robert-temple-1
'I was going to thrash them within an inch of their lives, but I didn't have a tape measure.' (Groucho) This is another hilarious Marx Brothers picture, starring the three, not the four, brothers. It followed AT THE CIRCUS of the previous year (1939). Both films were directed by Edward Buzzell and written by Irving Brecher. It is interesting that Buzzell directed one Thin Man film (SONG OF THE THIN MAN, 1947), and Brecher wrote another (SHADOW OF THE THIN MAN, 1941, his next film after this Marx Brothers one). Brecher is best known however for writing the famous film MEET ME IN ST. LOUIS (1944). In this film, the Marx Brothers truly go wild. They destroy an entire train, a saloon, various rooms, and cause utter mayhem. But then they are in 'the Wild West', aren't they? There are plenty of gags, as usual. At one point, two engine drivers of a train are tied up and gagged by the Marx Brothers. Groucho goes up to one of them, removes the gag from his mouth and then puts it back, and says to the camera: 'This is the best gag in the whole film.' Sitting in a stagecoach with a woman and a baby, Groucho says 'We need to get to the bottom of this,' and touches the baby's bottom. The stage coach is going over many bumps, so the woman complains that she doesn't like the jerks in the coach. On cue, Harpo and Chico get up, open the door and are about to jump out, when Groucho says: 'Not you two,' and pulls them back to their seats. The film opens with a lengthy stand-up confrontation between the three brothers in a railway station. Harpo, wishing to steal money from Groucho's pocket but unable to get his hand into it, produces some scissors and cuts away the side of Groucho's trousers, snips open the bottom of his pocket, and takes the money. Groucho drolly comments: 'It getting rather cool in here,' as we see his bare leg. There is one gag after another. Harpo gets to play the harmonica and then a harp disguised as an Indian weaving frame (an Indian chief in full feather headdress accompanies him on a flute), and Chico plays the piano in a saloon, adding a new touch by knocking on the wood of the piano for some rhythm at one point, and grabbing an apple from Harpo's hands which he was just about to eat, rubbing it along the keyboard to produce some more music. Groucho strums on a guitar and seems to know how to play it. He also sings wonderfully dotty nonsense. But most of the action is riotous anarchy, wanton destruction, and hilarious and outrageous insults to stern and threatening crooks, tomfoolery, and chaos. But as we now know from modern science, chaos conceals hidden structure. If only the kind of humour practiced by the Marx Brothers could still be done today. But no one seems to have a sense of humour anymore. Those of us who still know how to laugh, however, can always watch the Marx Brothers, and escape the horrors of the news. When the apostles of political correctness, and the thought monitors, start destroying film comedies in the interest of 'keeping us safe', let us hope that Groucho, Harpo and Chico find some way to outwit them. Wouldn't it be nice if we could find a way for all the stern and humourless people to laugh themselves to death? What if we tied the men who pulled the man off the plane the other day into chairs and forced them to watch this film? Or are such people entirely impervious to jokes? In life, I hold to the view that the only thing that is not a joke is the people who cannot get a joke, and who have never laughed in their lives. As a certain president might say in a tweet: 'Sad.'
SnoopyStyle
S. Quentin Quale (Groucho Marx) is a con-man heading west. He encounters seemingly bumbling brothers Joseph (Chico Marx) and Rusty Panello (Harpo Marx) in a train station and ends up losing his money to them. The brothers meet old miner Dan Wilson who hasn't found gold for 40 years on his property, Dead Man's Gulch. They lend him $10 and get the property as collateral. Meanwhile, Terry Turner arranges the sale of the property to the railroad for $50k. The Turners and Wilsons are rivals. Terry hopes to ease the rivalry with the sale and marry Dan's granddaughter Eve Wilson. Saloon owner Red Baxter receives a telegram to get the property. The boys write an IOU on the back of the deed to pay for beer at Red's saloon.This is full of the Marx brothers antics. Chico plays the piano. Groucho is the heel. Harpo doesn't talk and finds an usual harp with the Indians. This comes after a string of iconic Marx brothers comedy hits. These things come in cycles and the guys may be wearing out their welcome. They haven't changed their verbal gags and there are still songs. The last act is all action on a train and that's plenty of fun. For Marx fans, this should still hit the spot.
utgard14
The Marx Bros. head to the Old West to find their fortune and become involved with a railroad scheme. There's also some stuff about a guy trying to settle a family feud so he can marry the girl he loves. Count me among those who prefer the Marx Bros' zanier earlier films at Paramount to the ones at MGM. Certainly the first few films at MGM are classics but after that the Marx films go downhill. By the 1940s they were putting out half-hearted efforts that seemed like they were parodying themselves. There's a scene early on in a train station where the three do a bit where Chico & Harpo rip off Groucho. The bit starts off mildly amusing but is so familiar that, by the end, I found the whole thing more tiresome than funny. Which is a good summary of this entire movie. The scene on the stagecoach with the passengers and all the hat-passing nonsense with Harpo is another example. This isn't to say there aren't any good parts. There are some funny scenes and lines but none particularly memorable. There are also the obligatory musical numbers we all hate. The worst of which is "Ridin' the Range," with a crooning John Carroll backed up by the brothers. It's possibly the corniest scene from any Marx Bros. movie. The funniest scenes are the early ones and the train stuff at the end. The middle drags. Fans of the Marxes will likely enjoy this more than people not familiar with them.
