Go West
About Go West
Friendless sells what he owns and rides west. A ranch job goes badly until he pulls a stone from the hoof of a cow named Brown Eyes, who then follows him and is marked for slaughter. He joins her on the cattle train. In Los Angeles he leads the herd to the stockyard with a red bandana and, later, a red devil suit. Offered the ranch house, he asks for the cow instead.
Cast & crew
More about Go West
Buster Keaton directed and stars. He and Lex Neal wrote it. Keaton and Joseph M. Schenck produced it. Bert Haines and Elgin Lessley photographed it. Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer released it. Wikipedia's release date is November 1, 1925. Wikidata also lists November 26, 1925. Wikipedia's infobox says 83 minutes. Wikidata says 69 minutes. A duration line on the Wikipedia page reads 1 hour, 8 minutes, and 16 seconds.
Themes
Making
Keaton plays the gags against a real herd: a red cloth moves the cattle, and the Los Angeles street sequence puts the animals into stores.
Look
Elgin Lessley and Bert Haines shot the ranch work and the cattle drive through Los Angeles.
Music
Silent, with English intertitles. Wikipedia credits music to Konrad Elfers.
Preservation
Prints circulate, including a Commons file and an Internet Archive copy. Published runtimes disagree: 83 minutes on the Wikipedia infobox, 69 on Wikidata, and 68 minutes 16 seconds on one duration line.
Notes
- Howard Truesdale plays the ranch owner. Kathleen Myers plays his daughter. Ray Thompson plays the foreman. The cow is credited as Brown Eyes.
- Joe Keaton is an uncredited man in a barber shop. Roscoe Arbuckle and Babe London are uncredited shoppers in a department store, Arbuckle in women's clothes.
- Gus Leonard is an uncredited general-store owner.
- Wikipedia lists Konrad Elfers under music.
- Friendless keeps a picture of his mother when he sells the rest of his belongings.
Scenes
- Friendless removes a rock from Brown Eyes's hoof and she will not leave him.
- He waves a red bandana to move the steers.
- Dressed as a red devil, he leads the herd through Los Angeles to the stockyard.
- He turns down the ranch house and takes the cow.
Also available
- Internet Archive (silent-go-west)
- Wikimedia Commons (Go West (1925).webm)
