast and furious, and the unflappable Harold carries everything off with utmost panache. Highlights include his impressive lasso routine, and his frantic escape from the gang of thugs, in which he employs just about every trick imaginable to outsmart them.

Great fun.

Sound, not great, not bad, with good chase scene

[raskimono · 8/10 · 23 April 2004]

Before I start, I have to complain about the person who has put up that Harold Lloyd mini-biography on all the comments about his movie. It does not attempt to review the movie, maybe the it hasn't seen it but what is so monotonous is that the bio is the same one. Frustrating by all means. Anyway to the movie which is light on its feet and uses a dramatic set-up which has few laughs to get the up-to-no-good big city boy who ends up in the country where this situational comedy takes ground. Harold always billed as "the boy" meets "the girl" as they were all billed and this comic oater takes off as Harold has to battle the bad guys which ends with a furious chase to a train as the girl tries to defend him. Not great Lloyd but you could do worse.

Harold Lloyd's An Eastern Westerner is funny from beginning to end

[tavm · 9/10 · 3 August 2009]

This is yet another Harold Lloyd comedy short I watched on the Kino DVD called "The Harold Lloyd Collection". In this one, Harold is a party boy who has worked the last nerve of his father so he sends his boy out west. It's there that we meet a big bully (Noah Young) who threatens a girl he employs (Mildred Davis, later to be Mrs. Lloyd) that he'll keep her father locked up unless she agrees to marry him. Guess who comes to the rescue. I'll stop there and just say how hilarious I found the whole thing from the "shimmying" Harold does at the beginning to the chase he gets from a group of white-sheeted men who resemble a certain white supremacist group. Besides those acrobatics, there's also a funny disguise on Lloyd's part as he tries to win a card game and some mishaps with a horse that seems to win some of Davis' heart as she laughs at him sympathetically. In short, I highly recommend An Eastern Westerner.

Harold builds on Billy Blazes

[JohnHowardReid · 10/10 · 18 March 2007]

One of the best, if not the best of Lloyd's two-reelers, this hilarious send-up builds on the parody of "Billy Blazes" and makes it ten times funnier thanks to the great build-up given to the central character in the introductory sequences. In fact, the taxi gag gave me the heartiest laugh of the movie and the other prologue dance-hall material was certainly the equal of the wonderful chase climax. (Although in point of fact my second biggest guffaw came from Lloyd's cleverly extended re-working of that old chestnut about missing the bus and chasing after it; which then leads into a nice bit of business with the horse; which then serves to introduce our hero to Mildred Davis, that cutest of cute leading ladies).

As for production values, this two-reeler would be mighty hard to beat. Just look at the size of that cast! The sets and set-pieces stack up as wonders too and would not be thought wanting in the most toutedly expensive of "A" features. Walter Lundin's photography consistently comes across as picturesquely attractive, whilst the fluidity of Hal Roach's smoothly expansive direction certainly gives the lie to the often-repeated claim that as a director he was second-rate.

Lesser Lloyd

[Michael_Elliott · 13 March 2008]

Eastern Westerner, An (1920)

** (out of 4)

A party boy (Harold Lloyd) is sent out west by his parents but once there he encounters a group of masked bandits. I really didn't find this short very entertaining. Not many laughs to be found here.

From Hand to Mouth (1920)

** (out of 4)

A tramp (Harold Lloyd) meets a young homeless girl and her dog and the three try to get some food. I'm sure this was meant to be a sweet little film but it doesn't come off that way and the lack of laughs make it rather uninteresting.

He is in the West and he still wears a suit

[RainDogJr · 8 October 2008]

This was just the second work of Harold Lloyd that I watched and definitely my second pleasant experience. This time Harold plays a common, maybe wealthy boy who enjoys being outside and in consequence his family is always worried. Meanwhile his mother thinks that he is studying he is dancing but also dealing with some problematic situations. So the boy is always in troubles, if not because he is not dancing in a calm way (very funny!) because he arrives home at 2 am. Our story really begins when his family decides that has been enough of having nights of concern and the father sends the boy to the West. There the boy will find only more problematic situations.

This short film is classic stuff so there, in the West, they boy will meet a girl who has a big problem and who will end with him. This is funny, first because Lloyd is a New York City boy and he will try to impress the girl by imitating the ones of the West. Is also funny because Lloyd wants to be the smart one by tricking first the girl and later some men, who are playing with him a cards game, and his "plans" almost are successful in both cases however he never impressed the girl (in his second attempt the things are even worst!) and he ends losing in the cards game. So how is that the boy ends with the girl, in that marvelous last sequence? Well, of course the boy helped her with that problem by facing the crazy town villain and after that we watch some more really fun stuff. Lloyd knows how to hide behind the persons and that will help when he needs to "fight" against many!