Review of Way Out West (1937) by Sol H — 01 Apr 2005

Last night, Turner Classic Movies trumped whatever I was planning to do by capping a full day of Laurel and Hardy films with the showing of their two masterpieces, "Way Out West" and "Sons Of The Desert". Nothiing beats watching Stan and Ollie foul things up. That was followed by their Oscar-winning short, "The Music Box". Seeing these films again for the hundredth time, I was struck about how their features seem to split into two styles. There are the more realistic films, like "Sons Of The Desert" and "Block Heads" where they just play two schnooks beset by wives, work and other mundane demons. The other is more fantasy-based where they're plopped down in some fanciful setting and the humor is more fantastic. Stuff like "The Devil's Brother", "Swiss Miss" and subtly "Way Out West" fit into this.

I was surprised to see this time that the bass in the cowboy singing group that accompanies them on their little dance number in "Way Out West" was none other than Chill Wills!

This morning I saw something very different, the Neve Campbell film "When Will I Be Loved". At first I thought director James Toback was meandering so much, he'd lost the thread completely. (Cameos for Lori Singer and Mike Tyson?) but by the end, the film did make sense in its portrayal of a very manipulative young woman. Most critics didn't like it but those guys are prudes anyway. I thought the film was a really interesting character study, then again I think Neve Campbell is one of the most beautiful actresses around and seeing her nude and very sexy in this made my day.

Next up I have a Takeshi Kitano film and something odd starring the late John Ritter to watch.