Out West (1918)

To me, this movie is perfection.

Lack of good storyline.

Too much about the plot just didn't add up, the writing was bad, some of the scenes were cringey and awkward,

Great movie. Not sure what people expected but I found it highly entertaining.

It's somewhat surprising that Arbuckle and Keaton didn't make more parodies - their style of humour is well suited to it - although we only see snippets of that potential in this two reeler. Fatty, booted off a train, ends up in a small desert town amidst high cliffs. Various bad guys attempt to take the town saloon by gunfight, but Fatty and sidekick Buster are the unlikely heroes turning them away. The early train sequence, including Fatty being chased atop the moving train, is a highlight, and worth watching for those 4 minutes alone, but after that it is forgettable. While somewhat humorous to see a tough villain thwarted by tickling, and a gunfight where no one is harmed by bullet wounds, it is mostly pretty weak.

This short silent comedy starring Roscoe "Fatty" Arbuckle with Buster Keaton and Al St. John in support is a mixed bag as a spoof of westerns. In begins on a train where Arbuckle ingeniously steals some food from three men one of whom was Buster's father, Joseph. After being thrown off and getting chased by Indians (or in today's parlance, Native Americans), Roscoe stumbles into the town saloon where he foils robber St. John's holdup and takes his guns. This is when he and Buster meet and become teaming acquaintances. There are many very funny gags up to this point to where they tickle St. John victoriously but then there's a racist gag involving one Ernie Morrison Sr. (the father of original "Our Gang"s Ernie "Sunshine Sammy" Morrison who would also occasionally appear in Harold Lloyd shorts) that threatens to put things to a halt. Fortunately, there's still some decent laughs after that. Oh, and there's a woman involved as well. So on that note, I'd recommend Out West. P.S. The version I watched was on the Image Entertainment "The Best Arbuckle-Keaton Collection" DVD.

Much of the material in "Out West" works well, at least as long as you understand its intent. It combines some of the usual Arbuckle/Keaton slapstick with a satirical look at some of the conventions of the Western genre of its time, and it has a decent variety of scenes and settings.The story starts off with some amusing antics by Arbuckle on a train, and then goes on from there as he meets up with the other characters. Keaton gets some good moments, and Arbuckle regular Al St. John has a funny role as a villainous gun-slinger.They take some chances with some of the material, and it's easy to see how today's audiences could misinterpret it. There are a couple of morbid gags that work pretty well, but there are a couple of other things are just not at all funny now, even given that they were parodying the Westerns of the time.Overall, it has some good moments that most fans of Arbuckle and Keaton would enjoy, but there are other parts of it that even their fans will probably find somewhat uncomfortable.

The best part of the whole short--Roscoe's routine: the famous one-handed cigarette roll, striking the match on the train, then leaping into the caboose as the train speeds by--in less time than it takes to read this. Worth the price of admission alone!