Good start, but then it gets ruined

I cannot think of one single thing that I would change about this film. The acting is incomparable, the directing deft, and the writing poignantly brilliant.

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

This is a dark and sometimes deeply uncomfortable drama

Charged with delivering a gold mine deed to an heiress who they have never seen or met, two bumbling friends haplessly try to correct their mistake after being tricked into given the deed to the wrong women in this feature length Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy comedy. Often cited as one of the pair's funniest full length features, 'Way Out West' has some terrific moments for sure as Hardy tries eating a hat after watching Laurel enjoy eating his, as Hardy accidentally knocks on a bald man's head, and as the pair hitch a ride 'It Happened One Night' style, and yet there is no escaping how paper thin the plot is. Indeed, even at less than 70 minutes, the movie feels on the long side with the story basically just consisting of repeated failed attempts to retrieve the deed. The fact that Stan and Ollie do not appear on screen for six and a half minutes does not help matters, nor does the heavy reliance on slapstick gags - particularly head banging incidents. The film actually has some really good dialogue -- "we hope he is - they buried him" comments Stan in a deadpan manner after the fake heiress asks whether her relative is really dead. And yet, while more verbal gags like this would have perhaps been beneficial, the comedy duo are admittedly slapstick experts and the film is often funny if a tad disjointed and episodic. The Old West sets and costumes are pretty good too.

One of the better (Stan) Laurel and (Oliver) Hardy comedies has the boys going West to find the daughter of a deceased miner in order to give her the deed to his mine, full of riches. Unfortunately, once they reach their destination, the first people they run into are con artists who conspire to steal the deed for their own as they try to simultaneously become the legal guardians of the miner's daughter, Mary Roberts (Rosina Lawrence), who works in their saloon establishment. Mickey Finn (James Finlayson) and saloon singer Lola Marcel (Sharon Lynne) are the would-be thieves.The film's musical Score was nominated for an Academy Award (Marvin Hatley's first Oscar recognition). It was directed by James Horne, with a story by Jack Jevne and Charley Rogers, who wrote the screenplay with Felix Adler and James Parrott.It features the comedy duo doing a synchronized dance routine to singing by the Avalon Boys, appearing as themselves with their lead singer Chill Wills. Stanley Fields appears as the Sheriff determined to run "the boys" out of town, oblivious to the subterfuge being perpetrated by Mickey and Lola. After Stanley inadvertently lets Mickey know the reason for their visit to town, Ollie brings him further into their confidence with the rest of the story. When Mickey, who works Mary as a slave driver would, learns that they don't know what the miner's daughter looks like, he has Lola pretend to be her. All goes according to plan until, when the boys are leaving the establishment, they meet the real Mary. In the longest scene in the film, they are then unsuccessful in retrieving the deed from Lola, who tickles it out of Stan again, and Mickey, who locks it in his safe.That night, with help from their mule Dinah, Laurel & Hardy try to sneak quietly into the saloon to relieve the safe of its bounty, but of course end up making enough noise to wake the dead. Dinah even ends up on the second floor of the saloon. In a routine that's been copied since in countless cartoons, Mickey pounds on the keys to injure the boys as they hide in a piano. But of course, all works out in the end.

What did Rosina Lawrence's dying father expect when he entrusted Stan Laurel and Oliver Hardy to deliver the deed to a gold mine to her in Way Out West? I mean even in death was his judgment that seriously impaired?The boys are up to the necks in it in the town of Brushwood Gulch when they try to do their good deed. In fact Ollie's up to it even before as Stan innocently dumps the freeloading Ollie who is snoozing in a travois drawn by their donkey while Stan is guiding the poor animal. Dumps Ollie in a creek mind you. Serves him right actually.The boys arrive in town and wouldn't you know it, they tell bartender James Finlayson what their mission is. So the quick thinking Finlayson gets his wife Sharon Lynne to pose as Lawrence and the boys sign the deed over to her. Later on they discover their mistake and the rest of the film is spent trying to make up for their mistake and get the deed to the rightful owner. Of course it's one mishap after another, including Stan lighting Ollie's thumb on fire. Don't ask how.Everybody looks like they're having a great old time in Way Out West. Finlayson is a terrific Snidely Whiplash, Lynne does a great imitation of the kind of brassy dame that Gladys George or Binnie Barnes had a specialty in, and Lawrence is a fabulous little Nell heroine. Way Out West is one of Stan and Ollie's best feature film comedies. It even got an Oscar nomination for Best Musical Scoring. But I still wonder, wasn't their anyone else Lawrence's father could get for such a mission?

Way Out West (1937) *** (out of 4) Laurel and Hardy head out west to deliver a gold deed to Mary Roberts (Rosina Lawrence), which was left to her by her deceased father. Upon arriving in town the two men run into issues with the Sheriff and are eventually duped into giving the deed to the wrong woman by a conniving couple (Sharon Lynn, James Finlayson) who have control over Mary. Once they realize their mistake, it's up to Laurel and Hardy to break into the house and try to recover the claim.Way Out West isn't the duo's greatest film but it still manages to keep the viewer entertained, due in large part to Laurel and Hardy's natural charm that can keep a smile on anyone's face. I'm not sure what it was about the Old West but it seemed every comedian from the 1920's through the 1950's had to go there at least once in their career. Even with the short running time of 65-minutes I couldn't help but think this film would have been better served as a short but the lightening pace more than makes up for that.There are several key scenes that most Laurel and Hardy fans rank among their favorite.The most famous scene is where Hardy begins singing "On the Trail of the Lonesome Pine", only to be interrupted by Laurel. Another memorable scene occurs in the bedroom where villain Sharon Lynn tickles Laurel into handing over the deed. As with most Laurel and Hardy shorts or features, the ending is left for a madhouse with various object being broken, Hardy falling through roofs and floors and the manic direction by James M. Horne keeps all of this well timed and played out.