Way Out West (1930 film)
8.6 /10 1 Votes
Director Fred Niblo Budget 413,000 USD Country United States | 8.4/10 IMDb Genre Western, Comedy, Drama Duration Language English | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
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Release date 1930 (1930) Writer Alfred Block (screenplay), Alfred Block (story), Joseph Farnham, Byron Morgan (screenplay), Byron Morgan (story), Ralph Spence Screenplay Joseph W. Farnham, Ralph Spence, Byron Morgan, Alfred Block Cast William Haines (Windy), Leila Hyams (Molly Rankin), Polly Moran (Pansy), Cliff Edwards (Trilby), Ralph Bushman (Steve), Vera Marshe (La Belle Rosa)Similar movies The Final Girls , Scary Movie 5 , Robin Hood: Men in Tights , Attack of the Killer Tomatoes! , 21 Jump Street , Fifty Shades of Black | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Way Out West is a 1930 American comedy film. It tells the story of "Windy", a con man who cheats a group of cowboys out of their money. When they discover his cheating and learn that he himself has been robbed, they force him to work on a ranch until he has paid his debt. Way Out West stars William Haines, Leila Hyams, Polly Moran and Ralph Bushman and was directed by Fred Niblo.
Contents
Plot
Windy, a sideshow barker, cheats a group of cowboys out of their pay but is then robbed himself. When the cowboys discover they have been cheated they initially decide to hang him, then decide to make him work off his debt. He falls in love with ranch owner Molly and, when he saves her life after she is bitten by a snake, he wins her heart.
Cast
Production
Way Out West was made on a budget of $413,000, one of the most expensive William Haines vehicles.
Response
The New York Times deemed Way Out West "an impertinent, moderately comic affair tinctured with slapstick and romance". The film made a profit of $84,000, making it one of the least profitable of Haines's films of the period.
Gay film historians, noting the homosexuality of William Haines, suggest that Way Out West is "one of the gayest films ever made". Haines biographer William J. Mann cites latent homoeroticism and inside gay humor throughout the film. In one particular example, viewed in light of the Pansy Craze that was beginning to reach Hollywood, Windy is mistaken for the cook, Pansy. When called by her name he replies, "I'm the wildest pansy you ever picked!" Richard Barrios, author of Screened Out: Playing Gay in Hollywood from Edison to Stonewall, concurs, writing, "For anyone seeking gay text or subtext in any of Haines's movies, this is the one to study."
References
Way Out West (1930 film) WikipediaWay Out West (1930 film) IMDb Way Out West (1930 film) themoviedb.org