Like the title says, Roscoe Arbuckle and Buster Keaton are out west for this one, and the gun-slinging frontier provides ample fodder for comedy. The 21 minute two-reeler is well-paced and I enjoyed all of it, with the exception of some unfortunate bits of racism, so be forewarned going in. Perhaps that's fair advice to many a film from this era, as you never know when you're going to see a jarring reminder of attitudes during the nadir of race relations. The story itself relies on a lot of Western cliches but the gags were inventive, and it was interesting to learn that the scenario was the idea of Natalie Talmadge, Buster's first wife.
It certainly starts strong with the hijinx on the train, with Arbuckle in hobo mode in the water tender car, then atop it fishing for his meals from the breakfast table of unsuspecting people below. He shows grace and some of the daring common to the period, strolling on top of it while it's moving, getting kicked off (literally, including once in the face), doing a one-handed cigarette roll and calmly lighting a match on a car whizzing by, then reaching out casually to re-board the caboose.
Meanwhile, Buster plays saloon owner Bill Bullhorn, whose "firewater cures all known ills." He pours a shot and then holds the glass up to each eye before taking a swing from the bottle, then returns the original shot back in the bottle. It's pretty cool to see him standing at the bar in a top hat, looking ornery and pulling out a pistol when he sees a guy cheating at poker. Naturally, he pours a little hooch on his weapon too. After shooting the guy in the back, he examines the cards and observes to the other player that he "would've lost anyway" before opening a cellar door in the floor and rolling the corpse into it. It's dark but funny, and I love seeing this other side to his screen persona.
So far so good, right? Well, the first sign of trouble is in a trio of Native Americans coming across Arbuckle bending over at a watering hole in a desert. Remarking that they should kill him so that they will have "plenty food for winter," they send a volley of arrows into his backside. The reference to cannibalism is of course meant as a joke, but plays on the stereotype of Natives being savages, and is regrettable.
Enter Al St. John, in the role of Wild Bill Hiccup (lol), leading a group of bandits to hold up the saloon. "Hands up," he says, and even the clock face goes from 5:35 to 1:55. There are many nice little bits in this scene, including a patron taking advantage of Buster's drink in his outstretched hand to gulp it down, Buster reacting to the bartender getting shot by promptly turning over a sign saying "Bartender Wanted," and Arbuckle bursting in and shooting wildly in every direction. When Buster hires Arbuckle for the job, it's amusing how he doesn't want to relinquish the sign, since job turnover and rolling people in the cellar is clearly a common occurrence.
Unfortunately, that's when the next bit of racism comes in. A scared black man, hands waving, is made to "dance" as a white guy shoots rounds at the floor in front of him. He opens the trapdoor in the attempt to flee, but is frightened of the corpse in there, and is then surrounded by white people firing at him, only to be saved by a salvation army worker (Alice Lake). The stereotype of a black man's timidity and the cruelty of white people played as comedy are both sickening, and very unfortunate to see.
If you can get past that, there are many other bits which work, like St. John pushing Buster's cigar all the way into his mouth during a confrontation, Arbuckle breaking no less than 19 bottles over St. John's head, drenching Alice Lake in the process, and when not even bullets work, turning to the bandit's "Achilles heel," tickling him mercilessly with Buster. There's a drunk horse prancing out of the saloon, a house being rolled off a cliff, and some pretty nice cinematography in the long shots of the three men running atop a train, the shot from above looking down on the town, and Arbuckle running on top of the bluff. Great stuff, if we could only erase the racism.
It certainly starts strong with the hijinx on the train, with Arbuckle in hobo mode in the water tender car, then atop it fishing for his meals from the breakfast table of unsuspecting people below. He shows grace and some of the daring common to the period, strolling on top of it while it's moving, getting kicked off (literally, including once in the face), doing a one-handed cigarette roll and calmly lighting a match on a car whizzing by, then reaching out casually to re-board the caboose.
Meanwhile, Buster plays saloon owner Bill Bullhorn, whose "firewater cures all known ills." He pours a shot and then holds the glass up to each eye before taking a swing from the bottle, then returns the original shot back in the bottle. It's pretty cool to see him standing at the bar in a top hat, looking ornery and pulling out a pistol when he sees a guy cheating at poker. Naturally, he pours a little hooch on his weapon too. After shooting the guy in the back, he examines the cards and observes to the other player that he "would've lost anyway" before opening a cellar door in the floor and rolling the corpse into it. It's dark but funny, and I love seeing this other side to his screen persona.
So far so good, right? Well, the first sign of trouble is in a trio of Native Americans coming across Arbuckle bending over at a watering hole in a desert. Remarking that they should kill him so that they will have "plenty food for winter," they send a volley of arrows into his backside. The reference to cannibalism is of course meant as a joke, but plays on the stereotype of Natives being savages, and is regrettable.
Enter Al St. John, in the role of Wild Bill Hiccup (lol), leading a group of bandits to hold up the saloon. "Hands up," he says, and even the clock face goes from 5:35 to 1:55. There are many nice little bits in this scene, including a patron taking advantage of Buster's drink in his outstretched hand to gulp it down, Buster reacting to the bartender getting shot by promptly turning over a sign saying "Bartender Wanted," and Arbuckle bursting in and shooting wildly in every direction. When Buster hires Arbuckle for the job, it's amusing how he doesn't want to relinquish the sign, since job turnover and rolling people in the cellar is clearly a common occurrence.
Unfortunately, that's when the next bit of racism comes in. A scared black man, hands waving, is made to "dance" as a white guy shoots rounds at the floor in front of him. He opens the trapdoor in the attempt to flee, but is frightened of the corpse in there, and is then surrounded by white people firing at him, only to be saved by a salvation army worker (Alice Lake). The stereotype of a black man's timidity and the cruelty of white people played as comedy are both sickening, and very unfortunate to see.
If you can get past that, there are many other bits which work, like St. John pushing Buster's cigar all the way into his mouth during a confrontation, Arbuckle breaking no less than 19 bottles over St. John's head, drenching Alice Lake in the process, and when not even bullets work, turning to the bandit's "Achilles heel," tickling him mercilessly with Buster. There's a drunk horse prancing out of the saloon, a house being rolled off a cliff, and some pretty nice cinematography in the long shots of the three men running atop a train, the shot from above looking down on the town, and Arbuckle running on top of the bluff. Great stuff, if we could only erase the racism.