Go West

Go West. 1940 MGM/Turner Entertainment.
Starring: The Marx Brothers (Groucho, Chico, Harpo), John Carroll, Diana Lewis
Uncredited Writer: Buster Keaton
Director: Edward Buzzell
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This is the movie that made me fall in love with the brothers Marx a few years ago, and it's not even their best one.

Groucho plays S. Quentin Quale, a confidence man looking to make his way out west, only to get duped by the brothers Joseph and Rusty Panello (Chico and Harpo) in a hilarious scene at a train station where the con man loses every penny. The Panello brothers are also looking to "go west", where they hear that you can literally pick up the nuggets of gold off the streets.

The main plot of the film involves a place called Dead Man's Gulch, whose main value is not gold, but a decent territory for an expanding railroad to build through, and how the fate of the land will affect the feud between two families, the Wilsons and the Turners. Not only that, but Dan Wilson and Eva Turner are deeply in love, making things even more complicated, and Dan hopes that the sale of Dead Man's Gulch will end the feud for good.

Go West ends with a hysterical chase scene involving a train. I have read elsewhere that the last fifteen minutes of the movie were sold separately in the early days of the home video market. The scene is actually worth the price of the film itself.

Very highly recommended. Back soon!