Go West (1925)

Directed by Buster Keaton. Starring Buster Keaton, Howard Truesdale, Brown Eyes, Kathleen Myers, Ray Thompson.

Keaton’s hero, aptly-named “Friendless,” accidentally heads west to a cattle ranch where he pretends to be an experienced cowboy to make a living. Minor but amiable silent comedy is slow-going and only intermittently funny most of way (although a few gags are hysterical during that stretch); finally picks up in the last few reels with a train robbery, a stampede through the streets of Los Angeles, the “Great Stone Face” being forced at gunpoint to smile, and love winning out in the end (the love between a man and a cow, that is). That cow earned screen credit (“Brown Eyes”) and even a salary, but while the affection she and Keaton share is cute, sentimentality was rarely better than requisite in the star’s hands. The final bit is splendid all the same.

65/100