In 1940, the Marx Bros. appeared in one of the earliest cinematic western comedies, an overlooked picture called Go West. It comes from pretty late in the post-Zeppo era, a run of pictures often considered inferior to when the brothers were at their peak. Still, even without Zeppo — who was a crucial part of the Marx formula, a secret sauce if you will — the Brothers made a pretty admirable chunk of films after their Paramount days. Go West is one of them, even if it never quite matches the heights of the comparatively Zeppo-less A Night at the Opera.

Go West, the Marxes’ only frolic through the Western genre, pokes fun at the clichés of the genre in a similar way that Mel Brooks would do preeminently with Blazing Saddles just over 30 years later. Where Blazing Saddles essentially reinvented the Western and comedy movie alike, Go West is more often perfectly content with being a vehicle for 80 minutes’ worth of vintage Marx Bros. gags. Which isn’t exactly a bad thing. The movie knows exactly what the brothers do well, and it gives them the space to do it. It’s like seeing a seasoned, aging rock band just creeping out of their time, pulling no punches and playing the hits you want to hear.

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‘Go West’ is One of the Earliest Western Comedies
Image via MGM 

The Western comedy, merely a single entry in the extensive list of Western subgenres, is a particularly difficult style to succeed in. Its list of classics is incredibly slim, and as A Million Ways to Die in the West and The Ridiculous 6 both proved, filmmakers trying to combine the two genres tend only to fail miserably at doing either well. Brooks’ aforementioned Blazing Saddles is an untouchable masterpiece, and The Ballad of Buster Scruggs and My Name Is Nobody both manage to be genuinely funny pictures set in the style of Westerns, but these are only rarities.

While not the first to make a Western comedy, the Marx Bros. were, at the very least, early out of the gate. Go West is predated by 15 years by the identically titled Buster Keaton flick. Laurel & Hardy dabbled in the genre with Way Out West in ’37, and W.C. Fields did the same with My Little Chickadee in ’40, the same year as the Marx’s film. Along with these other three examples of comedic legends injecting their humor into western (and western-adjacent genres), Go West mostly finds the western setting as a vehicle for a series of otherwise unrelated gags that are vintage Marx Bros.

Whether or not the film actually works as a whole is hard to say. There’s undeniably some brilliant stuff in it, with a handful of bits showing the brothers, if not at top form, pretty damn close. The story admittedly gets in the way more than it should, especially considering how uninspired the actual plot is.

In ‘Go West,’ the Marx Bros. Chase a Fortune
Image via MGM

The plot of Go West feels cut and pasted from any forgettable Western film of the era, revolving around a valuable land deed owned by an old man (Tully Marshall) and eyed by a scheming railroad executive (Walter Woolf King) and saloon owner (Robert Barrat). Running parallel is a Romeo & Juliet-like romance plot involving a young couple (John Carroll and Diana Lewis) who depend on the sale of the plot to officially pursue their love with each other.

Of course, the brothers get involved and sully things up. Chico and Harpo, friends of the landowner, are lent the property deed for collateral of a modest loan. Groucho, appearing as an uncharacteristically dim-witted hustler-type, tries to trick them into selling to him. Before long, he’s soon strong-armed and deceived by the film’s antagonists into handing the deed over to them, and so the three team up to try to get it back.

That’s pretty much it. Definitely not one of the best comedy plots, not even in the Marx catalogue.

Where Does ‘Go West’ Fit In the Marx Bros.’ Filmography?

Go West is a largely middling Marx Bros. movie that never reaches the impossible heights of their greatest works. Never an entirely bad film, this Western comedy struggles to make any of the wider plot actually funny. Rather, the moments that find the brothers engaging in their signature anarchic comedy at a break-neck pace. Really, Go West works as living proof of the fact that producer Irving Thalberg was instrumental in the Marx Brothers’ downfall by introducing more plot-based structures into their work.

The beginning of the film works because it sets up a simple premise — Groucho, Harpo, and Chico’s characters coming up short to purchase a train ticket out west in order to pan for gold — and utilizes to bring out some excellent jokes. When told a train ticket costs $70, Groucho slaps a stack of bills on the counter. “Don’t bother counting it,” he tells the attendant. “There’s only $60,” the attendant complains. “I told you not to count it,” snaps Groucho. Harpo and Chico, eager to get their own fare, plot up an excellent gag involving a $10 bill tied to a string.

Fortunately, Go West has some classic Groucho one-liners (“I was going to thrash them within an inch of their lives, but I didn’t have a tape measure”/“I give you my solemn word as an embezzler, I’ll be back in ten minutes”), and a couple of bits that let Harpo do some fun little slapstick bits. As typical in these films, there’s also a great little musical number in which Chico plays a damned entertaining piano rendition of “The Woodpecker Song,” snatching up a fruit from Harpo halfway through and rolling it along the keys in pitch-perfect melody.

In contrast to its heights, Go West has its share of lows. The plot, as previously mentioned, only manages to disrupt the established comedic pace set out by the film’s opening scenes. An overly long sequence at the start of the third act involving an indigenous tribe ages about as well as Mickey Rooney’s appearance in Breakfast at Tiffany’s. It’s one of those things that undeniably weigh the picture down, especially in retrospect, and the finished product would have aged much better without it. The ill-conceived caricatures really aren’t any worse than those that practically every goddamn western of the era were guilty of, but what feels like an opportunity to spoof these clichés only end up insensitively indulging in them.

That said, Go West is at its best when the brothers’ cutting humor is aimed at either A) one another, or B) the film’s villains. Groucho’s wise-ass zingers still pop with wit, and Harpo/Chico’s duality of physical/wordy comedy still mixes excellently. A gag early in the picture, in which the three brothers attempt to scam one another out of a train fare, is a highlight. A similar, later scene in a stagecoach is another.

The climax of the film, though, is undeniably Go West’s most memorable trait. The brothers, chased by the antagonists, cause utter mayhem as they make their way through (and on top of) a fast-moving train. It never reaches the jaw-dropping spectacle of, for example, The General, but it still makes for an enjoyably elaborate sequence rife with slapstick gags.

By the time the credits roll, though, it’s hard not to be left wanting more from the brothers. Considering that Go West came at the tail end of their career of working together, it’s also hard to expect anything more. The boys would only have three more films in them after Go West, and each of them works even less than their comedy western. From there, the brothers would disband (artistically, at least), and Groucho would go on to make a series of decent, but underwhelming solo films.

Go West never reaches the heights of Animal Crackers, Duck Soup, A Night at the Opera, or even Monkey Business. Then again, not many films ever could. What Go West does manage to do is give the Marx Bros. a handful of classic comedy bits that fondly remember how good they could be at their peak. Even if it’s all hidden among the dirt and silt, there’s still some gold to be panned out.