Review of Go West, Young Lady

This 70 min. rather low budget offering from Columbia has a bit of everything. There are typical elements of westerns: Indians chasing a stagecoach, a local gang of desperados led by one of the leading citizens in disguise as 'Killer Pete', whose main goal seems to be to expand his holdings from a large ranch to businesses in town. He already has a big lean on the town saloon the Crystal Palace, which he periodically robs. As expected, Pete has a secret moll in Lola(Ann Miller), who is the chief entertainer for the Crystal Palace. Lola is contrasted with the prim classy blond Belinda or Bill for short(Penny Singleton), newly arrived from the East. She may look harmless, but she packs a mean pistol, as demonstrated in the Indian attack on the stage she and the new sheriff Tex Miller(a young Glen Ford) were riding in. Strangely, the town elders didn't seem to know about Tex, and were planning to offer 'Bill' the hazardous vacant position of sheriff. The last 4 sheriffs had been killed by Killer Pete. Bill might be a better shot than Tex, but she had no desire to take Tex's job away from him. Instead, she was satisfied keeping house for her uncle Jim, who owned the Crystal Palace, until such time that she might get married. Tex and Bill soon became romantically involved, although their initial meeting in the stage was hardly cordial, until they were forced to cooperate in fighting off the Indians. Their courtship was set back a few times when Bill accidentally hit Tex in the face with a freshly baked pie. This running gag was modified the 3rd time by Bill accidentally hitting Bill in the face with the frying pan she was using to subdue the members of Pete's gang.......The simmering relationship between Lola and Bill finally erupted into a notable cat fight, which some reviewers say was the highlight for them. ......Charles Ruggles was charismatic as Jim: Bill's uncle, reminding me of Walter Brennan, in speech and style. Onslow Stevens was tall and handsome, when his kerchief was pulled down, as Killer Bill. Allen Jenkins was appropriately humorous as the flaky deputy, who usually ran from trouble.....In the music department, Ann Miller and Penny Singleton are both decent stage singers and dancers, although their dancing styles were quite different, with Ann being a specialist in tap dancing: a skill that would be filmed many times in the future. Ann, at 18, was so young, I barely recognized her. She usually was included in films as a musical specialist or as 'the other woman', as in this film. She sings and dances to the title song, including a segment where she tap danced up and down the bar counter. Worth a second look. Later, she joins Allen Jenkins in a humorous song and dance to "I Wish I Could be a Singing Cowboy". Allen much reminded me of the dancing style of Ray Bolger(the scarecrow in "The Wizard of Oz"). Penny stepped out of her usual role, in the "Blondie" series, to participate in this film. She would lead a sing along, while on horseback, to "Dogie, Take Your Time". Later, Penny led a classy stage song and dance to "Most Gentlemen Don't Prefer a Lady", with The Foursome as backups. Unlady-like, she dropped her skirt to dance in her bloomers half way through, giving her freedom to do some more athletic maneuvers. Unfortunately, her uncle Jim was not pleased, and wanted to ship her back East, until Tex expressed a marriage interest. The Foursome did a barber shop quartet-styled sing to "Somewhere along the Trial". All of the above songs were composed by the team of Sid Chaplin and Sammy Cahn. In addition, a revised "Ida Red" was sung and played by Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys.....See it at YouTube.