Starring Groucho, Chico, and Harpo Marx, John Carroll, Diana Lewis, and Walter Woolf King
Directed by Edward Buzzell
Music by Bronislau Kaper; Lyrics by Gus Kahn
Saddle up, pardners, 'cause we're going west this week with some of your favorite comedians. We kick off our look at the funny side of the Old West with one of the Marx Brothers' later movies. It's also their only film with a non-contemporary setting and the only time they played with western tropes. How well do the Marx Brothers deal with land-grabbers and family feuds? Let's begin with swindler S. Quenton Quayle (Groucho) as he attempts to buy a train ticket west and find out...
The Story: Quayle loses his ticket money to a pair of even smarter swindlers, brothers Joe (Chico) and Rusty Panello (Harpo). The brothers in turn use that money to buy Dead Man's Gulch from old prospector Dan Wilson (Tully Marshall), who claims it has no gold. As it turns out, it's valuable in another way. Terry Turner (Carroll), the son of Wilson's long-time rival, went to New York to attempt to convince the railroad to buy Dead Man's Gulch. He's convinced them that the gulch is the only route through the mountains linking east and west. He's also in love with Wilson's granddaughter Eve (Lewis), who wishes to marry him no matter what her grandfather thinks.
After the railroad agrees to buy the property, Quayle attempts to swindle it away from the Panellos. Corrupt railroad executive John Beecher (King) and saloon owner Red Baxter (Robert Barrat) use saloon singer Lulubelle (June MacCloy) to charm the deed off them. Now it's up to Quayle and the Panellos to make sure that deed gets to the railroad officials in New York, even if they have to tear the train apart to keep it going to its destination!
The Song and Dance: This wound up being really cute, probably one of the Brothers' better later efforts. Chico and Harpo in particular have some nice moments. Harpo tearing up the train to keep the engine moving in the finale is one highlight. Groucho both ducking and enjoying Lulubelle's advances are another. King is almost as good here as he was in Night at the Opera and continues to play well off the Marxes, his bluster more than matching their anarchy.
The Numbers: We start over the credits with "As If I Didn't Know." Groucho joins Lulubelle onstage for "You Can't Argue With Love." "Ridin' the Range" has the Marxes joining in with Carroll as they discuss their devotion to their new western home. Eve sings the old Stephen Foster number "Beautiful Dreamer" at home. Chico performs "She'll Be Comin' 'Round the Mountain" and "The Woodpecker Song" on the piano, while Harpo gets "From the Land of the Sky-Blue Water) for the Natives whom they have to convince to give up their claim on the land.
What I Don't Like: Not one of the Marxes' better movies. Carroll is particularly dull in a thankless role, and Lewis isn't much more interesting and is too nasal to pass for a western heroine. Although it doesn't hit the lows of their next movie after this The Big Store, it's still not one of their best efforts. Only the train finale is really vintage Marx Brothers madness.
The Big Finale: Mainly for fans of the Marx Brothers or comic westerns.
Home Media: On DVD and streaming from the Warner Archive.
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