MartinHafer During the 1940s, Columbia Pictures made a ton of westerns...most of them B-movies lasting about an hour and featuring a variety of mostly small-time actors. However, occasionally they made a western that was just a bit better...and "Go West, Young Lady" is one of these. While it's about the length of many Bs, it has a better cast than usual. While Glenn Ford was not yet a top-tier actor, having him and many familiar faces in the film (Penny Singleton, Ann Miller, Charlie Ruggles and Allen Jenkins) give it a more sophisticated look than a B....making this sort of like a B+ picture!The star of the picture is Penny Singleton. She was a veteran of Bs...and in the middle of her Blondie and Dagwood series when she made this western. But she's certainly no typical western woman (at least the movie versions), as when bad guys strike, she's quick to shoot back and isn't the least bit a cowering lady! Glenn Ford is the male lead...but with such a dynamic lady starring in this one he's easily overshadowed!As for the plot, apart from Singleton's wild (and sometimes ditsy) character, it's pretty standard stuff. Some masked gunman named Killer Pete is terrorizing a town...killing sheriff after sheriff. His ultimate goal isn't robbery but to force folks to want to leave town...so he can then buy them out and become the big boss man...a very familiar western cliche.Watchable and a bit better than usual for the genre.

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.

wes-connors Penny Singleton (she's Bill) and Glenn Ford (he's Tex) arrive in the western town of Headstone. The town is terrorized by a "Killer Pete" (he wears a black scarf). Resident Ann Miller (she's local bad girl Lola) makes trouble. Will Lola get whatever Lola wants? Will lady Bill find love? And, who is "Killer Pete?" The film's highlight is a fight, near the end, between Ms. Singleton and Ms. Miller. Note the differing pronunciations of the word "posse" - AND, in a first-class wardrobe malfunction, Singleton accidentally rips open Miller's blouse. Other than that, the film may entertain friends and relatives of those who worked in the production. There are also some country & western musical acts, which could be a treat, if you're a fan. *** Go West, Young Lady (1941) Frank Strayer ~ Penny Singleton, Glenn Ford, Ann Miller

lugonian GO WEST, YOUNG LADY (Columbia, 1941), directed by Frank R. Strayer, is a western spoof starring the one and only Penny Singleton, in a rare opportunity taking time off from her then popular "Blondie" movie series, also then directed by Frank R. Strayer, which played in theaters from 1938 and ending after 28 theatrical episodes in 1950. As with the "Blondie" series, GO WEST, YOUNG LADY is a 70 minute "B" movie that concentrates on comedy, whether it be physical or verbal. It also reunites Singleton with the up-and-coming Glenn Ford, who earlier appeared in one of her "Blondie" comedies, BLONDIE PLAYS CUPID (Columbia, 1940).Set in a frontier town of Headstone, Jim Pendergast (Charles Ruggles), owner of the Crystal Palace saloon, learns that his nephew, Bill, is arriving on the next stagecoach. Since Headstone is in need of law and order, considering it is being terrorized by a masked bandit named "Pecos Pete," Pendergast believes Bill will become the town's new sheriff. After the stagecoach arrives, Pendergast mistakes Tex Miller (Glenn Ford) as his nephew, and is stunned to learn that Bill is actually an attractive young gal named Belinda Pendergast (Penny Singleton). In spite of her being a female, she is quick on the draw and can do anything a cowboy can do, even better. Later Belinda encounters Lola (Ann Miller), entertainer of the Crystal Palace, who becomes jealous over her encounter with Tex, whom she loves. Eventually with Belinda's help, she succeeds in taming the west.GO WEST, YOUNG LADY may seem overly familiar in plot mainly because portions of it borrows from other westerns, such as DESTRY RIDES AGAIN (Universal, 1939), starring Marlene Dietrich and James Stewart, where the central character is mistaken for a stronger and more forceful hero, unaware that the least likely individual turns out to be otherwise, along with a knockout fight between the two women (Singleton and Miller), but not as memorable as when Dietrich battled wits with Una Merkel; and MY LITTLE CHICKADEE (Universal, 1940), starring Mae West and WC Fields, where the hero, beingBelinda, riding in a stagecoach with a rugged hero named Tex, becomes part of an Indian massacre where the Redskins riding on their horses are attacking the stagecoach with bows and arrows. As Tex tries to shoot them off, he becomes very much surprised to find Belinda with her pistols disposing the Indians shooting gallery style from their horses one by one (as did Mae West in the earlier film). Another borrowed element from MY LITTLE CHICKADEE is a masked man terrorizing the town, who becomes the least likely suspect from the citizens but known only to dance hall girl Lola and the movie audience.Besides its broad comedy, and a couple of pies that are accidentally tossed at Glenn Ford's face, compliments of Penny Singleton (in a role that might have gone to other slapstick queens as Joan Davis, Judy Canova or even Lucille Ball), the movie takes time off for some musical numbers, songs by Sammy Cahn and Saul Chaplin, including: "Go West, Young Lady" (sung and tap danced by Ann Miller); "Somewhere Along the Trail," "Little Doggie, Take Your Time," "I Wish I Could Be a Singing Cowboy" (sung and performed by Allen Jenkins and Ann Miller); "Gentlemen Don't Prefer a Lady" (sung by Penny Singleton); and "Ida Red" performed by Bob Wills and his Texas Cowboys.Featured in the supporting cast are: Jed Prouty as Judge Harmon; Edith Meiser as Mrs. Hinkle; Bill Hazlet as Chief Big Thunder; and Waffles, the dog (filling in for the Blondie pooch, Daisy), among others.Watching GO WEST, YOUNG LADY, makes one wonder how this movie in a similar situation would have played as a "Blondie" episode, possibly titled BLONDIE OUT WEST, with Penny Singleton as Blondie, along with series regulars Arthur Lake as her husband, Dagwood Bumstead, and Larry Simms as their son, Baby Dumpling (Larry Simms), going west on vacation where Dagwood is elected sheriff to fight off cattle rustlers, shooting 'em up with cowboy villains, etc. Anyway, that never happened, but it was just a thought.GO WEST, YOUNG LADY, which was once a frequently revived movie that could be found on any given afternoon on commercial television back in the 1960s and '70s, is a very hard movie to find these days. However, it is not lost and gone forever, for it has been revived on cable television's The Westerns Channel (2003) and Turner Classic Movies (August 22, 2007). Other than watching Penny Singleton in a non-Blondie performance, providing her comedic and vocalizing talents, GO WEST YOUNG LADY does have its quota of laughs to make this one an enjoyable outing and a worthy time filler for classic movie fans. (**1/2)