Karry Best movie of this year hands down!

SnoReptilePlenty Memorable, crazy movie

Rosie Searle It's the kind of movie you'll want to see a second time with someone who hasn't seen it yet, to remember what it was like to watch it for the first time.

Philippa All of these films share one commonality, that being a kind of emotional center that humanizes a cast of monsters.

mark.waltz One of many variations of "Destry Rides Again", this musical western is an enjoyable piece of fiction that is about as true to the west as the pastische 1954 spoof "Red Garters". Here, Penny Singleton's Blondie becomes "Bill" (short for Belinda) whom Uncle Charlie Ruggles believes is a boy, having never met her. Penny's pretty good with a gun, too, proving her meddle with Glenn Ford, the newly appointed sheriff of the town where Ruggles runs the "Crystal Palace" while he is on his way in on the stagecoach. Handsome Glenn and Penny don't hit it off at first, as she is a bit too prim and proper to talk to a stranger she hasn't been introduced to. But when you share guns while shooting attacking Indians, you've been introduced, and by the time they arrive in town, Belinda's supportive of the new sheriff even though Uncle Charlie wanted to offer the job to "Bill".The Crystal Palace is one modern saloon where Annie Miller tap-dances decades before it became a popular form of entertainment and a masked bandit's intrusion into the customer's night of frolic is continuously followed by Ruggles' hollar of "drinks on the house" even though the till is pretty much empty after being robbed. Then, there's acting sheriff Allen Jenkins who is one of the oddest partners thunder thighs Annie ever danced with and assorted customers who may or may not be involved with the local bandit who continuously gets away with robbing the local businesses over and over again. Penny is constantly thwarting the capture of the masked bandit, confronting him for the shoot-up which caused her pie to fall then tossing it towards his face, only to pelt poor Glenn. He even gets it when she throws another pie accidentally in his face just as he is about to propose.The highlight of the film is a violent catfight between Penny and Annie which is even more riotous than the one between Dietrich and Una Merkel in "Destry Rides Again". At under 70 minutes, this speeds by with several entertaining musical numbers, including the title song as sung by Miller, another where she dances with Jenkins, and then one with Penny taking over the saloon and taking off her skirt to dance in her bloomers much to Uncle Charlie's shock. "Ida Red" as performed by Bob Wills and The Texas Playboys is a fun novelty number. So while the whole plot line is something audiences of 1941 obviously had in their recent movie going memory, there is enough entertainment here to make it a fun distraction if not a western classic.

moonspinner55 Western town under the thumb of a masked bandit sends for a new sheriff, who arrives by coach along with the saloon owner's niece from back East--a young lady of proper breeding who is also quite handy with a pistol. Fresh, rather laid-back comedy-western with music interludes has perhaps too much story exposition at the beginning, yet director Frank R. Strayer keeps a spirited pace and covers nicely with help from a colorful cast. The original songs by Saul Chaplin and Sammy Cahn are terrific, as are the musical performances by The Foursome and Bob Wills and his Texas Playboys. Ann Miller (playing a shady chanteuse named Lola) sings too, and taps up a storm; her catfight scene with Penny Singleton is a definite highlight. The character actors here (including Allen Jenkins, who also gets to warble and dance to a ditty) are so strong that young Glenn Ford almost gets lost in the crowd. Very modest, but very pleasant tale that ambles along agreeably without lapsing into silliness. **1/2 from ****

bkoganbing Columbia's western comedy Go West Young Lady owes the fact that it was made to Harry Cohn seeing how successful Destry Rides Again was over at Universal for Carl Laemmle. The resemblance of Glenn Ford's character to lean and lanky Jimmy Stewart is unmistakable.Ford and Penny Singleton arrive on the same stage to this frontier town where Penny is visiting her uncle Charlie Ruggles who owns the saloon and Ford has been appointed the new sheriff. Like the town of Bottleneck in Destry Rides Again the job of sheriff gives the owner a limited life expectancy.Specifically Ford is sent there to get a Mexican bandit, Killer Pete, who's been terrorizing the territory and he's got an alliance with the local Indians, a deadly combination if ever I saw one in a western. This bandit is one clever dude, he seems to just disappear with no trail after every job.Singleton is a western girl who can shoot like Annie Oakley, but she has a horrible sense of timing and hurts more than she helps poor Ford. Still it looks like love.Providing the saloon entertainment is Ann Miller, The Foursome, and Bob Wills Texas Playboys Band. There are quite a few musical numbers in this more than in Destry and Go West Young Lady is a shorter running time. There's a really cute one with Ann Miller and Allen Jenkins where Jenkins laments he doesn't have the voice to be a singing cowboy.And there's the obligatory chick fight between Singleton and Miller, not as good as the one involving Marlene Dietrich and Una Merkel, but it certainly can hold its own.Taking time off from the Blondie series for Penny Singleton definitely proved worthwhile. The film is a pleasant diversion and gave Glenn Ford the first opportunity on screen to show his comic talents. He takes a pie in the face as good as any Keystone Cop.

Neil Doyle PENNY SINGLETON gets top billing in this diverting little programmer made at the height of her fame as "Blondie". This film, directed by the same man who did that series, has Singleton in her "Blondie" mode, as a prim and proper but ditsy blonde who acquits herself well when Indians are shooting at the carriage she's riding in during the opening scene.She's so prim and proper that she refuses to even engage in conversation with the man sitting opposite her in the coach--GLENN FORD--on his way to the town of Headstone to become its new sheriff.Ford has one of his rare comedy roles and plays it to the hilt. He's continually getting in the way of Singleton's pie-throwing finesse or taking a crack on the head with a pan, accidentally of course.ALLEN JENKINS, as a cowardly interim sheriff, ANN MILLER, as a dance hall gal, and CHARLIE RUGGLES, as Singleton's uncle, all give fresh and funny performances. Miller is especially good in a couple of her dance routines, including a sing-and-dance number with Jenkins that comes as a delightful surprise.Very enjoyable romp, it seems to borrow a lot of its material from other similar westerns. It features at least a half a dozen unpretentious musical numbers that make for easy listening.Summing up: One of Columbia's better programmers.