The Dude Goes West (1948)

Memorable, crazy movie

This is a coming of age storyline that you've seen in one form or another for decades. It takes a truly unique voice to make yet another one worth watching.

Ok... Let's be honest. It cannot be the best movie but is quite enjoyable. The movie has the potential to develop a great plot for future movies

The film never slows down or bores, plunging from one harrowing sequence to the next.

A King Bros. Production. Locations filmed in California's High Sierras.Copyright 30 May 1948 by Allied Artists Productions, Inc. No New York opening. U.S. release: 30 May 1948. U.K. release through Pathé: 9 May 1949 (sic). Never theatrically released in Australia. 87 minutes.SYNOPSIS: Mild-mannered gunsmith moves from the Bowery to Arsenic City, Nevada, to cash in on the outlaw boom. Time: early 1870's.COMMENT: A delightful western satire which proves that even a normally pedestrian director like Kurt Neumann can occasionally excel. Of course he was handed a very entertaining script to begin with; and then had the services of a first-rate cast and the run of a large budget. The King Brothers unit aimed for both economy and quality. No doubt they persuaded some of the major studios to allow them to use standing sets that were otherwise idle (which explains the lack of an art director credit). In any case there is no sign of penny-pinching on the screen. Neumann's direction is relaxed, allowing such inventive touches in the script as the speech over the sign language (which is highly effective) and the delightful soliloquies to shine through. Another admirable feature of the screenplay is its excellent characterization which gives a splendid array of supporting players meaty opportunities that stay amusingly in mind long after even Karl Struss' skilled photography is forgotten. The plot itself is neatly constructed and allows Eddie Albert to exploit a side of his talent rarely utilized on the screen - his guitar-playing and singing. His three delightful songs alone make The Dude worth seeing.The Sales (Richard and Mary) were to tap this vein of western humor again in A Ticket to Tomahawk.

Daniel Bone (Eddie Albert) is a New York gunsmith. Seeking greener pastures, Bone heads to a Wild West town appropriately called Arsenic City. Along the way, he meets a woman named Lisa Crockett (Gale Storm) who is also headed west seeking her fortune. She has a map that leads to her late father's goldmine. But there are others who want Crockett's map and they will do anything to get it. Fortunately for her and whether she likes it or not, Bone saves her skin time after time. At it's absolute worst, I'd still call The Dude Goes West harmless enough and a bit of fun. At it's best, however, it's often quite funny and gives Eddie Albert a chance to shine in a leading role. His character, Bone, is a fish out-of-water and this often leads to the funnier bits. It's very reminiscent of his character, Oliver Wendell Douglas, that he'd play 20 years later. There's a scene where Bone is lecturing the townspeople about the importance of the American judicial system that sounded straight off of Green Acres. All it needed was a fife playing in the background. Albert is joined by a very able cast featuring Storm, Gilbert Roland, and Barton MacLane. The films's pacing is nice and at only 86 minutes, it never feels tired. While the plot is often predictable, it's still fun to watch the events unfold. Some of the comedy may seem corny by today's standards, but it works just fine to me. Overall, a 7/10 from me.

I strongly recommend you see "The Dude Goes West" for one big reason--it's not like any other western. If you think about it, there really are only about a half dozen different plots for about 99% of the old westerns. Yet, somehow, the studio came up with some novel ideas that invigorate this film and make it quite charming.Eddie Albert plays a gunsmith (Daniel Bone) who lives in New York. The problem is that with civility reigning there, he decides to move to the West where there will be a lot more business. However, he is pretty naive and folks don't take him very seriously--after all, he's a fancy East Coast dude. Little do they know that despite his naiveté, he is a VERY well-read and resourceful guy...and a guy who turns out to be a crack shot. So, again and again when he comes into a collision course with various baddies (such as a tribe of Indians, Barton MacLane and Gilbert Roland), Daniel is able to somehow come out on top. It's all very charming and enjoyable and actually is somewhat reminiscent of Albert's later TV series, "Green Acres"--where he plays a New Yorker who yearns to move to the country and where he certainly does NOT fit in, either! It also didn't hurt that the film was so well-written and clever. Well worth your time--especially if, like me, you are tired of the same old recycled plots in westerns. This is anything but familiar! I really loved this film.

Kind of a cross between "Destry Rides Again" and Bob Hope's "Paleface" series, this little sleeper of a film takes a good-hearted book-learned innocent whose skills with a gun (learned for his job, that of gunsmith) are no more important than his wisdom and mind.Considering this movie was made in the late 40's it's quite revolutionary in its approach to the Western traditions -- the roles of indians, women and "bad guys" being held up and examined in very interesting ways. In that respect its comedic sensibilities make it a very good time indeed.Make no mistake about it -- this isn't a very deep film. However it will make for a very enjoyable 90 minutes whether you like Westerns or not. Eddie Albert and all the supporting cast turn in very credible performances. It made me wish they had had made the sequel this was so obviously setup for (they didn't).