| Way Out West | |
|---|---|
 Theatrical release poster | |
| Directed by | James W. Horne |
| Written by | Contributing (uncredited): Stan Laurel James W. Horne Arthur V. Jones |
| Screenplay by | Charley Rogers Felix Adler James Parrott |
| Story by | Jack Jevne Charley Rogers |
| Produced by | Stan Laurel Hal Roach |
| Starring | Stan Laurel Oliver Hardy |
| Cinematography | Art Lloyd Walter Lundin |
| Edited by | Bert Jordan |
| Music by | Marvin Hatley |
Production company | |
| Distributed by | Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer |
Release date |
|
Running time | 65 minutes (original) 62 minutes (restored print) |
| Country | United States |
| Language | English |
Way Out West is a 1937 Laurel and Hardy comedy film directed by James W. Horne, produced by Stan Laurel, and distributed by Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer.[1] It was the second picture for which Stan Laurel was credited as producer.
Plot
Laurel and Hardy are looking for a girl named Mary Roberts to tell her of her father's death and deliver her a huge inheritance, including a deed to a gold mine that her father left her. They find Mary at a cabaret in the West. But the owner of the cabaret and his wife --- who are Mary's legal guardians, but do not truly care about her as a person, and in fact are often rude and belittlingly belligerent towards her --- are trying to take over this wealth.
Stan and Ollie are traveling towards Brushwood Gulch; Stan on foot, leading a mule (called Dinah) dragging a travois, on which Ollie lies. As they ford a river, the travois detaches from the mule, leaving Ollie stranded in the water. He starts to wade then completely disappears into a sink hole in the river bottom. They hitch a ride on a stagecoach and attempt to flirt with a woman passenger (Vivien Oakland), not knowing that she is actually the local sheriff's wife. Upon arriving in Brushwood Gulch, she complains to her husband (Stanley Fields), who threatens the pair by coldly informing them that they will be leaving in a hearse if they do not catch the next coach out of town.
At Mickey Finn's saloon, The Avalon Boys are performing on the front porch and Stan and Ollie dance to their music. Inside, they clumsily reveal their supposedly secret mission to Mickey, including the fact that they have never seen Mary before. On Mickey's suggestion, his wife Lola pretends to be Mary and hijacks the deed from the boys, who then sing "The Trail of the Lonesome Pine" with the Avalon Boys. On their way out, Stan and Ollie encounter the real Mary, realize their mistake, and try to retrieve the deed from the couple, resulting in an extended chase and struggle. The Finns prevail and lock the deed in their safe when Lola gets the best of Stan with tickle torture. Ollie is briefly relieved by the arrival of the sheriff only to realize the sheriff is the angry husband who threatened them earlier, and who now forces them to leave town by running for their lives. Crossing the river, Ollie drops into the sink hole again.
Drying Ollie’s clothes that night, the pair resolve to return under the cover of darkness to retrieve Mary’s deed. After a series of mishaps (including the mule being belayed onto a balcony and Stan stretching Ollie's neck three feet as he tries to free him from a trapdoor), they finally manage to break into the saloon, where Stan finds Mary and explains the situation to her; she decides to run away with them. Mickey discovers them, but Ollie manages to grab Mickey's shotgun and force him at gunpoint to give the deed back to them. Mary, Ollie, Stan, and the mule make their getaway, trapping Mickey and Lola inside their own saloon by locking the front gate and entangling Mickey's head in the gate grill. Outside the town, the happy trio decide to head South to Mary's hometown and sing "I Want to Be in Dixie" as they begin their journey. When they ford the river, Ollie falls back into the sink hole.
Cast
- Stan Laurel as Stanley
- Oliver Hardy as Ollie
- Sharon Lynn as Lola Marcel (credited as Sharon Lynne)
- James Finlayson as Mickey Finn
- Rosina Lawrence as Mary Roberts
- Stanley Fields as Sheriff
- Vivien Oakland as Sheriff's wife
- The Avalon Boys as themselves
- Dinah the mule as herself
Uncredited:
- Harry Bernard as man eating at bar
- Flora Finch as Maw
- Mary Gordon as Cook
- Jack Hill as Finn's employee
- Sam Lufkin as stagecoach baggage handler
- Fred Toones as Janitor
- May Wallace as Cook
- James C. Morton as Bartender
Soundtrack
The film's score was composed by Marvin Hatley and nominated for an Academy Award for Best Music (Scoring). The film includes two well-known songs: firstly Macdonald and Carroll's "Trail of the Lonesome Pine", sung by Laurel and Hardy (except for a few lines by Chill Wills and Rosina Lawrence, lip-synched for comedic effect by Laurel), and secondly J. Leubrie Hill's "At the Ball, That's All", sung by the Avalon Boys and accompanied by Laurel and Hardy performing an extended dance routine, one that they rehearsed endlessly.
"Trail of the Lonesome Pine" was released as a single in Britain in 1975, backed by "Honolulu Baby" from Sons of the Desert; it reached number 2 in the British charts.
In popular culture
- Way Out West is referenced in the 1979 film The Sheriff and the Satellite Kid when the Sheriff (Bud Spencer) ends up replicating Stan Laurel's thumb fire trick featured in the film.
- The opening scene of the 2018 biopic Stan & Ollie depicts a shooting of the film, with Laurel and Hardy arriving on the set for one of the dance scenes.
- The original BBC version of "Song of Summer", Ken Russell's 1968 biopic of Frederick Delius, begins with Eric Fenby (Christopher Gable) anachronistically playing cinema organ accompaniment to a silent showing of the "Commence to Dancin'" dance episode. It was cut from the 2001 DVD release, as permission could not be obtained to use it.
References
Notes
Bibliography
- Aping, Norbert (2008). The Final Film of Laurel and Hardy: A Study of the Chaotic Making and Marketing of Atoll K. Jefferson, North Carolina: McFarland. ISBN 978-0-7864-3302-5.
- Bowers, Judith (2007). Stan Laurel and Other Stars of the Panopticon: The Story of the Britannia Music Hall. Edinburgh: Birlinn Ltd. ISBN 978-1-84158-617-5.
- Everson, William K. (2000) [1st. pub. 1967]. The Complete Films of Laurel and Hardy. New York: Citadel. ISBN 0-8065-0146-4.
- Louvish, Simon (2001). Stan and Ollie: The Roots of Comedy. London: Faber & Faber. ISBN 0-571-21590-4.
- Marriot, A.J. (1993). Laurel & Hardy: The British Tours. Hitchen, Herts, UK: AJ Marriot. ISBN 0-9521308-0-7.
- McCabe, John (2004). Babe: The Life of Oliver Hardy. London: Robson Books Ltd. ISBN 1-86105-781-4.
- McCabe, John; Kilgore, Al; Bann, Richard W. (1983) [1st. pub. E.P. Dutton:1975]. Laurel & Hardy. New York: Bonanza Books. ISBN 978-0-491-01745-9.
- McGarry, Annie (1992). Laurel & Hardy. London: Bison Group. ISBN 0-86124-776-0.
External links
