The Marx Brothers head West and find themselves in the middle of a dispute over Dead Man’s Gulch,
It’s a worthless piece of land except for the fact that Jerry Turner (John Carroll) has sold the railroad on the idea of running their lines through the property.
His motive: Years earlier, his father conned a man named Wilson into paying every cent he had for Dead Man’s Gulch.
There’s been bad blood between the families ever since. Problem is, Turner’s now in love with Wilson’s daughter, Eve (Diana Lewis). And her dad thinks every Turner is no good.
The second problem, Eve’s dad gives the deed to Chico and Harpo as an IOU in return for a $10 stake as he heads off to look for gold elsewhere.
They promptly do the same in return for a 10-cent drink.
The new holders of the deed are Red Baxter and railroad man John Beecher, rivals in an attempt to cash in on the railroad’s arrival.
Groucho Marx as S. Quentin Quade in Go West (1940)
Harpo Marx as Rusty Panello in Go West (1940)
Review:
If you’re a fan of the Marx Brothers humor, you’ll likely find this a breezy 80-minute diversion.
If not, be forewarned that the film features a razor-thin plot as an excuse to pull the brothers from one comic bit to another with a few songs thrown for good measure.
Heck, it takes the brothers 10 minutes to get out of the train station where you buy tickets to head west as Chico and Harpo repeatedly con Groucho out of his money by attaching a string to a $10 bill they pay him with, requesting $9 change each time.
But the film ending train/buggy chase is a delight that keeps getting wilder and wilder. And, for those wondering: Yes, Chico and Harpo were accomplished musicians.
Chico Marx as Joseph Panello in Go West (1940)
Robert Barrat as Red Baxter, accepting a 10 cent IOU from Joseph and Rusy Panello in Go West (1940)
Directed by:
Edward Buzzell
Cast:
Groucho Marx … S. Quentin Quale
Chico Marx … Joseph Panello
Harpo Marx … Rusty Panello
John Carroll … Jerry Turner
Diana Lewis … Eve Wilson
Walter Wolf King … John Beecher
Robert Barrat … Red Baxter
June MacCloy … Lulubelle
George Lessey … Railroad president
Runtime: 80 min.
John Carroll as Jerry Turner, the man who hopes to marry Eve in Go West (1940)
Diana Lewis as Eve Wilson, hoping to marry a Turner in Go West (1940)
Memorable lines:
Joseph Panello to his brother: “Rusty, I don’t like the West. All people do is kill each other. I’d like the West better if it was in the East.”
S. Quentin Quale: “Time wounds all heels.”
S. Quentin Quale to the brothers: “I give you my solemn word as an embezzler: I’ll be back in two minutes.”
S. Quentin Quale: “I was going to thrash them within an inch of their lives. But I didn’t have a tape measure.”
Walter Wolf King as John Beecher, assigned the task of acquiring Dead Man’s Gulch in Go West (1940)
June MacCloy as Lulubelle, the saloon singer working for Baxter in Go West (1940)
Robert Barrat as Red Baxter with Mitchelle Lewis as his half-breed helper Indian Pete in Go West (1940)
Tully Marshall as Dan Wilson, Eve’s father in Gow West (1940)
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