Way Out West

1937: Directed by James W. Horne. Stan Laurel, Oliver Hardy, Sharon Lynne, James Finlayson, Stanley Fields, Rosina Lawrence, Vivien Oakland, The Avalon Boys (including Chill Wills), Fred “Snowflake” Toones, Thelma Todd, Jim Mason, Sam Lufkin, May Wallace, Cy Slocum, ZaSu Pitts, Frank Mills, Buffalo Bill, Jr., Harry Bernard, Mary Gordon, Lester Dorr, Tex Driscoll, Flora Finch.

In a rare outing for comic legends Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy, this delightful full-length feature puts to good use the typically hilarious antics of the duo’s dim-witted, good-natured (and this time ironically heroic) characters, with their vulnerability magnified in a land foreign to them — the Wild West.

Stanley and Ollie set out to the Western township of Brushwood Gulch on an errand of kindness which entails the hand-delivery of a deed to a goldmine to Mary Roberts, the daughter and only living relative of their recently deceased gold prospecting pal. Upon discovering they have been duped by Lola, a saloon cabaret singer posing as Mary Roberts, the two suckers try everything within their limited power to recover the deed.

From literally wrestling with the woman to attempting a break-in to her room in the middle of the night, their efforts seem almost fruitless. At best, the latter undertaking successfully sends a mule on a rope……………………………………………….