If you want to know who inspired Lady Gaga and Madonna, just look at Mae West. She stars and wrote the screenplay for this film vehicle of hers. She knew how to market herself in her career. In this film, she played Mavis Arden, a celebrity on her way to Los Angeles where she gets stranded in a small town in middle America. I believe it was Gettysburg. Anyway, she acts rude and offensive when her car breaks down in the small town but she comes back with an apology. Mae West characters are never really vicious or obnoxious. In this film, she is surrounded by great supporting cast of characters. While this film is about her, she doesn't forget the other characters and the storyline about her falling in love with a country aspiring inventor and mechanic. The film may have some issues with storyline and script but it's satisfactory with a surprising ending.

Mae West (Mavis) plays a character very much like herself. When the film begins, lots of men are watching her in a movie--much like wolves looking at a plate of pork chops! After the movie ends, Mavis makes an appearance in the theater and talks about how the image on the screen is not the real her--that she is, at heart, a simple country girl! Of course this is a lot of hooey thought up by studio man, Morgan (Warren William). In fact, he was assigned to follow her like a guard to keep her from begin her real self! And, in desperation, Morgan arranges for Mavis to go live on a farm and stay out of the sites of reporters. Of course, however, Mavis can't be too good and almost immediately notices hunky Bud (Randolph Scott). It's a frustrating job of vamping, however, as Bud is mostly interested in mechanical things and is oblivious to her wiles. Where it goes from there, you'll just need to see for yourself.

Like most of West's films, I had a hard time accepting the notion that she's THE sexiest woman alive. But I appreciate how in "Go West Young Man" for once someone ISN'T immediately smitten with her and it makes the film a lot more watchable--especially since West didn't even begin appearing in movies until she was 40. Being a very sexual 43 year-old isn't a bad role for her in this film instead of being universally adored by men (which, to put it bluntly, made no sense--especially when she continued in this role into her 80s!!). While not as good as her wonderful role in "She Done Him Wrong", it is one of her better performances and the film is worth seeing. Rather slight but quite enjoyable.

Just like Jean Harlow did prior to the code in throwing a bit of Mae into her persona, Mae West returned the honors and did the same thing once the code bit her routine in the censorship bustle. A bit thinner and less wide in the hips, Ms. West resembles Harlow a bit, both through their alto voices, obvious attraction to the opposite sex, if not the obsession with it. West tones down to "Ooh's" and "Aah's" a bit and the drag queen like buck teeth are gone as well here. She's Marvis Arden, supposedly the biggest star in pictures, who escapes to the country for some rest, and finds romance with a mechanic (Randolph Scott) much to the chagrin of her press agent (Warren William). The country folk have mixed feelings of a "glamorous" movie star in the midst, some of them equally as eccentric as show folk. The plot thickens when a misunderstanding has West believed to have been kidnapped with subtle humorous results.

Post-code wasn't kind to Mae West, her personality too big to be reciting dialog with the blood cut out of it. She has good moments, and Randolph Scott is appropriately cast as the man she desires. Such great character actors as Elizabeth Patterson, Etienne Girardot and Alice Brady have some very funny moments (Patterson in particular when she apes Ms. West). Nicodemus Stewart, the black actor playing the farm handyman, adds a rare effeminate quality to his character, one rarely seen after the code, and especially one (if ever) seen in a black characterization. This is made all the more noticeable since his physical appearance appears to be masculine, while his demeanor is unmistakeably feminine.

While this doesn't come close to being Ms. West's signature film, it is still solid entertainment, and a rare opportunity to see a film version of a now forgotten play ("Personal Appearance") which was a major hit on Broadway several years before. Strange as it seems, that play when it came out seemed a perfect vehicle for the pre-code Mae, but from what I've researched on the play, the sexual innuendos in the original script were definitely removed. Two strong leading men, amusing character performers and some very amusing lines, however, make this a film worth viewing for more than just Mae's many fans.